The human urge — and ability — to collect and gather data has never been greater. From academia to big business and all around the globe, organizations are employing vast and sophisticated networks to discover and maintain massive data troves.

The analysis of ‘big data’ has led to the rapid growth of the data science industry.

Brock University Faculty of Mathematics and Science Dean Ejaz Ahmed will share his insights on the topic next month during the COMSTECH Distinguished Scholars Program, a virtual seminar series. Ahmed’s prolific career in mathematics, statistics and data science research earned him an invitation to speak at the prominent international event.

The seminar will take place virtually on Thursday, Aug. 5 at 6 a.m. (3 p.m. PKT). Afterwards, a recording will be available here.

“I will guide participants from the basics of big data analytics into a deeper discussion of how to handle unconventionally large data matrices in a multitude of applications,” he said.

Ahmed believes that big data analysis is important in multiple research fields such as engineering, social media networks, bioinformatics, personalized medicine, and environmental and financial studies.

“There are many challenging questions to address,” he said. “For example, how to acquire, manage, process, analyze and make sense of big data?”

COMSTECH, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) ministerial standing committee on scientific and technological co-operation, organizes several projects for the promotion and effective deployment of science and technology in the OIC region.

An international organization of 57 member states, the OIC considers itself “the collective voice of the Muslim world” and works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”

Ahmed will join a prestigious collective of speakers who have delivered talks in the series including former Prime Minister of Jordan Professor Adnan Badran and former Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Pakistan, Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, among others.

“It’s an honour to be invited to speak on a topic of value for the OIC,” Ahmed said. “Big data analytics has emerged as a lucrative tool that doesn’t require any specific location such as a lab to achieve success, which gives it global appeal.”

Ahmed believes that creating data centres in OIC member states may be beneficial.

“Analysts can perform their careers from their own countries without having to travel abroad and leave their families. For many cultures, being close to relatives is a necessary component of family life,” he said.

The webinar is open to academics, scientists and the general public from all member OIC states and beyond. To register please visit the website.