Data Science/UX Clinic for Social Impact

We are thrilled to announce to you all that our next data science clinic will be based on the theme of addressing social issues in Hong Kong and abroad. Previously, we have focused on how data science could benefit business owners. For the upcoming clinic, the objective would be to bring together data scientists to gather ideas on how data science could solve social issues in Hong Kong and abroad.

We will be looking at how we could help local charities to access and collect data. Thereafter, we will analyse on how we could make use of those data to create actionable solutions for current pressing social issues. We are excited about this event and look forward to your participation!

Who are the targeted charities?

For this Data Science/UX Clinic for Social Impact, we have invited Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation and its partner EMBER to share with us the problems they encountered in implementing education, health and rural development programs in China and Cambodia. See below a brief description of these two charities:

Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation (CWEF) is a Hong Kong based non-profit organization that shares the love of Christ through education and health rural development programs in China and Cambodia. Our vision is to see a world of ‘thriving communities serving and inspiring hope in others’. CWEF programs operate out of three offices in: Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China; Kunming, Yunnan province, China; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Together with local government and school partners, CWEF facilitates education, health and service learning programs in the surrounding rural areas. CWEF’s key programs focus on improved access to education and WASH (clean water, sanitation and hygiene).

EMBER is a volunteer-driven initiative to empower students in rural China. We partner with CWEF, a section 88 registered charity in Hong Kong, to connect the talents and resources of Hong Kong volunteers to create education opportunities for underprivileged female students from low-income families in rural Guangdong, China. We believe that through sponsoring one girl and giving her the resources to succeed, we can not only change her life, but also impact the lives of her family and the larger community around her. In addition to providing financial support in the form of high school and university scholarships, we offer leadership and service learning programs, mentorship and career counselling.

How does this clinic work?

Basic Flow:

1. The local charities (CWEF and EMBER) will share with data scientists their various initiatives, objectives and common problems.

2. Data scientists will then be split into groups for a breakout session to brainstorm ideas as to how best to solve the problems with UI/UX designs, machine learning and data science algorithms (such as NLP, clustering, regression, neural networks, etc.) or other data collection methods.

3. Data scientists will then present their ideas to the local charities with the aim of providing meaningful insights as to how best to do data collection, digital marketing and predictive analysis, hopefully one or a combination of which would be able to help the local charities.

We hope you can all join us in such meaningful cause!