You are currently viewing Impressions of the Security Challenges and Opportunities in the Use of Open-Source Information and Emerging Technologies in the Field of Migration Conference, 5-6 May 2022, Vienna

Impressions of the Security Challenges and Opportunities in the Use of Open-Source Information and Emerging Technologies in the Field of Migration Conference, 5-6 May 2022, Vienna

On the 5-6th of May, CRiTERIA co-organised and participated in the MIRROR sister project’s final conference on the topic of  “Security Challenges and Opportunities in the Use of Open-Source Information and Emerging Technologies in the Field of Migration”.

Dr. Claudia Niederee of the L3S Research Center (Leibniz Universität Hannover) - Project Coordinator for MIRROR & CRiTERIA - opens the conference on Day 1

Conference Background

More and more security practitioners and policy-makers are looking towards the use of new data sources, such as social media for the analysis of migration-related aspects, as a way to complement and fill in some of the gaps in traditional data sources and methods. The increased availability of digital content can become very tempting especially due to the timeliness, the frequency at which information can be updated, the wide coverage and the level of details it can provide.

Furthermore, technological evolutions in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence are opening a wide range of possibilities in the field of intelligence analysis, especially concerning situation monitoring, fact-checking and pattern detection.

However, do we truly understand the full implications of such evolutions, especially concerning their impact on human rights? Are practitioners ready to engage with these new tools? What are the technical, organizational and cultural implications of the introduction and use of such technologies?

The event, which took place in Vienna at the National Defence Academy of the Federal Ministry of Defence, as well as virtually, connected stakeholders from various backgrounds including law enforcement, policy-makers and representatives of international organizations working in the field of migration to answer these questions and to discuss the potential for collaboration across law, technology and analysis to build a safer future.

Impressions

The conference agenda was prepared to not only highlight the contemporary challenges within the field of migration, but also addressed the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, presenting case studies of  humanitarian aid and governmental institutions directly involved in managing the influx of people fleeing Ukraine into neighbouring countries. The audience heard results from recent research on migration conducted by civil societies and academic entities, which not only presented qualitative and quantitative findings of various field studies, but also put a spotlight on good practices in reaching migrant communities and conducting interviews. 

The technical sessions included during the two days of the event gave the IT specialists within law enforcement an opportunity to hear about the possibilities of applying new technologies in monitoring and information analysis, as well as real-life examples of such implementations.  Finally, the technical partners in the MIRROR consortium presented deliverables of the MIRROR project – the MIRROR platform as well as the first look at the MIRROR Toolkit.

The event was filled with insightful discussions and an open knowledge-exchange between professionals across different domains. We thank the organisers – HENSOLDT Analytics and the University of Malta – for the excellent preparation of the event. Special thanks go to Maia Rohm, HENSOLDT Analytics, for her excellent project management and organisational skills that made the event and the social programme of the conference possible.