Forecasting Impact
Forecasting Impact is a bimonthly podcast that aims to disseminate the science and practice of forecasting by introducing prominent academics, practitioners, and visionaries in the forecasting domain. Our vision is to help grow the forecasting community, foster collaboration between academia, industry, and governments, and promote scientific forecasting and good practices.
We will discuss a range of forecasting topics in economics, supply chain, energy, social goods, AI, machine learning, data analytics, education, healthcare, and more.
Forecasting Impact episodes are also available on the IIF YouTube Channel @IIForecasters.
Podcast Team
Chair and Co-host: Dr. Laila Ahadi-Akhlaghi, Senior Technical Advisor at JSI.
Additional co-hosts:
- Dr. Mahdi Abolghasemi, Lecturer in Data Science at The University of Queensland,
- George Boretos, Founder & CEO at FutureUP,
- Dr. Faranak Golestaneh, Data Science Senior Manager at Commonwealth Bank of Australia,
- Mariana Menchero, Senior Forecaster at Nixtla, and
- Arian Sultan Khan, Data Analyst at VAN
Co-hosts in the past have included: Michał Chojnowski, Shari De Baets, Elaine Deschamps, Dr. Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi, Bahman Rostami-Tabar, Anna Sroginis, and Sarah Van der Auweraer.
We welcome your feedback, questions, and suggestions. Please contact us at forecastingimpact@forecasters.org
Forecasting Impact
Elaine Deschamps
This episode’s guest is Elaine Deschamps, Executive Director of the Washington State Caseload Forecast Council, an independent state agency. Elaine has spent 25 years in public service, previously as Senior Fiscal Analyst for the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee, in charge of the low-income health care and public health budgets.
Elaine explains how public service forecasting works and the role of judgment and scenario planning in policy settings. Also, we talk a bit about a “new normal” in the Covid era and the challenges it imposes on forecasters.
Elaine recommends “Foresight” Guidebooks, especially “Improving Your Forecasting Process”, “Forecasting Methods Tutorials”, and “Forecast Accuracy Measurement: Pitfalls to Avoid and Practices to Adopt”.