My name is Prof. Joel Ekwutosi Umeuduji and I hold a PhD in the area of Fluvial Geomorphology which is a branch of Physical Geography. I also hold a post-doctoral fellowship from UNESCO-IHE Delft, The Netherlands in the area of River Basin and Watershed Management. I was some time Acting Head of Department of Geography and Environmental Management, and later Associate Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. I was a visiting lecturer to two universities and an External Examiner to three other universities in Nigeria. I still serve the University of Port Harcourt in various capacities. My desire to make numerous research works relevant to the solution of specific societal problems was what brought me in contact with Youth Mappers. I am highly fascinated by the idea of volunteering geographic information for humanitarian purposes. I currently serve as Advisor to UniqueMappersTeam and I am a Pro-mapper on her leaders’ board. I have always been encouraging my students to play active roles on the OSM platform. In this respect, I am happy to be associated with the award-winning UniqueMappersTeam which is currently and actively blazing the trail in volunteering geographic information for quick response to humanitarian disaster situations in different parts of the world. This team made tremendous escapades and won laurels in global “Catchatons and Mapathons”. As a Professor and a Geographer who is very passionate about issues relating to mentoring youthful geographers on how to use geographic knowledge to solve disaster-related problems in different parts of the word, I am very sure that I will definitely add value to your platform and that is why I sincerely present myself so that you may kindly make me a voting member. I assure you that your decision will not be regretted. REASONS TO MAKE ME A VOTING MEMBER: My involvement with HOT stemmed from my being requested to serve as Advisor to UniqueMappersTeam. Ever since then, I have been working closely with Victor Sunday who is the Team Mentor. I had to deeply get involved in HOT activities because there is no better way of encouraging my students to get involved if I do not personally get involved, for it is said that example is better than precept. I have been active on the Leaders’ Board as a pro-mapper and I have taken part in several mapping tasks in the continents of Asia, Africa and South America in response to disaster situations. To me, HOT simply means using Geographic Information System (GIS) to solve disaster-related problems for people. HOT is helping people to volunteer geographic information for humanitarian purposes. Disaster Management Agencies need geo-referenced maps to access disaster regions and HOT encourages volunteers to develop such maps from free and open-source platforms. HOT is a humanitarian body worthy of being associated with. With every sense of modesty and sincerity, I want to be a voting member so as to boost the scholarly membership base of HOT which would enhance her credibility to secure more grants and donations from international donor agencies. The most important responsibility of HOT is to sensitize and mobilize the international community so as to quickly respond to disaster situations in different parts of the world. We need to sympathize and help those who are in distress today, because we may be in the same situation tomorrow. As a professor, I am on the gate way and my plan is to keep sensitizing and recruiting students who pass through me to join as volunteers in HOT activities. The greatest challenge I have noticed with HOT is finance, and my plan is to strongly identify with HOT in order to boost her credibility and ability to attract funds from donor agencies. Volunteers in developing countries need some form of financial encouragement to secure some basic IT facilities to execute HOT activities. This is a fact which we have to admit and find a way to grapple with.

Thank you. Prof. J. E. Umeuduji.