Our work
Our work cuts across a wide range of areas, from agriculture and climate to education and software development. We are passionate about projects related to development, education and the mathematical sciences, and particularly work that impacts more than one of these areas.
The majority of our projects are in Africa and we have experience working in both Anglophone and Francophone areas. We have a strong commitment to building capacity locally wherever we work by involving and supporting local partners whenever we can.
Technology development
Developing technological tools for social impact is at the heart of a lot of IDEMS work. Below is a list of key projects which illustrate the breadth and depth of our work using a wide range of technologies. We are guided by the needs of a project in choosing which technologies to work with and hence find ourselves using a wide range of tools and languages.
As we grow we are building our own suite of open tools which we intend to make the core of an approach to build evidence-based digital ecosystems that serve specific communities with technological tools to make a positive social impact.
Data Science and Research methods
IDEMS has always had a niche expertise in data science for social impact. Although this is rarely the primary focus of our work it manifests itself in many of our project as described in the list below. A common manifestation is in how research methods support we offer includes the integration of unstructured data for research. This includes supporting researchers to move beyond traditional statistical approaches that reduce complexity to control uncertainty, towards studying uncertainty while accepting complexity.
While this is one of our primary area of academic interest, it is most often deliberately approached as a secondary service to our long term collaborators. The importance of trust and respect between partners is essential to adopt the patient attitude needed to embrace complexity in data and research.
Social development
As a community interest company IDEMS is set up to serve the needs of society. We are grateful that so much of our current work aligns with our social mission. The following list highlights a few projects that directly impact social development while demonstrating the range of areas we touch upon.
As we grow our social development work will always remain an important part of our portfolio.
Climate
IDEMS has always placed importance on climate as an area of contribution. The urgency of the climate emergency has drawn attention to the importance of work in this area. Our background has come from the analysis of historical climate data, an area of significant importance in it’s own right. However, our systems approach has naturally drawn us into data management and quality assurance processes pertaining to the data as well as working with satellite estimates and reanalysis products which complement and extend the data.
Agroecology
Since IDEMS conception agroecology has been not only an important area of work but also a source of inspiration. An agroecological approach is guided by principles and embraces complexity. The agroecological community is strengthened by the way it combines a wide range of actors each bringing their own perspective. It includes serious academic researchers who follow scientific evidence, practitioners who value the positive individual and societal outcomes and advocates who believe strongly in its vision of more sustainable food systems.
Education
IDEMS has a background in Education and many staff are passionate about mathematical science education in particular. This will always be a place of innovation and creativity for the IDEMS team as we are content experts alongside our technical role. In Africa we are also well placed to work directly with grassroot local implementors having an extensive network of personal contacts.