FOUND

FOUND

FOUND Project - Using Technology to Search and Remember

FOUND

Interpretar la Naturaleza para Encontrar a Quienes nos Faltan

Using technology to 
  • dignify.
  • remember.
  • search.
  • bring closure.

124,354 persons are reported as disappeared in Mexico. Behind each case there is a family searching for answers. FOUND combines technology with the knowledge of searching families to learn, locate, and drive systemic change.

FOUND Project team using advanced technology in field search operations

Driven by Families and Research Communities

FOUND is guided and motivated by search collectives and researchers from CentroGeo, IPN, UNAM, UdeG, Oxford, Bristol, Bath, Cambridge, and the Autonomous Universities of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí.

Institutional Collaborations

  • Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General
  • UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
  • Local Search Commissions and Attorney's Offices of Jalisco, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and Chihuahua (Mexico)
  • Colombian Search Unit
  • Mexico's National Search Commission
  • Mexican Science and Technology Secretariat
  • British Embassy in Mexico City
  • British Association for Forensic Anthropology

Technologies in Action

  • Multispectral & Hyperspectral Imaging
  • Airborne LiDAR
  • Seismic Noise Interferometry (TIRSA)
  • Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Conductivimetry Measurements
  • Satellite Spectral Analysis
  • Forensic Entomology, Botany, Territorial Analysis, Soil Science
360 degree imaging technology in use
Advanced field equipment setup
Community collaboration in search efforts
Specialized search tools and equipment
Field research and data collection
Team collaboration during field operations
Technology deployment in field
Field operations and search activities
Search team in action
Search methodology in practice

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.

Buscadoras hands with plants symbolizing hope and remembrance

Our Partners

FOUND brings together a coalition of academic institutions, government bodies, civil society organisations, and international partners. Together, we seek to honour the memory of those who are missing and stand with families as they search for a form of closure.

FOUND: Interpretar la Naturaleza para Encontrar a Quienes nos Faltan.