Academic Excellence Prize awarded at GI_Forum

Heidi El Hosaini (UNIGIS Manchester) had been named the winner of the annual worldwide UNIGIS Master Thesis competition in October 2014 for her dissertation titled "Locating and positioning solar panels in a 3D city model – a case study of Newcastle".  This thesis was developed with sponsorship from the UK Ordnance Survey.

The prize carried an invitation to the GI_Forum Salzburg, where she published and presented her work in a well received talk in the main conference program, and received the 'trophy' and an award certificate. The winner says: "My dissertation demonstrates potential applications and techniques using Ordnance Survey’s 3D dataset. These could be further explored, expanded on a larger scale, and/or researched with respect to their potential business value. In this case, potential customers would include solar panel companies and installers, urban planners, householders and other decision-makers in the solar energy industry."

Accepting award from UNIGIS Chair Prof Josef Strobl

Mrs El Hosaini's studies were completed as part of her Geographical Information Systems MSc programme within the UNIGIS postgraduate, online distance-learning framework that is jointly run by the University of Salford and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Dr Mike Wood, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management and Salford Programme Leader for the UNIGIS programmes, said: “We are delighted with Heidi’s success. Her thesis was truly exceptional and for her to receive such international recognition is fantastic."

Congratulations!