FOUND Project - Using Technology to Search and Remember

FOUND

Interpretar la Naturaleza para Encontrar a Quienes nos Faltan

Using technology to

search.

Over 130,000 persons are reported as disappeared in Mexico. Behind each case there is a family searching for answers. FOUND works at the intersection of frontier technology and the lived knowledge of search groups, driving systemic change in how governments and institutions respond to disappearance.

Award

FOUND recognised with the Sir Nicholas Browne Policy and Expertise Award ↗

Selected from over 200 nominations across the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

FOUND{Team} · Our core team brings together collectives of families from Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Colombia searching for their missing loved ones, alongside CentroGeo, the University of Oxford, Jalisco's Search Commission, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Universidad de Guadalajara. We work alongside strategic partners including the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, the Colombian Search Unit (UBPD), Mexico's National Search Commission, LAB-CO, and forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider.

FOUND Project team using advanced technology in field search operations

Satellite spectral time-series analysis of search areas

Spectral detection of clandestine sites using satellite imagery

CentroGeo{Platforms} · Spectral indices — Identifying substances linked to disappearances via satellite and drone imagery, and when they were present. · Clandestine sites location — AI that finds what was meant to stay hidden.

Technologies in Action

Multispectral & Hyperspectral Imaging
Airborne LiDAR
Seismic Noise Interferometry (TIRSA)
Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Conductivimetry
Satellite Spectral Analysis
Machine Learning
Forensic Entomology, Botany, Territorial Analysis, Soil Science

Community collaboration in search efforts

Team collaboration during field operations

Hyperspectral analysis output used in FOUND field validation

Aerial view of experimental calibration site using animal proxies

The Role of Buscadoras

Women-led collectives are at the heart of FOUND's work. They have reshaped the national conversation on disappearance and justice. Their search practices, born from lived experience, are vital forensic knowledge. Alongside them, FOUND listens, learns, and incorporates their methods into our technological efforts.