91涩漫

Congratulations to聽Kundan Sheikh, PhD in Information Studies student at the School of Information Studies (91涩漫), has received a Fonds de Recherche du Qu茅bec - Soci茅t茅 et culture.聽The FRQSC scholarship is awarded on basis of research and academic merit.

Kundan's research:聽

With the acceleration and intensification of global climate change, it is no longer possible to completely prevent climate disasters such as floods and hurricanes. However, building resilience among vulnerable communities to these disasters can improve their ability to recover. Access to information plays a critical role in building this kind of community resilience. However, disaster-prone communities are often cut off from conventional information infrastructure. As a result, their needs for Community information remain poorly known and poorly met. To better understand these needs, our exploratory study will qualitatively examine the critical information needs of members of disaster-vulnerable communities in Azad Nagar and Himmatabad, both of which were severely affected by the 2022 flash floods in Sindh, a poignant example of climate change in the Global South. Located at the intersection of sustainable community development, crisis computing, and information and communication technologies for development (ICTD), this project aims to achieve the following objectives: (1) Identify and understand the critical information needs of disaster-affected communities; (2) To study the phenomenon of the emergence of information leadership in these communities; and (3) To study the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within these communities. In addition, the findings of this study will be translated and disseminated to the affected communities of Azad Nagar and Himmatabad through a series of participatory workshops co-designed to empower these communities through information leadership.