November 2024
Seminar ‘Using algorithms to detect gerrymandering and improve legislative redistricting: Cases from the United States and Japan’ with Prof. Imai (Harvard University) was held at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) on the US Presidential Election Day.
Assoc. Prof. Naonori Kodate (co-Director, Public Policy Programme in UCD / Dir., UCD Centre for Japanese Studies (JaSt)) organised Seminar ‘Using algorithms to detect gerrymandering and improve legislative redistricting: Cases from the United States and Japan’ in the Old Physics Theatre, the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) on the 5th of November 2024. It was co-hosted by the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, the Geary Institute for Public Policy, the UCD Institute for Discovery, and the UCD Centre for Asia-Pacific Research. On this occasion, the UCD Research Office and the UCD Alumni Office also rendered support for this event.
VP for Research, Innovation and Impact, Prof. Kate Robson Brown gave an opening address at the seminar, emphasising the importance of cross-disciplinary research like Prof. Imai’s spanning data science and social science in order to find policy solutions to problems in global society.
VP for Research, Innovation and Impact, UCD, Prof. Kate Robson Brown opening the seminar.
Prof. Imai speaking to the audience about the Presidential Election on the same night (5 Nov. 2024)
The topic of Prof. Imai’s lecture was legislative redistricting, which redraws district boundaries after Census, and how politicised the process can be/is. In representative democracies, legislative redistricting plays a fundamental role in ensuring equal representation. Redistricting influences which parties are elected and hence what policies are eventually enacted. Because the stakes are high, redistricting has been subject to intense political battles. Parties often engage in gerrymandering by manipulating district boundaries to amplify the voting power of some groups while diluting that of others.
Prof. Imai spoke about how he developed his computational algorithms, using granular data, and applied them to detect gerrymandering in all the states in the United States, as well as in Japan. Drawing on his personal involvement in actual redistricting court cases in the United States, he discussed how these algorithms can be used to evaluate the partisan bias of Japanese redistricting where politicians play less prominent roles than the United States.
During and after his lecture, there were a lot of questions and interactions between Prof. Imai and the audience. Among those was Mr Art O’Leary, Chief Executive, An Coimisiún Toghcháin/The Electoral Commission in Ireland. An Coimisiún Toghcháin is a statutory, independent body, established on 9 February 2023 with responsibility for a broad range of electoral functions outlined in the Electoral Reform Act 2022. The Geary Institute for Public Policy hosted a reception at the Museum of Literature Ireland’s beautiful hall, next to the Old Physics Theatre, and Prof. Imai mingled with undergraduate students, researchers from UCD and Trinity College Dublin and other participants including UCD alumni.
Left to Right: Assoc. Prof. Naonori Kodate, Mr Art O'Leary (Chief Executive, An Coimisiún Toghcháin/The Electoral Commission), Prof. Kosuke Imai, Prof. Kate Robson Brown, Assoc. Prof. Jos Dornschneider-Elkink)
The seminar took place on the evening of the US Presidential Election. It coincided with the last event for Ms Hannah Lyons (MoLI) who has been a great colleague, working together on many events organised by the UCD Centre for Japanese Studies in the last few years. Special thanks to Hannah!
On a personal note, the event was made possible by a long-term (almost 40 years!) friendship between Prof. Imai and Dr Kodate.
https://www.ucd.ie/socialpolicyworkjustice/latestandupcomingotherevents/professorkosukeimainov52024/
Left to Right: Head of School, Physics / Deputy Director, JaSt, Prof. Emma Sokell, Dir. UCD Centre for Asia-Pacific Research (School of History), Dr Steffen Rimner, Head of School, Politics and International Relations, Assoc. Prof. Jos Dornschneider-Elkink, Dir., JaSt / co-Dir., Public Policy Programme in UCD (Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice), Assoc. Prof. Naonori Kodate, Prof. Kosuke Imai, VP for Research, Innovation and Impact, Prof. Kate Robson Brown, Dir., Geary Institute for Public Policy, UCD, Prof. Michelle Norris.
Special thanks to Mr Hugo O'Donnell (UCD Global Engagement / UCD Japan Group).