Join the Invisible Institute for a Round Table Talk titled “It won’t always be like this: how citizen human rights movements use data, statistics, and collective voices to create democratic change after dictatorship and civil war” with longtime collaborator Patrick Ball (HRDAG) on April 15 from 12:00–1:15 PM at the Hyde Park Historical Society.

Patrick Ball has spent over thirty years using data and statistical analysis to support human rights work, including truth commissions, non-governmental organizations, international criminal tribunals, and United Nations missions. His work spans El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, South Africa, Chad, Sri Lanka, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Liberia, Perú, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Syria.

He began working in the human rights field in El Salvador in 1991. From 1993 to 2003, he worked in the Science and Human Rights Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where he began building what would become HRDAG. In Guatemala, he worked with partners to develop secure methods, including strong cryptography to protect witnesses.

From 2003 to 2013, Patrick was Vice President for Human Rights Programs and Chief Scientific Officer at Benetech, where he helped develop Martus, a free, open-source tool used globally to securely document human rights violations. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Executive Director of HRDAG, and since December 2015, he has been its Director of Research.

The Hyde Park Historical Society is located at 5529 S Lake Park Ave, Chicago, IL 60637.