Pandemic to Prospect: New Avenues of Human Geography

Pandemic has heated hard the entire world as well as the academic field. But the social researchers found new ways of doing research within this fatal situation also. Covid 19 itself has become one of the key issues of research in the gamut of human geography. New research topics have come up with high research potential.

The world is constantly struggling with the demonic Covid 19. Academicians are also the worriers who are constantly dealing with the pandemic situation with utter positivity. The whole world has been locked within the four walls of the abode. But the mind of man can roam about here and there without having any restrictions of lockdown. The researchers are among those people, whose minds are freely moving in the alleys of new research scopes. The researchers from different domains have proved that the problems can be transformed into possibilities with structured and designed thinking.

Human geographers are always concerned about the minute tribulations of society. The intricacies of human nature and its reflections are the focal theme of research for human geographers. In the pandemic situation, the entire subjectivity of the social response and bonding has been changed in so many ways that human geographers got plenty of new research topics in their purview of knowledge. The research works based on Covid 19 are not only focusing on the epidemiological dimensions of it but human responses towards the pandemic are playing a role of pivotal research interest. The community-based studies on the pandemic situation, deriving simulation models based on human behavioural changes within this pandemic situation, and sustainable planning practices (especially in urban setups) are some highly focused issues in the domain of human geography after the pandemic has trickled.

Human geography has taken a new turn during this pandemic situation. Researchers have taken their ideas into various dimensions where the pandemic has created an abyssal impact. The major trends within this pandemic are quite challenging and interesting.

  • Works on migration and mobility are the leading aspect to which most of the research work in human geography is being devoted.
  • Policy research is one of the major aspects of research in the domain of human geography which took a new momentum. Ample of scopes have been created in terms of policy research starting from fiscal policy review to health policy recommendations.
  • Changes in human-nature interaction and their changing dynamics with the ecological system are the very dynamic aspect of research in growing demand.
  • A new form of web-based crime has grown in this pandemic situation. This sort of criminological study has huge scope and relevance for the betterment of society.
geography
Source: Dimension Database, 2022

The number of publications regarding pandemics in the domain of human geography has reached new heights after 2020. The rise is quitter sterling. Looking at the graph, the uprising trend of research in human geography after the pandemic is quite evident. Smithsonian Institution of the United States is leading in this field of research in the arena of human geography regarding the pandemic.

 Adamas University is one of the eminent places for high-end research in India. Department of Geography has taken up research issues related to pandemics. This department has organized one international conference entitled “Health and Environment: Frontiers Ahead”. This conference was devoted to the research works from various domains on the Pandemic situation across the world. Students from the department of geography started preparing research articles on the impact of Covid on various aspects of human society.

Reference:

Roger Frutos, Laurent Gavotte, Jordi Serra-Cobo, Tianmu Chen, Christian Devaux (2021), COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases: The society is still unprepared for the next pandemic, Environmental Research, Volume 202

https://app.dimensions.ai/

Know the Game: Augment your career with Skills, Competencies, and Expertise in the niche segment of Health Geo-Informatics

The WHO has taken pledge to help countries and partners in making informed public health choices more quickly and to spread geospatial knowledge throughout the organization by connecting maps, apps, data, and people. Because of this change in emphasis, organizations all around the world are depending more and more on location intelligence to make smarter public health decisions. Human services and health geoinformatics occupations are in greater demand than ever.

John Snow’s ground-breaking work serves as an example of the effectiveness of mapping and geographic systems in addressing the cholera pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a long history of analyzing spatial distribution and risk factor patterns, identifying, preventing, and controlling diseases, and enhancing the effectiveness of public health initiatives. Making timely and trustworthy judgments that have the potential to save many lives is made possible by using GIS to connect spatial representation and public health planning. To name a few, 15 of the 17 health-related SDGs rely on GIS, for example, by monitoring air, water quality, and sanitation, neglected tropical diseases (malaria, guinea worm, snake bites), Polio, as well as health emergencies. Geoinformatics is defined as an academic discipline or career of working with geographical data for better understanding and interpretation of human interaction with the earth’s surface. It encompasses several technologies, approaches, processes, and methods to interpret and discourse spatial questions that necessitate spatial sense to address it. ESRI comments that “Hundreds of thousands of organizations in virtually every field are using GIS to make maps that communicate, perform analysis, share information, and solve complex problems around the world. This is changing the way the world works.”

Geoinformatics – Future Science
Figure 1. Geoinformatics – Future Science (Conceptualized and compiled by Dr. Anu Rai)

With its underlying capacity, Geoinformatics is emerging as a billion-dollar industry and offers lucrative opportunities to its professionals and trainers. In order to promote better public health planning and decision-making, geospatial technology, namely Health Geoinformatics, offers spatial representation of data. It is a niche segment of Geoinformatics and has significant uses in the fields of medicine and global health, but many nations currently limited or no access to these advantages in order to improve their health information systems. However, in post pandemic era, WHO and partner countries aggressively acknowledge and recommend the application of Geoinformatics in addressing public health issues.  WHO has taken pledge to help countries and partners in making informed public health choices more quickly and to spread geospatial knowledge throughout the organization by connecting maps, apps, data, and people. The WHO GIS Centre for Health wants to have a direct and long-lasting influence on the public by increasing its engagement with partners. Supporting geospatial data and analytics to enhance adherence and stewardship with WHO Standard Operating Procedures for maps and Web GIS applications are a few examples of the specific services offered by WHO. The purpose of such services is to improve national, regional, and analytical data as well as the health information system in order to boost the Member States’ and Partners’ effective use of GIS. Because of this change in emphasis, organizations all around the world are depending more and more on location intelligence to make smarter public health decisions. Human services and health geoinformatics occupations are in greater demand than ever. In order to forecast and evaluate industry trends utilizing a range of data and pro-actively build solutions and messaging to address important issues, drivers, and challenges, health GIS analysts or public health solution managers work closely with teams in varied domains of public health, human services, hospitals, insurance, managed health care systems, and environmental health. Despite corporate and public jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, GIS analysts are highly engaged in investigating, understanding, and developing new businesses in areas underserved or not currently served with GIS applications in the health and human services space. This creates a new field of opportunity for work with product development as a customer advocate for the requirements of the health and human services sector.

In my academic career as an educator of Geography and Geoinformatics, I have often noticed curiosity among youngsters about career opportunities with the Health Geography and Geoinformatics, irrespective of the discipline and domain of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees they hold. I would answer that if you are interested to play with the nuts and bolts of spatial health science, the Post Graduate Program on Geography and Geoinformatics is a good option for you. You may select diverse fields of Health Geoinformatics depending on the expertise of the domain varying from map making to app development. You can also opt for jobs in Public Health firms that include diverse skill-based jobs in the field of marketing development and testing and even entrepreneurship. Research-based course experience also opens huge job prospects in development and planning commission, scientists in HRD, and other research institutions in India and abroad. Application of neo-geographical tools, statistical algorithms, machine learning, multi-criterion decision-making techniques, computer-programming, SQLs, text-analytics and learning and practices of GIS and statistical packages that enable GI Scientists to solve the multifaceted real-life problem has opened extensive career opportunities to practitioners of geoinformatics in the field of public health data science as well. Health data scientists, data analysts, big data analysts, spatial data analysts, etc. are some of the lucrative jobs paying high salary packages to deserving candidates. So, if spatial logic of health attracts you, Health Geoinformatics is the best option to augment your career with skills, competencies, and expertise.

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