On Monday and Tuesday, 14 – 15 July 2017, as a step to educate the upcoming generations on disaster environmental issues, a general lecture on Disaster Risk Reduction in Tropics was held in collaboration with Faculty of Geography UGM and North Eastern Hill University. Prof. Dr. Sunil Kumar De from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India visited the Faculty of Geography UGM to give general lecture. His expertise on major fields of interest on Geomorphological Hazards (especially landslide & soil erosion), fluvial dynamics and human impact on environment. He also teaches courses on Geomorphology, Soil science and GIS in North Eastern Hill University. Prof. Sunil gave a lecture about “Disaster risk Management on Tropics: Geomorphological Perspective”. Attended by more than 130 lectures and graduate as well as postgraduate students, Prof. Sunil explained the understanding of the different basic concept disaster risk management in geomorphological perspective, Develop critical knowledge about the praxis of disaster risk management on tropics, and Develop critical thinking about disaster management of various disaster in geomorphological perspective. The coordinator of this event, Dr. Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron, M.Sc., M.T (Vice Dean of Research, Community Service, Cooperation and Alumni) hoped that this kind of sharing knowledge activity may be continued in the next science collaboration program.

On Monday, 16 August 2017, the Department of Development Geography conducted a guest lecture under the Urban Study Course coordinated by Dr. Rini Rachmawati, S.Si., M.T and team. The guest lecturer, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Thu Hoa, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Urban and Environment Economics & Management, National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam presented a lecture on Urban Green Growth. This guest lecture is also a premier lecture of the semester. It was attended by more than seventy students and lecturers. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoa was invited as one of the lecturers on the Smart City, Village and Region Summer Course 2017 which was held by the Department of Development from 7 to 15 August, 2017.

After being conducted for ten days consecutively, on Tuesday, 15 August, 2017, the Smart City, Village and Region Summer Course 2017 is officially closed by Prof. Dr. Muh Aris Marfai, the Dean of the Faculty of Geography. As mentioned by the initiator as well as the coordinator of the Summer Course, Dr. Rini Rachmawati, S.Si., M.T, “During ten days thirty-five participants coming from ten different countries followed in class and fieldwork activities on the theme of smart city, village and region”. The participants learned from eight different countries on how the concepts and implementation of smart city, village and region for example by visiting the Communication and Information Agency of Yogyakarta Special Region to learn the implementation of smart city concept in Yogyakarta. They also visited Solo Technopark and Digital Small and Medium Enterprises Kampong Batik Laweyan in Solo. During the official closing speech, the Dean also emphasized that hopefully the Smart City, Village and Region Summer Course will be conducted again in 2018. The Head of the Office of International Affairs, I Made Andi Arsana, Ph.D who attended the closing ceremony expects that the participants may benefit the experience and knowledge from the Summer Course and expand the networks and mutual collaboration on Smart City, Village and Region thematic.

On Friday, 11 August 2017, Associate Professor Dr. Yan Liu from the University of Queensland (UQ) visited the Faculty of Geography UGM (FGE UGM). Dr Liu is a Human Geographer specializing in Geographical Informational Science (GIS), spatial analysis and modelling. With a long collaboration between the Department of Geographical Information Science and the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management (UQ), this general lecture is intended to strengthen the collaboration as well as to improve the students’ exposure towards international event. Attended by more than 70 lectures and graduate as well as postgraduate students, Dr. Liu explained the use of spatial data analysis in different topics such as: analyzing transit smart card data to understand travel pattern costs and behaviors, (ii) spatial mining of large administrative data to identify and understand neighborhood problems, and (iii) identifying and visualizing high risk road segments for Hit-Parked-Vehicle (HPV) crashes. The coordinator of this event, Dr. Muhammad Kamal (Secretary of the Department of Geographical Information Science) who is also the alumnus of the University of Queensland closed the event and hoped that this kind of collaborative activity may be conducted in the future.

Universitas Gadjah Mada eagers to improve national competitiveness through the achievement of the top 500 world ranking conducted by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) through QS World University Ranking (QS- WUR) as mandated by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti) towards several State Universities including UGM. The impact of international recognition is the improvement of reputation and the role of universities in the development of science and technology. The Summer Course Program is one of UGM strategies in academic internationalization. Along with the development of information and communication technology, the last few years Smart City is increasingly tight talked about and believed will be one solution of various problems arising from the progress and dynamics of an increasingly advanced and modern city. Universities, industry and government institutions play an important role in developing information technology to be implemented in Smart City.

Under the Center for Natural Resources and Development Consortium, the Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada has an opportunity to invite Dr. Abraham Cardenas-Tristan, a lecturer/researcher from the Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Mexico. From 16 to 27 August, 2017, Dr. Cardenas-Tristan conducted several general lectures in the Faculty of Geography (Fig 1) as well as in the Faculty of Agriculture (Fig 2), Universitas Gadjah Mada, including San Luis Potosi, Mexico: Athmospheric Pollution Problem; Spatial Analysis of the Dynamics Urban Growth and Loss of Agricultural Land in San Luis Potosi; and, Water Use Profit Estimation through a Spatial Distribution Model.

On 1^st of August, 2017, the Faculty of Geography UGM conducted a Workshop on International Journal Publication. This activity opened by Dr. Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron, S.Si., M.Sc., the Vice Dean of Research, Community Services, Cooperation and Alumni. This event was taken as a measure to boost the number of international publication by lecturers and PhD candidates at the Faculty. During this activity, Dr. Cees van Westen from the Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, the Netherlands, having more than 30 score of Scopus h-index, and Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Junun Sartohadi, M.Sc. from the Department of Physical Geography, having one of the highest h-indexs at this Faculty, presented some materials on How to Publish a Scientific Paper in International Journal. In addition, Purwani Istiana, S.IP.,M.A., the librarian of the Faculty of Geography also presented a guideline on credit system grading for lecturers’ publications. More than 35 audiences, consisting of lecturers and PhD students participated to this very productive and thought-provoking activity.

Dalam rangka mendorong dan meningkatkan jumlah publikasi ilmiah Universitas Gadjah Mada di Jurnal Internasional, Universitas Gadjah Mada melalui Badan Penerbit dan Publikasi UGM mengadakan The 3^rd International Conference Science and Technology (ICST 2017) di Eeastparc Hotel tanggal 11-12 Juli 2017. Pada Opening Ceremony (11 Juli 2017)  Universitas Gadjah Mada dihadiri oleh Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M. Eng., D. Eng (Rektor UGM) untuk memberikan sambutan sebagai tanda dibukanya acara ICST 2017. Sebagaimana konferensi pada umumnya, ICST 2017 dimulai dengan plenary session yang mengundang beberapa tokoh, baik dari kalangan akademisi atau praktisi. Dalam acara ini menghadirkan beberapa keynote speaker yang berasal dari berbagai negara, diantaranya Prof. David St. C. Black (University of New South Wales, Australia), Dr. Ir. Parluhutan Manurung (Badan Informasi Geospasial, Indonesia), Prof. Dr. Ir. Sunjoto, Dip.HE., DEA (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia), Prof. Taku Demura, Ph.D (Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Jepang) dan Dr. Widyawan. S.T., M.Sc (Direktur DSDI UGM, Indonesia ). Sekitar 288 orang mengikuti ICST, yang terdiri dari 221 pemakalah, 28 non-pemakalah, dan 38 pembicara (Gambar 1).

Fakultas Geografi UGM kembali mendapatkan kesempatan untuk terlibat dalam Overseas Training Programme and Selection for Candidates to France and New Zealand bagi Guru-Guru Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan di Seluruh Indonesia. Kegiatan ini berlangsung di Golden Boutique Hotel Angkasa, Jakarta pada 15-18 Juni 2017. Agenda ini bertujuan untuk memberikan pembekalan terkait hal-hal teknis substantif untuk mengikuti kegiatan pendidikan non gelar di luar negeri. Agenda dihadiri oleh setidaknya 256 peserta calon peserta dan 18 Narasumber serta Tim Kementerian dan Kebudayaan, Indonesia. Agenda dibuka oleh Direktur Jenderal Pendidikan Dasar Menengah Kemdikbud (Gambar 1).

Acara 8^th  Rural Research and Planning Group  (RRPG) International Conference and Field Study Plus BUMDES Expo kerja sama Departemen Geografi Pembangunan, Fakultas Geografi, Universitas Gadjah Mada dengan Direktorat Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat UGM dan Pusat Studi Pedesaan dan Kawasan UGM baru saja digelar, 16-17 Mei di UGM.