Artist’s rendition of satellites orbiting the Earth – rottenman/123RF Stock Photo

Next week is the UK Earth Observation 2021 week! The National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) and the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc) have come together to run a single online conference from Monday 6^th to Friday 10^th September 2021 focussing on ‘Supporting Climate and Environmental Sustainability through Earth Observation Science’.

These three organisations are part of the UK’s EO capabilities, and provide opportunities for networking, research and development within the industry. Their specific focuses are:

• NECO is a research centre which provides NERC, the UK Research Council for environmental science, with national capability in Earth Observation (EO) science, and supports the delivery of various UK EO activities.
• CEOI is the UK’s national EO instrument and technology research and development programme funded by the UK Space Agency with parallel technology investment from industry.
• RSPSoc is the UK’s leading learned Society for remote sensing and photogrammetry including their application to education, science, research, industry, commerce and the public service. As a charity, its remit is to inform and educate its members and the public, and supports networking between the university, business and government sectors.

Pixalytics has been involved with RSPSoc for many years, and Sam was previously the chair of the organisation. We’ve supported many of their events in the past, and are delighted to be one of the supporters sponsoring this event too!

Each organisation has its own day and events during the week, together with a number of plenary sessions. The details about the week are:

• Monday – Opening Plenary and three CEOI sessions on Future ESA Earth Explorer and Scout Missions; Future EO science Missions and instruments; and Commercial EO Missions and Constellations.
• Tuesday – An NCEO day with a number of sessions on Early Careers, together with a number of parallel sessions on various aspects of EO.
• Wednesday – Plenary day focussing on Societal Applications of EO with sessions on Climate & COP26; EO, Health & Pandemic; and Disaster Management.
• Thursday – An RSPSoc day, including the RSPSoc Awards, Annual General Meeting and sessions on Emerging Technology and Product validation; Geohazard Assessment & Mitigation, Archaeology; Disaster Risk management; Geological Applications of EO; Habitat Mapping & Monitoring; and Disaster Preparedness & Response.
• Friday – NECO Sessions on EO Services & Impacts; EO Working Internationally; & Microwave Missions, Instruments and Technologies. Together with the final Plenary Session on the Future Opportunities for EO.

Registration for the event cost £60.00 per person for all the sessions, and there is still time to register if you are interested.

We love the RSPSoc conference as it is a great opportunity to meet up with old friends, make new ones and talk about what is happening within the EO industry. Of course, with Covid, few conferences have taken place over the last eighteen months. For organisations like RSPSoc, who are a charity, this has deprived them of valuable opportunities to gain funding to keep running, and so we are pleased to see this week-long conference happening and happy we’re supporting it.

We’re looking forward to the week, and hope to see some of you virtually around event!