Voices on the map: using AI for better disaster recovery

Panel discussion exploring the power of lived experience in disaster recovery and how AI will be used to amplify community voices.

ONLINE EVENT

As climate change increases the frequency and severity of disasters, what will help communities survive, recover and thrive?

HowWeSurvive, a new and ambitious initiative out of UNSW’s Arts, Design & Architecture, believes the answers already exist within communities themselves – in local knowledge, relationships, lived experience and the people who show up for one another.

To elevate people’s voices, the team and its international partners have created an interactive global map featuring more than 1,600 stories of disaster recovery to help policymakers, researchers and communities better understand what recovery actually looks like. Building AI capability into the map is the next step, and HowWeSurvive has partnered with ADA’s MapAI to drive this innovation.

Join HowWeSurvive’s Professor David Sanderson, the MapAI team and leading disaster recovery specialists from India, New Zealand and South Africa as they share fresh insights into the future of disaster recovery, how global partnerships can strengthen resilience across borders and the opportunities – and challenges – of using AI to surface lived experience at scale.

Panelists:

· Kristel Fourie – African Centre for Disaster Studies, North West University Potchefstroom

· Professor Paul Millar – Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury and founder of CEISMIC Canterbury Earthquakes Digital Archive

· Dr Anshu Sharma – co-founder of disaster relief organisation SEEDS India

· Parian Hoseini – MapAI and UNSW Sydney

· Chair: Professor David Sanderson – HowWeSurvive, UNSW Sydney

This event is brought to you by Social Sciences Week 2026. Coordinated by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Social Sciences Week is an annual celebration of the social sciences and their role in addressing today’s most pressing issues.