MSc Thesis - A Winner!

At the 'Münchner GI-Runde 2015' annual conference and awards in Munich - a leading geospatial venue for the German language community - UNIGIS graduates over the years have built a strong reputation for excellence and innovative ideas.

This was continued by Christoph Schlacher (Graz), winning this year's top price among master theses with the research he had submitted for his UNIGIS MSc: "Die Vorläufige Bewertung des Hochwasserrisikos - Alternative Ermittlung der Betroffenen in Überflutungsflächen mittels räumlicher Disaggregation" (~ 'assessment of flood risk - determining population within flood zones through spatial disaggregation').

Congratulations Mr. Schlacher to this outstanding success and recognition of excellent academic work!

The strong showing of Z_GIS alumni at this event was rounded off by Ingrid Schardinger taking top honours in the PhD category. These successes will certainly stimulate ambitions and serve as role models for current and future students in our graduate Geoinformatics programmes!

UNIGIS in a prominent role at IGF'2015 in Hyderabad

Visitors at UNIGIS Booth

The UNIGIS@India team led by Dr. Shahnawaz (Director, UNIGIS S/E Asia) had a wide presence and a prominent role in this year's India Geospatial Forum held from 10th to 12th February, 2015 at the International Convention Centre, Hyderabad. The UNIGIS booth in the exhibit area was among the most visited ones receiving prominent academics, geospatial professionals and students.

Dr. Shahnawaz also coordinated a 2 day ‘Youth Forum’ on 11/12th February focussing on Geospatial capacity building. More than 100 young students and entrepreneurs, eminent academics, prominent industry leaders and successful professionals adorned the forum and shared their rich experiences with geospatial education, research, applications and employment opportunities.

Participants in the 'Youth Forum'

Mr. P- Gopi receiving UNIGIS prize

UNIGIS has introduced a cash prize for the ‘Best Student Paper’ presented in the forum to encourage young students towards geospatial research. However, the numbers of presented papers were quite high and the quality of several papers was equally competitive so the jury decided to share the prize among the 4 top most papers. The winners are Mr. P. Gopi (MSc UNIGIS India), Ms. V. Sakthi Kirthi (Anna University, Chennai), Ms. Natasa Chowdhury & Ms. Shruti Menon (Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics, Pune) and Ms. C. Madhumathi / K. Sridevi (Anna University, Tirunelveli).

Ms. V. Shakthi Kirthi receiving UNIGIS prize

An Annual Meeting of the UNIGIS India community was also organised on 12th February where more than 20 alumni, current students and instructors had the opportunity to meet and discuss their views about the impacts of  UNIGIS Online Distance Learning on Geospatial education. The major message from alumni to the current and future students was that UNIGIS is truly dedicated to 'Enhancing the Competences of GI-professionals Worldwide' and it has been serving as a catalyst in the career advancement of a large number of aspirants for about 25 years!

Meet UNIGIS at IGF'2015 in Hyderabad!

UNIGIS is coordinating the 'Geospatial' capacity building sessions as a 'Youth Forum' at the India Geospatial Forum' 2015 organised at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre from 10th to 12th February. The sessions focus on generating a significant impetus to building capacity of teachers, strengthening and stimulate the youth community to become successful entrepreneurs, and on providing students a platform for sharing their research with the wider Geospatial communities.

The event will also provide a platform for a 'UNIGIS Students & Alumni Meet' and the UNIGIS Team will be available for any discussions and information sharing at 'Booth No. 13 C'. in the exhibit area! We'd be glad to meet alumni, colleagues and prospective students alike!

UNIGIS is offering a highly regarded international distance learning program on postgraduate level, leading to certificate and MSc qualifications awarded by the University of Salzburg (Austria) jointly with partner universities in India. These qualifications are considered optimal milestones towards advancing careers in geospatial industry, administration and academia alike.

UNIGIS Professional Intro-Workshop: Space as Common Denominator

There is probably rarely any domain that does not work spatially, either implicitly or explicitly. Need a proof for this hypothesis? Visit a UNIGIS Professional introductory workshop such as the one that took place last weekend in Salzburg.
We welcomed students from Germany, Switzerland and Austria who all want to enhance their geospatial knowledge and skills in order to gain benefits in their respective domains and take the next step in their career.

Once again it was fascinating to witness the key role of spatial information in very different application contexts. From facility planning to archeology, from urban development to natural hazard prevention, from academia to public administration - these are in fact disciplines that rely on strong methodological competence and practical skills.
Within the next months we will equip our new students with up-to-date insights into geoinformatics and guide them through the most important concepts of spatial modeling and analysis. Finally we expect to release them as active and competent GIS users and contributors to our highly active alumni network.
For now, we all wish a great start into the first module!