AI for Good Seminar Series: AI for Human Rights

Megan Price - Executive Director of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group Abstract:  As a team of scientists working as statisticians for human rights, the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) partners with human rights advocacy organizations to identify questions that can be answered and arguments that can be strengthened using data science.  Dr. Price’s talk will highlight how data science and AI methods and tools are being used to tell stories, build cases, and answer important questions about the human toll of conflicts in Syria, Mexico, and Guatemala. She will also address the potential harm that can be done when relying on incomplete and imperfect data in domestic situations such as predictive policing of drug use in Oakland. Bio:  As the Executive Director of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, Megan Price designs strategies and methods for statistical analysis of human rights data for projects in a variety of locations including Guatemala, Colombia, and Syria. Her work in Guatemala includes serving as the lead statistician on a project in which she analyzes documents from the National Police Archive; she has also contributed analyses submitted as evidence in two court cases in Guatemala. Her work in Syria includes serving as the lead statistician and author on three reports, commissioned by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), on documented deaths in that country. Megan is a member of the Technical Advisory Board for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, on the Board of Directors for Tor, and a Research Fellow at the Carnegie Mellon University Center for Human Rights Science. She is the Human Rights Editor for the Statistical Journal of the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS) and on the editorial board of Significance Magazine. She earned her doctorate in biostatistics and a Certificate in Human Rights from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She also holds a master of science degree and bachelor of science degree in Statistics from Case Western Reserve University.