Bio

Patrick Meier (PhD) is an internationally recognized thought leader on the application of new technologies for crisis early warning, humanitarian response, human rights and civil resistance. He currently serves as Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi, a non-profit tech-nology company voted by MIT’s Technology Review as one of the 50 most innovative compa-nies in the world alongside Facebook, Google and Twitter. He co-founded the International Net-work of Crisis Mappers and previously co-directed Harvard University’s Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning. In addition, Patrick has consulted for major international organizations including the UN, OSCE, OECD and the World Bank on numerous cutting-edge projects in Africa, Asia and Europe over the past 10 years. In 2010, President Bill Clinton publicly recognized him for his leadership and contributions. Patrick is an accomplished speaker having presented at numerous international conferences including the Skoll World Forum, Club de Madrid, PopTech, Where 2.0, TTI/Vanguard and several TEDx’s. He is also a distinguished scholar, holding a PhD from The Fletcher School, a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship from Stanford University and an MA from Columbia University. In addition, he holds advanced certificates in complexity science from the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) and the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). Patrick has given guest lectures at Harvard, Columbia and Stanford and has also taught professional, graduate and undergraduate courses on disaster and conflict early warning systems, crisis mapping, digital democracy and complexity science. He is an accomplished author with over two dozen publications to his name in peer-reviewed journals, reports and book chapters. Patrick also authors the widely respected  iRevolution blog and tweets at @patrickmeier. Full CV available here (NB: 14 page PDF).

Longer bio

Patrick Meier was born in Côte d’Ivoire and raised in Kenya. He is the Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi—a non-profit technology company voted by MIT’s Technology Review as one of the 50 most innovative companies in the world alongside Facebook, Google and Twitter. Patrick is also co-founder of the International Network of Crisis Mappers, the International Conference on Crisis Mapping and the Standby Volunteer Task Force for Live Mapping. He previously co-founded and co-directed Harvard University’s (HHI) Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning.

Patrick is a recognized expert and thought leader on the application of new technologies for crisis early warning, humanitarian response, human rights and civil resistance. Over the past 10 years, he has consulted extensively for several international organizations in Africa, Asia and Europe. This has included projects with the UN Secretary General’s Office, the Office of the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide, UNDP’s Crisis and Risk Mapping Analysis Unit in the Sudan, UNICEF’s Somalia Support Office, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Timor-Leste, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the World Bank. In addition, Patrick spearheaded several major crisis mapping operations and conflict early warning projects focused on Haiti, Libya, Kyrgyzstan and Somalia. He has also provided strategic support to related initiatives in Egypt, Japan, Sudan, Liberia, China, Pakistan, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Samoa. In 2010, former President Bill Clinton publicly recognized Patrick for his leadership and many contributions.

Patrick is also a sought-after public speaker, having presented at numerous high-profile international conferences including the Skoll World Forum, PopTech, SXSW, Where 2.0, Re:publica, TTI/Vanguard, Golden Tag, Twitter’s Chirp Conference and several TEDx events including TEDx Silicon Valley. He is regularly interviewed by the international media including the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC and NPR, and has also appeared on CNN, PBS and Al Jazeera. Patrick is on the board of several pioneering organizations such as the Meta-Activism Project, Sisi ni Amani and iLab Liberia.

In addition to his professional track record, Patrick is a distinguished scholar, holding a PhD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts during which time he was a Doctoral Fellow at Stanford University’s Program on Liberation Technology. He has given guest lectures at Harvard, Columbia and Stanford and has also taught professional, graduate and undergraduate seminars on disaster and conflict early warning systems, crisis mapping, digital democracy, and complexity science for international affairs. He is an accomplished author with dozens of publications to his name in peer-reviewed journals, edited books and official reports. His dissertation studies how access to information and communication technologies changes the balance of power between repressive regimes and civil resistance movements. Patrick has an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a BA (Honors) in Politics, Economics and Philosophy from the University of York, England, where he also graduated with a certificate in Information Technology and Business Management from the Computer Science Department. He has advanced certificates in the study of complexity science from the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) and the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). Patrick was an exchange student at the University of California at Berkeley and is an alum of the Arabic Language Institute in Fez (ALIF), the Santa Fe Institute’s (SFI) Program on Complex Systems and the Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO).

Patrick blogs at iRevolution.net and tweets at @patrickmeier. He is available for independent consulting projects and speaking engagements. He can be reached at patrick(at)irevolution.net. A copy of his CV is available here (NB: 20 page PDF).