India-Ireland Data Visualisation Challenge concluded with impressive ideas for Women’s Safety

India, 8th March 2022: On the occasion of International Women?s Day, the Consulate General of Ireland, Mumbai and Red Dot Foundation announced the winners of Data Visualisation Challenge on Women?s Safety. 209 students from Ireland and India registered for the challenge and 70 students were selected to pitch their visualisations for women?s safety. The students were from diverse education disciplines - Engineering, Information Technology, Social Science, Media, History, and Legal Studies for instance. An eminent jury comprised of members from law enforcement, social impact sector, UN agencies and private sector shortlisted six teams to present their ideas to the public for the final round on 4th March, 2022.

During the three-week challenge, three masterclasses were organised by Red Dot Foundation and University College Dublin. The masterclasses covered gender sensitivity, challenging unconscious bias, use of crowdsourced data and mapping technology for safe spaces, data visualisation methods and human centred design. The masterclass on data visualisation methods was facilitated by faculty of University College Dublin.

The first prize was secured by two teams. Unexpected Assaults explored the day, time and age indicators for sexual offences occurring in unexpected locations. They also highlighted that often perpetrators are trusted members of one?s social circles. No Way Home created visualisations based on the Marvel movie universe. They encapsulated the theme of general responses a person in India receives from their family after surviving an incident of gender-based violence.

Travelling in a Woman?s Shoes which secured the second place visualised data on unsafe public transportation. They demonstrated how this directly affects economic growth by preventing women?s mobility and access to economic opportunities, education and employment.

Post Violence Experience of Survivors, the third prize winners visualised the post-traumatic experiences of a survivor. Their visualisation which was a video focused on emotional aftereffects of a sexual offence that may dictate the decision of a survivor to report or not and the reflection on that incident of violence afterwards.

The teams suggested future solutions that focused on sensitivity and consent education at an early age, safety marshalls on the street, reporting kiosks in public spaces like bus stops, easy access to information to build situational awareness and use of Safecity app for reporting incidents.

?The Consulate General of Ireland has been delighted to partner with Red Dot Foundation on this Data Challenge. It has been a wonderful opportunity to bring Indian and Irish students together to collaborate and share their ideas. Data analytics, especially when visualised in an easy to understand way, makes it possible to fine tune policy and to share information with non-specialists and the wider public. Data visualisation is an essential tool in areas such as gender-based violence as many find it difficult to discuss the problem openly. The calibre of the data visualisations has been truly impressive, and I hope at least some of the students go on to develop a career in this field. I would like to congratulate all the students who participated.? - Alison Reilly, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Ireland in Mumbai

"The time, consideration and commitment that went into the submissions is clearly evident, a fantastic effort by all students. It was refreshing to see new approaches, angles and thinking on how to visually represent the data and simultaneously raise awareness of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and its impacts.? Claire Kearney, Office Manager, Safe Ireland

?Safety is a basic need for all. Engaging students to think about safety for women and girls through the data visualisation challenge is part of our strategy to involve them in the issue as well as think of solutions. Each of the solutions put forward were powerful in the visualisation as well as a conversation starter. This is important for us to create more spaces for survivors to share their experiences and individuals and institutions to actively think of solutions.? - Supreet K Singh, CEO, Red Dot Foundation.

The aim of the Data Challenge on Women?s Safety was to provide an opportunity for youth to deeper understand the issue of sexual and gender-based violence through data analysis and visualisations; and recommend ideas and possible solutions. Sexual and gender-based violence is a global pandemic affecting 1 in 3 women on an average at least once in their lifetime (UN Women). This violence is highly under-reported due to shame and the taboo associated with it. The Data Challenge sought to break the silence on the issue and inspire youth to take action. Red Dot Foundation?s Safecity dataset comprising anonymous incidents of sexual and gender-based violence formed the base for the challenge.

The project connected students across Ireland through UCD College of Science and has been developed with support from Education in Ireland.

About the Consulate General of Ireland in Mumbai

The Consulate General was established in 2019 and works to promote and protect Irish interests in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat - working with the Irish community, promoting Irish economic interests and working to further strengthen the strong bilateral relations between Ireland and India.

The Consulate promotes a greater awareness of Ireland through our arts and culture; supports the Irish state agencies; and provides a wide range of consular services.

About Red Dot Foundation

Red Dot Foundation works at the intersection of gender, data and tech, urban design and community engagement. Its flagship program is Safecity, a platform that crowdsources personal stories of sexual harassment and abuse in public and private spaces. Since the launch of the Safecity platform on 26 Dec 2012 we have collected over 35,000 stories from India and abroad and have directly reached over 1 million people.

About Education in Ireland

Education in Ireland is the national brand of Enterprise Ireland, which is responsible for the promotion of Irish Higher Education Institutions overseas under the authority of the Minister for Education and Skills.

Ireland?s higher education institutes offer an extensive range of over 5000 programmes that result in an internationally recognised degree and quality assured qualifications. Irish Higher education institutions are ranked amongst the best in the world and universities in Ireland rank amongst the top 5% world-wide. Ireland provides the benefits of an English-speaking education in a country that is the centre of Europe?s culture and economy. Following Brexit, Ireland is the only majority English speaking country in the European Union. With the fastest growing economy in the EU, Ireland is a sound and reliable option for international students seeking to study and making a career abroad.

About University College Dublin

UCD is one of Europe's leading research-intensive universities; an environment where undergraduate education, masters and PhD training, research, innovation and community engagement form a dynamic spectrum of activity.

Since its foundation, the University has made a unique contribution to the creation of modern Ireland, based on successful engagement with Irish society on every level and across every sphere of activity. The international standing of UCD has grown in recent years; it is currently ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions world-wide. UCD is also Ireland's most globally engaged university with over 33,000 students drawn from 144 countries. As Ireland's largest university, with its great strength and diversity of disciplines, UCD embraces its role to contribute to the flourishing of Ireland through the study of people, society, business, economy, culture, language, and the creative arts, as well as through research and innovation.

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