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.