About:
The next KE Hub online Triage Workshop will be presented by The Centre for Search Research.
Improving outcomes for missing persons and saving lives through mathematical sciences research
Almost 170,000 people are reported missing each year in the UK; that is 3 in every 1000 people. Someone, somewhere in the UK, is reported missing every 90 seconds. For most UK missing person cases, it is the police that take the primary role of resolving these incidents. If this requires undertaking a physical search, then it can be very labour intensive requiring a great number of police officers reassigned on an emergency short-term basis from other duties supplemented by the voluntary emergency services such as Mountain Rescue, Lowland Rescue, and coastguard, amongst others. In 2023, 59% of the incidents the Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team (NNPMRT) responded to, were to search for vulnerable and despondent individuals. This might be someone suffering from dementia, or it might be someone intent on committing suicide, amongst many other reasons a missing person might be vulnerable.
The Centre for Search Research (TCSR) is a UK registered charity carrying out research and training in areas relating to searching for lost and missing persons. This triage workshop will look at the research areas of interest to TCSR that could allow for collaboration with the mathematical sciences research community – to reduce the time it takes to find a missing person and provide them with the help they need, ultimately saving lives and improving outcomes, and doing so in a more efficient way that uses less resources and at lower cost.
Academic mathematical scientists from KE Hub partner university departments are invited to take part in these workshops. If you would like to attend, please contact your local KE Champion to receive the meeting link or get in touch with the organisers, Lauren Hyndman and Diwei Zhou.
KE Hub Triage Workshops are informal discussion sessions where one B.I.G. Partner presents a challenge they are currently facing, with the aim of determining:
- What, if any, mathematical sciences approaches can be used to address the challenge?
- Who from the mathematical sciences community would like to take on the challenge?
- What mechanisms are most appropriate for driving the challenge forward?
The purpose of these workshops is to allow the B.I.G. Partner to engage directly with academic mathematical scientists to probe the scientific content of their proposed challenge. The environment is relaxed and interactive, and we encourage questions, clarifications and discussions throughout. You can find information on all upcoming and past workshops here.