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“we all have an obligation to daydream. we have an obligation to imagine....
individuals make the future and they do it by imagining that things can be different.”
Hello, I am Justine Blanford.
My interest in geography started at an early age through my exposure to different environments around the world but also through a unique education in Kenya. While at a school (Tigoni Academy for Girls) with a very unique headmaster, who believed that you learned just as much, if not more outside of the classroom as you do inside, we were bundled into a cattle truck and exposed to all aspects of geography throughout Kenya. During our many field trips we learned about the flora and fauna within a variety of unique habitats ranging from warm tropical coral reefs along the coast to the lush highlands and cool high altitudes of Mt Kenya and Kilimanjaro. Along the way we climbed mountains and volcanoes in and around the rift valley; inched our way through caves deep in bat guano, learned about geothermal power, different forms of erosion and glaciation and cultures. Having experienced these diverse habitats helps me understand the environments I am continually analyzing and modelling through my work digitally.
Since my time of scrabbling over mountains and through bat guano I have accumulated considerable, and considerably varied research experiences as an active researcher and educator. In general I use digital data, big datasets and a geospatial intelligence to tackle challenges and identify solutions across a range of topics as diverse as sinkholes and sky islands, tornadoes and turtles, and malaria and migration, among others (see Research, Education and Publications). At its core my work has focused on health in a variety of settings, examining causes and consequences from local to global spatial and temporal scales.
Over the years, my experiences have evolved into a rich tapestry of research and education through a geospatial lens and GIS (Geographic Information Systems). I have lead a wide array of applied research projects, tackling the global challenges we are facing today related to climate change, vector-borne diseases, food security to digital data structures, knowledge transfer through skill develop and education and bringing about transitions . At the heart of it two things have been important - data for evidence-informed decision.
As the quantity and availability of geospatially enabled data continues to increase dramatically, so do the concomitant challenges and opportunities associated with the appropriate gathering, analyzing and dissemination of findings from these data.
justine blanford GIS Geography GIScience Health Disaster planetary health geohealth vaccination malaria geoAI klass
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