Author Archives: Marija Ralic

The Google.org grantee using AI to detect bushfire risks

From predicting floods to improving waste management, organizations and researchers across Asia Pacific are using technology to respond to the impact of climate change.

Supporting this important work is a priority for Google.org. At today’s Southeast Asia Development Symposium, we announced a $6 million Sustainability Seed Fund to help organizations dedicated to addressing some of the region’s most difficult sustainability challenges. We look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks, including how nonprofits can apply.

The new fund builds on the support Google.org has already provided — through grants, technology and Googlers’ time — for sustainability-focused organizations and researchers across Asia-Pacific over recent years. I recently had the chance to talk to one of those existing grantees, Professor Hamish McGrowan from the University of Queensland in Australia, who received $1 million in Google.org support in 2021. Professor McGrowan and his team are working on a world-first hazard detection system for bushfires. It’s a powerful example of technology’s potential to protect communities in the short term and inform planning over the long term. It's also part of Google’s Digital Future Initiative to propel Australian innovation and help Australians solve pressing problems.

Here’s what I learned from our conversation.

We know that bushfires have been a persistent issue in Australia. Could you give us a sense of the environmental challenges you're seeing and how big this issue is?

Tackling bushfires is a nationwide issue. The Australian landscape has always been subject to fire, including what we may term nowadays as catastrophic fires. For example, many of Australia's plants have evolved to require fire to germinate.

However, as the climate has changed in response to both natural and anthropogenic causes — and as urban areas expand into bushland — fire incidence has increased and arguably the scale and intensity of fires have too. One of the great challenges is managing and mitigating risk from bushfires in response to climate and land-use change and pollution pressures.

Professor Hamish McGrowan, wearing a blue polo shirt and gray trousers, crouches in an area of green-brown woodland inspecting a laptop, radar and other equipment set up to detect bushfire risks.

Professor Hamish testing out the solution

Could you share more about the solution you and your team have created to address the bushfires?

Over the past few years, my graduate students and I have developed a mobile weather radar capability with the support of generous industry organizations, including Google. Initially, the radar was used to study severe thunderstorms in southeast Queensland. We then tested the radar's ability to observe bushfires and their interactions with the atmosphere. With the assistance of the radar's manufacturer, Furuno Electric Co from Japan, we have now developed the capability to use the radar to identify and monitor meteorological hazards associated with severe bushfires — such as extreme winds, vortices, or burning embers. We are now developing this capacity further by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to near-real-time analysis of the radar data — so we can produce nowcasts of bushfire-related hazards.

I'm glad that through Google.org, we've been able to support the University of Queensland along the way. What do you hope to achieve with the new solution?

Our work ultimately aims to provide increased accuracy in forecasting bushfire movements and alerting community members and emergency responders before they spread. The $1 million grant from Google.org will enable our researchers to work on a new capability to identify and forewarn people in locations up to 30 kilometers downwind from the fire front that may come under attack from embers – sometimes in areas previously perceived as safe. Right now, we're in the process of preparing for our first season of data collection using the mobile radar and have appointed new staff to the project.

From your perspective, how important are partnerships and support from governments, businesses, and communities in developing technology solutions?

Extremely important! We’ve long worked closely with local governments and various other organizations in areas of research and development. There are plenty of opportunities for collaboration and it’s wonderful to hear that Google.org is launching a new fund to support this kind of work across Asia Pacific.

What do you aspire to achieve with this solution in the next 10 years?

We hope to have a new bushfire warning capability that can be applied globally to save lives, businesses, and the environment from the perils of extreme bushfires and their interactions with the atmosphere.

Help for Asia’s change-making nonprofit leaders

As someone who came to Google from the nonprofit world, I understand how challenging it can be for nonprofit organizations to find the right resources and talent to tackle some of the world's complex challenges. 


COVID-19 doesn't make it easier. So in June this year, Google.org granted $600,000 to Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, helping them launch a six-month capacity-building program for 28 nonprofits from Singapore, Indonesia and India. The Changemaker Journey program has two main goals. First, to help nonprofits get the tools, knowledge and skills to meet their immediate priorities and sustain their efforts over the long-term. Second, to build a community where organizations can learn from one another, collaborate, and discover new ideas together.


I spoke to Janine Teo, founder and CEO of Solve Education, a Singapore-based nonprofit working to make high-quality education more accessible, to learn about her personal journey and how the program has helped her during the pandemic.
The Source team

Tell me about yourself. What led you to the nonprofit world? 

It started with two questions from my mentor. He first asked, "What are you working so hard for?" My parents grew up in poverty. Both of them had to drop out of school to support the family, but they knew the importance of education. My father put himself back to school and graduated when he was 30. My mother paid off her brothers' education fees then enrolled herself in night school to get her diploma. My parents showed me how you could still learn and grow even at a later age. 


He then asked, "What's your purpose?" I was trained as a software engineer but tried different industries, including hospitality. While I appreciated these experiences, I knew I wanted to solve deeper problems, contribute to society and help others. So five years ago, and with my mentor’s support, I’d started Solve Education to help people of all ages, nationalities, and backgrounds get a high-quality education. 


Has it been challenging being a social entrepreneur in 2020? 

Definitely—we can all agree education creates opportunities. But COVID-19 has made learning challenging, especially for those in underserved communities. Some of the families we support in India don't have the luxury to socially distance themselves — or even study — because of the lack of space. For others, being a daily wage worker means they need to find work every day to put food on the table. The people we serve are more afraid of dying of hunger than the pandemic—it’s survival mode for many of them. We had to be creative to solve this problem, so we introduced Game for Charity, a point-based program where beneficiaries could earn points by completing learning modules and exchange these points for food packages. 


What inspired you to be part of the capacity-building program, and how did it help your organization? 

The concept of finding solutions to complex problems that have positive effects in changing the system fascinates me. As a social entrepreneur, I think it's important to look at the root causes of the problems we’re looking to solve. I also wanted to widen my network through the Ashoka Foundation and Google.org—and continue learning, too. In fact, one of my most memorable sessions from the program was attending a Google Ads coaching session led by Google volunteers with my team. The session was so useful because it was exactly what we needed help with! 


This program also gave us a fresh perspective one some of the issues we’re dealing with. It helped us question ourselves more and home in on projects that will have the biggest impact. 


The truth is, capacity-building is often overlooked. It's hard to expect nonprofits to contribute to systemic change without building their ability to think critically, as well as the broader skills they need to run their organization effectively. After all, we are solving problems that no one has solved before. When we look at education, we still have a world where 263 million children and youth aren’t attending school. We are nowhere near solving the problem, but joining this program gave me and my team the inspiration and excitement to continue challenging ourselves.

The shift to distance learning in Asia Pacific

When I was growing up in Serbia, there was only one small school in my village, and we often shared a classroom with the grade above us. The teacher would focus on my classmates and me for a couple of minutes, before turning his attention to the older students on the other side of the room. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been—but somehow, he made it work, kept our classes fun and engaging, and gave us all the best possible education.


I’ve thought about that experience a lot over the past few months, seeing how teachers and students around the world have struggled to keep learning going during the COVID-19 pandemic. 


Technology has made it easier to teach online—but not all communities have the same access to digital tools, or the same ability to use them. It’s one of the main reasons we launched Google.org’s $10 million Distance Learning Fund: an initiative to help educators and students get the resources they need, especially in underserved communities. 


In Asia Pacific, we’ve made a $1 million grant to INCO, a nonprofit that’s supporting local education organizations in Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and the Philippines. I recently spoke to some of the teachers and students these organizations have helped as they adapt to a new way of learning.  

Arnold Chan, politics teacher at Maximo Estrella Senior High School, Philippines 

I've been a public school teacher for four years now, and I've always found joy in teaching, especially when I interact with my students in class. When the pandemic hit the Philippines and classes migrated online, I was worried about whether I could efficiently and effectively deliver quality education remotely. I found myself becoming a student again, learning how to use online tools and design engaging learning materials through the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication. Since attending a few training sessions, I'm now confident that I can provide the same quality of education online as I could in face-to-face classes.

Arnold Chan

Asih Nurani, English teacher at Regina Pacis Bogor Junior High School, Indonesia

I may have been a teacher for the last nine years, but I never once imagined running an online class. I knew I had to find new ways to engage my students. I also felt responsible for helping other teachers, especially the senior ones who weren't familiar with distance teaching tools. Thanks to the support and materials from INCO’s partner, Semua Murid Semua Guru, I was able to team up with some of my colleagues to develop additional training materials and teaching techniques to help other teachers cope with this transition!

Asih Nurani

Ka Ka (12 years old), student in Hong Kong 

During the class suspension period, I was really affected by the prolonged schooling disruption and I fell behind in English and Mathematics. Through the Changing Young Lives Foundation (CYLF)'s digital learning platform, I was able to catch up with classes I missed since March and received extra learning opportunities for different subjects by attending online classes daily. I am now feeling more confident about entering my secondary schooling in the new school year, and looking forward to joining more online tutorial classes!

Ka Ka

Mirah (18 years old), student in Kintamani-Bali, Indonesia 

Distance learning was new to me, and I was also worried I could not study online as it required me to buy an internet package regularly, which my parents are unable to afford. But I am grateful to have received support from Putera Sampoerna Foundation-School Development Outreach, which covered my internet costs and provided me with my very own laptop. When I started attending my online classes, I realized how fun it was! We are currently doing project-based learning online, which allows us to do hands-on prototyping with our projects and collaborate with our classmates.

Mirah

I’m humbled and inspired by these educators and students—their adaptability, their positive attitude, and their determination to keep teaching and learning no matter what. I’m looking forward to continuing Google.org’s support of nonprofits like INCO, as they and their partners make learning more accessible in communities throughout Asia Pacific.