ISEPEI’s 2018 summer workshops ended

This summer, for the fifth year in a row, CEU Syslab through its ISEPEI project hosted two environmental professional workshops aimed at improving data-driven decision-making and presenting the latest advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs), and their application in various fields.

Run under the organizational framework of the CEU Summer University, the workshops were organized in cooperation with Syslab’s traditional partners – the United Nations Development Programme (“Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction” workshop, held on June 25-29, 2018) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (“Geospatial technologies for Sustainable Water Management” workshop, July 2-6, 2018). Both theoretical and practical sessions, conducted by global leaders in geospatial technologies, reviewed the latest achievements in data-driven decision-making that is driving communities towards sustainable development targets and providing effective responses in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Our speakers for these two weeks represented such well-known organizations as UNDP, UNOOSA, UNESCO, WMO, Group on Earth Observations, NASA, US EPA, Google, DigitalGlobe, Airbus, ESRI, Hexagon Geospatial, GIZ, among others. The workshops were attended by participants from a number of international organizations, government agencies, NGOs, universities and private companies. Participants included practitioners, decision-makers as well as academics from 27 countries, affording a particularly international outlook during the workshops.

Topics, discussed at the workshops, included: international agreements, frameworks and partnerships on DRR; ICT and space-based solutions for sustainable development monitoring; flood monitoring, modeling, and forecasting; big data and crowdsourcing; disaster management and disaster response support solutions; experiences, best practices, and innovations in early warning systems and applications of geospatial technologies in DRR and water management; and so on. Selected presentations were broadcasted, some of the recorded sessions will be available through the Videosquare channel of the CEU Systems Laboratory.

CEU Syslab and ISEPEI would like to congratulate participants on completion of the workshops and thank the many organizations who contributed to their success. We are sure the new found knowledge of the many topics covered will prove to be invaluable to those that participated.

If you missed the workshops this year, make sure to check this website in the fall when the application cycle for next summer starts!