Yogyakarta Indonesia. After the signing of the MoU in 2011, collaboration between the Graduate School and PUSPICS Faculty of Geography and Biophysical Remote Sensing Group, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of Queensland (UQ, Australia) continues. The activity was preceded by the visit of the chairman of PUSPICS also acted as the head of Master Program in Remote Sensing Faculty of Geography UGM Dr. Projo Danoedoro. He was in Brisbane to receive UQ Indonesian Alumni Award in November 2011, and the UQ send Prof. And Dr. Stuart Phinn. Chris Roelfsema to the Faculty of Geography in October 2012 afterwards. The 2012 meeting was scheduled to introduce the field of expertise -of remote sensing- between UGM and UQ, and continued with guest lectures, workshops of new curriculum of Master program in Remote Sensing, and fieldtrip for students (undergraduate and graduate) in mangrove research topic, seagrass, and coral reef in Karimunjawa.
On 17 to 20 February 2014 Prof. Stuart Phinn and Dr. Chris Roelfsema re- visit the Faculty of Geography to develop cooperation programs that have been initiated earlier. This sequence of events was rescheduled due to Kelud Volcano eruption which has forced Adisucipto Airport to be closed, and consequently on February 16, UQ team was forced to continue the flight to Jakarta for a further discussion in Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) in Bogor in order to develop the triangular cooperation between UQ-UGM-BIG . Finally, on 18 to 19 February, they are able to join the Workshop on Remote Sensing and Guest Lecture organized by The Graduate School and PUSPICS Faculty of Geography. In the workshop, the new PhD degree holder and also a PhD candidate in remote sensing has performed in front of undergraduate and graduate student as participants, as well as participants from various universities and government agencies / other private , such as IPB ,UNJ,UNY, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia, and the World Wildlife Fund . The workshop and guest lecture during the two-day was guided by prof. Dr. Hartono, DEA, DESS, (professor in remote sensing), Dr. R. Suharyadi , MSc ( Vice Dean ) , Dr . Pramod M. Hadi , MSc (Head of Doctoral program in Geographical Science), as well as Dr. Projo Danoedoro as the coordinator of this event.\
Presentation of the of lecturers and PhD students in the field of remote sensing of the Faculty of Geography UGM are very interesting to Prof. Stuart Phinn and Dr. Chris Roelfsema. This is a new experience for them to evaluate and give feedback to students outside of UQ and even outside of Australia. By this evaluating process, they are able to see the strengths and weaknesses that exist in the Faculty of Geography. Based on their opinion, one of the strengths is a tendency to integrate remote sensing with geographic information systems and cartography among lecturers and students of UGM. Existing deficiencies, primarily related to the formulation of a conceptual framework, they consider still reasonable as most presenters are students did not do proposal examination. Several interludes presentations were given by undergraduate and graduate students of Cartography and Remote Sensing which also stimulate compliments from the guests from UQ.
Based on students opinion, the guest Lecture delivered by Prof. Stuart Phinn and Dr. Chris Roelfsema are very interesting. They were not only discussing about latest remote sensing technology and issues, the latest research but also gave inputs in terms of research methodology, starting from the basics. Several interesting examples were also presented for instance how to build a conceptual model.
On the third day in Yogyakarta (20 February 2014), the meeting continued with the preparation of more concrete plans of planned cooperation. Among these is the establishment of temporary research area in Central Java (including Karimun Islands) , Jakarta and the Thousand Islands area for common research area in a triangular cooperation plan of UGM – UQ – BIG . Determination of the themes of the research includes the study of changes in cover / land use , biomass and carbon estimation of vegetation biophysical modeling urban area , as well as the mapping of coastal areas ( especially mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs ) which are all based on remote sensing image.
Dr. Projo Danoedoro explains, the plan of cooperation in the field of education will be manifested in the form of an exchange student, where the PhD students (which can be extended to master students, if possible) of the Faculty of Geography will be given the opportunity to make a visit to UQ to finalize the concept and method of sensing away in under the guidance of UQ Lecturers. In fact, this supervision is not only limited to students who visited UQ, but students who are studying in UGM. On the contrary, UQ students who are interested in researching Indonesian environment with remote sensing will also be given the opportunity to stay at UGM and guided by lecturers at the Faculty of Geography. Both UGM students and UQ will be exempted from tuition fees (tuition fees). The exchange plans will also be extended to the teaching staff, especially associated with joint research activities.