[UEH & World Bank] Info session: Leveraging data for sustainable development

20 Apr, 2023

“Leveraging Data for Sustainable Development” Info Session is a joint initiative of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and the World Bank (WB) in our shared mission of advancing education, training, research and social work to promote sustainable development goals (SDGs) for our community and society. The event hosted nearly 90 faculty members, staff and students from UEH and other institutions in robust and informative conversations on proper data usage and its practical implications on efforts in sustainability.

The event was honored to receive Dr. Khai Dinh, Vice President of UEH; representatives from UEH Department of Research Management - International Cooperation; as well as representatives from the World Bank, including: Ms. Holly Krambeck, Project Manager for the World Bank Data Lab of the Development Data Group; Ms. Judy Yang, Senior Economist for Poverty and Equity Global Practice; and Ms. Huong Tran, Senior Public Sector Specialist of World Bank, Vietnam office; alongside nearly 90 faculty members, lecturers, staff and students from UEH and other institutions.

In his welcome remarks, Dr Khai Dinh, Vice President of UEH, iterated “that sustainable development is a pressing issue that requires global cooperation and collective effort”, and that he is proud to facilitate the budding partnership between UEH and the World Bank. He emphasized that, “with the vast amount of data available today, it is imperative to realize that we have a unique opportunity to analyze, interpret, and harness that data to better understand, and create innovative and effective solutions to the challenges and opportunities we face in achieving sustainable development”. He went on to commend the World Bank for their invaluable contribution to UEH, providing a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and resources that are relevant to the current global challenges, successfully transforming and inspiring UEH to be more globally competitive, providing opportunities for our students and faculty to learn, innovate, and lead, and he looks forward to continue working with the World Bank, and especially in the forthcoming years with the Data Lab to elevate the work produced at UEH to new heights.

In her presentation, Ms. Holly Krambeck, Project Manager for the World Bank Data Lab of the Development Data Group, discussed her data work and how the lab employs the information in real-world situations, such as interpreting and harnessing data to understand earthquakes and its impact in Turkey, etc.. Further, she explained how economists and researchers could use alternative data for analytics, Jupyter Books to disseminate work and ChatGPT to explore data. The Head of the Data Lab concluded her session with a live demonstration of using Python ChatGPT for data analytics.

The audience’s curiosity was properly piqued following Krambeck’s presentation, and the info session received a great number of questions, including how data is used in sustainable development, methods to ensure citation accuracy of data used, as well as how users can verify the codes produced by ChatGPT.

The two-hour programming includes an exciting agenda, including engaging speeches from the distinguished speakers, informative presentation and live demo from the Head of the World Bank Data Lab, and an interactive Q&A session with all participants. The event showcased how the World Bank, particularly the WB Data Lab, leveraged data for their work in promoting sustainable development.