Birke Pfeifle


Last Name

Pfeifle

First Name

Birke

ORCID

0009-0004-2995-9909

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2023 - 20255
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Publications 1 - 5 of 5
  • Toward the remote monitoring of armed conflicts
    Item type: Journal Article
    Sticher, Valerie; Wegner, Jan Dirk; Pfeifle, Birke (2023)
    PNAS Nexus
    The war in Ukraine has pushed the role of satellite imagery in armed conflicts into the spotlight. For a long time, satellite images were primarily used for military and intelligence purposes, but today they permeate every aspect of armed conflicts. Their importance in influencing the course of armed conflicts will further grow as progress in deep learning makes automated analysis progressively possible. This article assesses the state of the research working toward the remote monitoring of armed conflicts and highlights opportunities to increase the positive societal impact of future research efforts. First, we map the existing literature, categorizing studies in terms of conflict events that are covered, conflict context and scope, techniques, and types of satellite imagery used to identify conflict events. Second, we discuss how these choices affect opportunities to develop applications for human rights, humanitarian, and peacekeeping actors. Third, we provide an outlook, assessing promising paths forward. While much focus has been on high spatial resolution imagery, we demonstrate why research on freely available satellite images with moderate spatial but high temporal resolution can lead to more scalable and transferable options. We argue that research on such images should be prioritized, as it will have a greater positive impact on society, and we discuss what types of applications may soon become feasible through such research. We call for concerted efforts to compile a large dataset of nonsensitive conflict events to accelerate research toward the remote monitoring of armed conflicts and for interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure conflict-sensitive monitoring solutions.
  • Observer les conflits armés depuis l’espace
    Item type: Other Publication
    Sticher, Valerie; Dietrich, Olivier; Pfeifle, Birke; et al. (2024)
    Politique de sécurité: analyses du CSS
    L’exploitation d’images satellites en libre accès à l’aide du deep learning peut aider les organisations humanitaires et de défense des droits humains à réagir plus rapidement aux conflits violents. Pour garantir une surveillance à distance efficace, elles doivent aligner leurs stratégies sur les contraintes techniques des systèmes fondés sur cette technologie.
  • Watching Armed Conflicts from Space
    Item type: Other Publication
    Sticher, Valerie; Dietrich, Olivier; Pfeifle, Birke; et al. (2024)
    CSS Analyses in Security Policy
    Leveraging open-access satellite images with deep learning can help humanitarian and human rights organizations address violent conflicts more rapidly. To ensure the effectiveness of remote monitoring, organizations need to align their strategies with the technical constraints of deep learning-based monitoring systems.
  • An Interdisciplinary Approach to Conflict-Related Building Damage
    Item type: Report
    Pfeifle, Birke (2025)
    CSS Report
    Building damage caused by armed conflict is a critical yet underexamined dimension of armed conflicts, despite its potentially far-reaching and long-lasting consequences. Unlike fatalities, which are more consistently documented in conflict databases, the destruction of physical infrastructure has not been systematically integrated into conflict research. This omission has limited our under-standing of conflict dynamics, civilian impact, and the long-term effects of war. This report proposes a structured framework for approaching conflict-related building damage as a distinct object of analysis in conflict research.
  • Die Beobachtung bewaffneter Konflikte aus dem All
    Item type: Other Publication
    Sticher, Valerie; Dietrich, Olivier; Pfeifle, Birke; et al. (2024)
    CSS Analysen zur Sicherheitspolitik
    Frei zugängliche Satellitenbilder und Deep Learning können Menschenrechts- und Hilfsorganisationen dabei unterstützen, schneller auf bewaffnete Konflikte zu reagieren. Um die Effektivität solch einer Fernüberwachung zu gewährleisten, müssen die Organisationen ihre Strategien an den technischen Begrenzungen Deep Learning-basierter Monitoringsysteme ausrichten.
Publications 1 - 5 of 5