Gerhard BELINA - UNIGIS International Fellow

The UNIGIS International Association (UIA) is proud to announce the honors award of "UNIGIS International Fellow", a distinction for UNIGIS faculty with an outstanding role on an international level within UNIGIS. This distinction of excellence is awarded to Mr. Gerhard Belina, Senior Consultant and Lecturer. His merits are in the area of high level consulting, learning materials development and instruction for German, English and Spanish language UNIGIS learning materials. He has been serving as a UNIGIS instructor in the areas of DBMS, distributed architectures etc., and is a lecturer for the same subjects at the University of Salzburg and FH Carinthia. After his studies in Innsbruck, Salzburg and San Diego he had a distinguished career with Intergraph and now is an independent consultant working primarily with European and other international institutions. Congratulations!

In previous years this distinction was awarded to: Charles Burnett (2004), Wayne Forsythe (2005), Peter Zeil (2005), Nigel Trodd (2005), Nikolaus Strobel (2005) and Prof. Mohamed Aziz (2006).

UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize – 2009 Awards announced

Christof Amelunxen from UNIGIS Salzburg has been announced as the winner of the worldwide UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize 2009.  His thesis titled ”An Approach to Geocoding based on Volunteered Spatial Data” not only led to an award with distinction of his MSc in GIScience by the University of Salzburg, but recently was voted by the International Review Board as the best (English language) UNIGIS thesis this year. 

Pedro Pinto from UNIGIS Portugal finished a very close second in a highly competitive finish. He submitted a paper "Urban growth on coastal erosion vulnerable stretches" published in Journal of Coastal Research, Vol. 2, Special Issue 56, pp. 1567-1571.

Both winners will be invited to present their work in July 2010 at the Geoinformatics Forum Salzburg (www.gi-forum.org) where they will be publicly recognized for their outstanding academic achievement.

Congratulations!

Annual Meeting - Girona, Spain

The Spanish/Catalan UNIGIS site in Girona again hosted the annual UNIGIS worldwide network meeting on Nov 13/14, 2009. Representatives from 11 university partner sites were discussing eLearning didactics, curriculum development and new learning materials as well as innovative approaches to acquiring new GIS qualifications.
Integration among UNIGIS partner institutions is making substantial progress due to the shared access to learning resources, credit recognition and joint events like summer schools and workshops.
Links with the GIS industry are continuously enhanced through cooperation with software companies, publishers and consulting companies, assuring that UNIGIS curricula, accompanying software and application case studies remain on top of recent developments.
Congratulations to Gemma Boix and her team at the University of Girona for managing a very successful meeting.

Two new UNIGIS study centres in India

UNIGIS India (www.unigis.net/India) has launched programmes at 2 new study centres in India. The new centres have been established at Panjab University, Chandigarh (www.unigis.net/PU_Chandigarh) and the All India Institute for Local Self Government (www.unigis.net/AIILSG_India). The introductory-cum-orientation workshops were held in Chandigarh from 4th to 6th September and in Cochin from 11th to 13th September.

Prof. Josef Strobl (UNIGIS International and Director of the Centre for Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, University of Salzburg , Austria) emphasised that UNIGIS has the vision of ’Educating GIS Professionals Worldwide’ and Z_GIS (http://www.zgis.at/) is supporting this mission by establishing UNIGIS programmes with partner institutions around the world as joint study programmes with the University of Salzburg (http://www.uni-salzburg.at/)

Dr Shahnawaz (UNIGIS Director for South & Southeast Asia) stated that the addition of 2 new centres made India the only country hosting 4 UNIGIS study centres. In 2004, India became the first UNIGIS site within Asia and a 2nd study centre was established in 2006. The previous centres are located at Goa University, Goa (www.unigis.net/Goa) and GIS Institute, Noida-Delhi (www.unigis.net/Noida).

Out of 4 study centres in India, 2 offer UNIGIS MSc and UNIGIS professional diploma programmes via Online Distance Education and 2 focus on the UNIGIS professional diploma delivered through eLearning as tutored full time courses. Distance education serves the career advancement needs of in-service GI-professionals and full time residential courses provide opportunites to young students aspiring to enter the fast growing GI-Job market.

UIA Academic Excellence Prize – Award Ceremony

Andre Coleman (UNIGIS – Free University of Amsterdam), the winner of the Academic Excellence Prize 2008 presented his high quality MSc thesis at the GI_Forum 2009 in Salzburg. His dissertation entitled: “An Adaptive Landscape Classification Procedure Using Geoinformatics and Artificial Neural Networks” was considered unanimously by the Review Board as the best thesis this year. For more details see the press coverage of the GI_Forum / AGIT conference.

After the speech he was publicly awarded with a great cup by Josef Strobl in recognition of his work and the academic achievement. Congratulations!

The competition for the 2009 Prize is open. All UNIGIS partner universities worldwide are encouraged to take part in the competition

Geospatial Education Forum at Map Asia 2009

As a ’Knowledge partner’ in Map Asia 2009 (18-20 August, 2009) UNIGIS is coordinating an education forum on the theme ’From Spatial Thinking to GI Competence’ on Aug 19 in Singapore. This forum has been planned with the mandate to bring together educators and professionals on one platform to share their experience and expertise. UNIGIS programme information materials will be disseminated from a shared booth with GIS Development.

UNIGIS MSc - New Distance Learning Node in Australia

The international UNIGIS MSc postgraduate degree is now offered in Australia through the UNIGIS (www.unigis.net) study centre at the University of Canberra, ACT. Students are invited to enrol in a joint programme combining the capacities from the University of Canberra and University of Salzburg, Austria.Continuing and higher education in Geographic Information Science and Technologies and Geoinformatics methods is important for developing Spatial Data Infrastructures across nations and regions as a foundation for sustainable economies, societies and environments. Increasingly, enterprises, non-governmental organisations and public agencies apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reach their objectives and to better serve their customers. "GIS" has become an attractive and rewarding career path for motivated and skilled professionals worldwide - with the UNIGIS academic network being the global leader in GIScience distance education. This new UNIGIS study centre is led by Prof. George Cho at the Institute of Applied Ecology, University of Canberra. It offers in-service distance education for professionals interested in GIS and Geoinformatics. Courses towards the MSc will be launched with an on-site workshop in later in 2009 and lead students to recognized international academic degrees.
Contact: George.Cho@canberra.edu.au
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UNIGIS @ ESRI San Diego Conferences

The week started with a UNIGIS -related highlight, Prof. Henk Scholten opening the Education UC with a keynote on "The Role of GIS in the Development of Spatial Thinking" - leading to his 'Lifetime Achievement Award' presented during the Monday plenary session. Monday night UNIGIS participated in the 'Academic GIS Program Fair', and from Tuesday onwards is providing information on all UNIGIS Distance Learning offerings at our large booth in the main exhibit hall. UNIGIS programs are represented by faculty from several European institutions, US, Latin America and Asia - coordinated by the UNIGIS International secretary, Anna Szukalska from Poland.

IGU-Urban Geography Commission Conference

UNIGIS is conducting a GIS Education Workshop at the ’Emerging Urban Transformations 2009 Conference - Multilayered Cities and Urban Systems, organised by the IGU - Urban Geography Commission from 30th July to 9th August 2009, in Hyderabad, India. The workshop will bring together teachers and students, urban planners and practitioners from various munipalities. They presentaions and discussions will focus on GIS in spatial planning and management as well as on the problems and prospects of GIScience education in India. Dr. Shahnawaz from the Centre for Geoinformatics (Z_GIS), Salzburg University, Austria will conduct the workshop on 3rd August.

UNIGIS at HealthGIS - Hyderabad!

UNIGIS is organising a workshop during the Third International Conference on HealthGIS which will be held from 24th to 26th July, 2009 in Hyderabad, India. Dr. Shahnawaz from the Centre for Geoinformatics (Z_GIS), Salzburg University, Austria will lead this workshop on 26th July. The event intends to demonstrate the applications of GIS, Geoinformatics and GIScience in various fields of health care, epidemiology and related topics. In addition, the role of the international UNIGIS partnership for Online Distance Learning in GIScience is highlighted, enhancing the GI-capabilities of many professionals worldwide.

UIA Academic Excellence Prize 2009

The UNIGIS Int’l Association is pleased to announce the launch of its 2009 Academic Excellence Prize. The Academic Excellence Prize, launched by UIA in 2007/8, is awarded on an annual basis to a student, from one of the UNIGIS partner universities worldwide, who produces the most outstanding MSc Dissertation/Thesis or paper during the academic year (which here means 1st Sept 2008 to 31st August 2009). All UNIGIS centres are encouraged to take part in the competition.

Candi­dates must submit their MSc thesis or their paper to the graduating UIA partner institution no later than August 31.

UNIGIS members are reminded that they can only enter two students in any one year.

The standard of the work submitted last year was very high and UIA expect the same high standards this time.

ISEGI-UNL: Seminário MSc em C&SIG - 8ª Edição - 30 e 31 de Janeiro de 2009

Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação has the pleasure to invite you to attend the GIS&C MSc - 8th Edition Seminar, to be held in ISEGI-UNL on January 30-31, 2009. The event is free to the public.

The Program is available at: www.isegi.unl.pt/unigis/Seminario_01_08.asp

Reservation is required > unigis@isegi.unl.pt

ISEGI - Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação
UNL - Universidade Nova de Lisboa
e-mail: mpeixoto@isegi.unl.pt
Phone: 351-213.870.413
Fax: 351-213.872.140
www.isegi.unl.pt/unigis/
www.unigis.pt

UNIGIS Kraków - new MSc Students

On Saturday, February 15th, 11 new students started their MSc studies at the Jagiellonian University in Poland and were taking part in the opening UNIGIS workshop. 

The new group has mostly environmental academic backgrounds, but very different professional experience. All share the common goal of achieving an advanced qualification in Geographic Information Science & Systems in order to stimulate their careers and to enhance their professional skills. The group is small but ambitious and strongly motivated, what will essentially help them to successfully work during the challenging 2-year program.

It was a pleasure to welcome new students in our network, we all wish them a lot of successes!

ENERegion - Summer School on "Regional Potentials for Renewable Energy Generation" (June 29 - July 10, 2009)

The ENERegion International Summer School is dedicated to the theme of "Regional Potentials for Renewable Energy Generation" and is hosted by Salzburg University's Centre for Geoinformatics (Z_GIS).

In a set of lectures, group work and practicals participants focus on using Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis techniques to model spatial patterns of demand as well as regional potentials of solar-thermal and photovoltaic, wind, biomass and hydropower resources. In order to assess the current state of the art regarding the technologies of renewable energy generation for a sustainable development in Europe, the Summer School will provide an insight into leading edge developments in the field. Participants have the opportunity to attend sessions at the Geoinformatics Forum 2009 symposium.

Applications are accepted until May 1, 2009. For registration and further details please visit our website@ www.zgis.at/summerschools!

Asian Institute of Technology – UNIGIS Workshop

On 1 February 2009 a two day UNIGIS-AIT workshop on GIS and GIScience started at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand.

Around 25 people attended and  found the exposure to the broad range of workshop topics very satisfying. As a result, many attendees expressed their interest to join the UNIGIS online education program.

The workshop was led by Dr. Shahnawaz with assistance from Dr. Saied Pirasteh and Dr. Nitin Tripathi (Director, UNIGIS@AIT). Dr. Kiyoshi Honda will join the UNIGIS@AIT board meeting on Feb. 2.

2009 MSc class launched in Salzburg

The already 16th annual group of UNIGIS MSc students met for their kickoff-workshop from January 5-7 at the University of Salzburg, Austria. This German language program has established itself as the gold standard of postgraduate online GIS education over recent years. Right after New Year, 35 incoming students started their coursework by establishing a solid foundation of 'networking', helping them with successfully working their way through compulsory and elective study modules to be covered through distance learning. A challenging 2-year program, the UNIGIS MSc is an excellent foundation for careers across and beyond Geoinformatics and its many application domains.

Winners of the UIA Academic Excellence Prize 2008

The UNIGIS International Association (UIA) would like to announce the first winners of its Academic Excellence Prize. The Prize, initiated in 2008, is presented to the student, or students, who submits the best MSc thesis (or paper) during the academic year. This year the competition was very tight with six excellent high quality MSc theses being considered by the UIA Review Board. In the end the panel decided to make three awards. The winner of the Academic Excellence Prize for 2008 is Andre Colman (UNIGIS – Free University of Amsterdam), in second place is Tobias Fleischmann (UNIGIS – Salzburg) and in third place is Christopher Needham (UNIGIS UK). The Review Board would like to commend these individuals, and the three other students whose theses were consider, for the exceptional high quality of their work. The competition for the 2009 Prize is now open.