Young scientists from all over the world have gathered for their two-week summer school course at ESA’s ESRIN centre for Earth observation in Frascati, Italy.
Supported by ESA’s Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM), the EO Summer School is in its eighth edition, proving an ongoing success.
Some 70 young scientists from 26 countries are attending daily lectures by leading experts.
Held every two years, the course deals with issues related to the societal and business applications of Earth observation data, along with remote sensing, Earth system modelling and data assimilation.
“ESA’s Summer School gathers students and experts from all over the world, who learn from each other. The best minds are put together in matters of sustainable development, so as to effect change in Europe and in the world,” said Heather Leson, of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), which creates online maps for disaster response and economic development.
“There is a huge potential in each of their journeys. For example, a student participating from Bulgaria who runs a geography startup in her country will bring her findings back home, to in turn share her discoveries with the 500 others that work in this community. This creates a continuous learning experience.”
In the afternoons, the students frequent practical sessions on the processing of Earth observation data with computer-based learning. They also present their work to the other attendees in daily poster sessions.
“In the context of the developing ‘Open Science’ practices, young scientists are trained and encouraged to use the latest open source tools, new cloud technology and a collaborative environment to transform freely available EO data anywhere and at any time to generate new science results or innovative applications for the benefit of society,” said ESA’s Yves-Louis Desnos, one of the Summer School lecturers.
At the closing session of the Summer School, the European Meteorological Society will be awarding the best posters.
