April 16, 2021
A team of JAMSTEC researchers, led by Dr. Arthur Bauville, won the international data science competition "Wai Datathon 2021" on the theme "Combat domestic violence with data and AI". The competition was organized on March 13th, 2021 for the International women's day by Women in AI (Asia Pacific), a non-profit organization whose goal is "to increase female representation and participation in AI".
Domestic violence is still a significant problem today. On average, 17 % of women experienced domestic violence in the last twelve months, and 35 % believed that domestic violence is justified, according to data from the Demographic and Health Survey in over 90 countries. The team's goal was to provide a tool to assist medical and social workers in their mission to support women in these countries. The group proposed a machine learning model that creates a questionnaire to detect early signs of domestic violence. Because computer access is not widespread in all developing countries, the team chose a decision-tree algorithm that can be deployed on the computer, but also on paper or through dialogue. Because of this design, the model doesn't require any particular expertise and can even be used to assist family and friends.
The team, formed by three biologists, one geologist, and one applied mathematician, tackled a grand present-day sociological problem. It demonstrated the versatility of JAMSTEC researchers and the strength of a multidisciplinary team. Detailed information, presentation material, and computer code to reproduce the analysis are available as open-source here.
Team members:
Arthur Bauville, Researcher, Center for Mathematical Science and Advanced Technology, Research Institute for Value-Added-Information Generation
Ettore Barbieri, Senior Researcher, Center for Mathematical Science and Advanced Technology, Research Institute for Value-Added-Information Generation
Gerlien Verhaegen, Visiting Researcher, Advanced Science-Technology Research Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research
Prima Anugerahanti, Postdoctoral Researcher, Earth Surface System Research Center, Research Institute for Global Change
Heather Ritchie, JAMSTEC Young Research Fellow, Advanced Science-Technology Research Program, Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research