Afrographique – Infographic of FDI into Africa

Afrographique (Infographic of foreign investment on the African…).

Just wanted to highlight a great visualisation of Africa’s diverse economies from the perspective of Foreign Direct Investment levels. A subject close to my heart after 5 years of work in FDI & business analysis and mapping, this is just one example of how to better understand often overlooked patterns of economic investment and development through the use of clever visualisations & maps.

What’s in store for 2011!

As you may have noticed, I haven’t updated this blog now for over a year. One of the main reasons for this was the focus involved in finishing my Engineering Doctorate, including passing my Viva in last November (examiners were Prof. Paul Longley and Dr Richard Harris), leading to handing in my final copies in January. As a bona fida Doctor of Engineering now, what’s in store for me in 2011?

Through lucky timing, I have been able to take on two jobs within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering here at UCL:

• I have now started work as a Teaching Fellow in the Department, working closely together with Dr Muki Haklay. This role involves the complete spectrum of tasks and responsibilities of a lecturer, taking over the running of the Research Methods for Engineers Msc module, tutorials and practicals in the undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, the supervision of Msc and PhD students, as well as participating in several research projects, including the Mapping for Change social entreprise.
• I will also soon start work as the principal research fellow for the JISC funded G3 project (check out our blog!). This project is creating an interactive online mapping system to teach geographic concepts in a user friendly manner to new learners from outside the world of geography and GIS. Users will also be introduced geographic data relevant to their particular discipline and know where to look for more. This is an exciting project where I will be focusing on the technical development of both the server and client-side environment.

Apart from my activities as a Teaching and Research Fellow at UCL, I am also investigating in paralell the commercialisation of my EngD research outputs, in close partnership with Bone Wells Urbecon, a economic development consultancy. The business potential of my research lies in improved data & methods for the characterisation of town centres and other business areas, to improve business location decision-making, and sustain local economic development.

Opportunities in Citizen Science research

There are three PhD studentships and a postdoc position that have opened recently here at the Chorley Institute where I work, specifically in the newly started:

… ‘Extreme Citizen Science’ (ExCiteS) research group. The group’s activities focus on the theory, methodologies, techniques and tools that are needed to allow any community to start its own bottom-up citizen science activity, regardless of the level of literacy of the users. Importantly, Citizen Science is understood in the widest sense, including perceptions and views – so participatory mapping and participatory geographic information are integral parts of the activities.

more information at the original post on Muki’s blog: A postdoctoral position and 3 PhD studentships in Extreme Citizen Science « Po Ve Sham – Muki Haklay’s personal blog.