Looking for Truth in the Fog of War

Ipsos is pleased to be taking part in The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy sessions exploring current events and their impact on society.

Mark Polyak, President of Global Data Management at Ipsos, speak on various rapidly evolving remote sensing technologies, their real-world applications, and implications for global policymakers.

In 2020, the World Bank estimated that the number of people living near conflict zones has nearly doubled since 2007, with one in five individuals in the Middle East and North Africa now residing in such areas. Last year, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed stated that the world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since World War II, with two billion people—one-quarter of humanity—living in conflict-affected regions. Forced displacement has also surged, resulting in 110 million displaced individuals in 2023, with 75% of 36.4 million refugees hosted in low- and middle-income countries.

The world has entered a period where persistent social instability, state fragility, and conflict are the norm rather than exceptions. This situation demands that policymakers proactively assess and respond to ongoing global and regional crises more swiftly than ever before. To achieve this, they are leveraging a new generation of rapidly evolving remote sensing tools, including very high-resolution optical, thermal, and multi-spectral imagery, miniaturized satellites (CubeSats), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and others. When combined with advanced data science techniques and the latest breakthroughs in Large Language Models (LLMs), these tools can play a transformative role in the rapid analysis of conflicts and complex emergencies, particularly in scenarios where on-the-ground surveys are impossible. This talk will explore both the technologies and their policy applications in real-world events, including recent efforts to understand the magnitude of damage in the ongoing Gaza conflict.

Ipsos Leadership Panel & Networking Session | 2-3pm

During this networking and career sharing session, senior industry leaders from Ipsos will talk about what it’s like working for one of the world’s largest market research and polling companies. Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Don’t miss hearing from:

• Mark Polyak, President of Global Data Management
• Michael Link, President and Chief Research Officer of Ipsos Public Affairs
• Stephanie Bannos, Executive Vice President and Head of Experience Service Lines
• Sarah Logman, Senior Vice President of Experience Analytics and Innovation 

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