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Beijing Winter School

First International Symposium on Agricultural & Ecological Remote Sensing drew over 500 students

From 24-26 November 2018, the first International Symposium on Agricultural and Ecological Remote Sensing and Postgraduate Training Conference was held at China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing. This event, hosted by University College London (UCL) and CAU, aimed to improve the long-term benefits and scientific impact of the UK-China Newton Agri-Tech Projects funded by STFC.

Researchers from over 110 institutes, including UCL, CAU, the University of Newcastle, and several Chinese research organisations, presented at the meeting. This included 27 professors and more than 600 postgraduate students and research associates.

In the opening session, Professor Philip Lewis highlighted the importance of using ESA Sentinels satellites for agricultural monitoring, especially for the North China Plain (NCP). This area accounts for nearly 20% of China’s total agricultural land and is crucial for the country’s food security and economy. Later in the conference, various professors discussed how remote sensing methods, such as optical, SAR, hyper-spectral, and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, are applied in farming and ecology. They also explored how combining different models, like 3D vegetation canopy radiative transfer models and crop growth models, with remote sensing data helps to monitor crop health, growth stages, product quality, and predict final yields. The talks also focused on the impacts of farming on ecosystems, particularly hydrology and soil fertilisation.

On the 26th of November, Dr Nicola Pounder from Assimila Ltd. (UK), a partner in the UK-China Newton Agri-Tech Projects, alongside Dr Qingling Wu, Dr Hongyuan Ma, and Feng Yin from the Department of Geography, UCL, provided practical training on the use of Earth Observation Land Data Assimilation (EO-LDAS). The training focused on combining satellite data and information about vegetation growth with a 3D vegetation canopy growth model to infer canopy structure and leaf spectral data throughout the growing period. This hands-on session brought together UK and Chinese researchers, allowing them to tackle general remote sensing issues and facilitate more engaging, understandable scientific discussions.

The applied training session truly brings UK and China researchers sitting together and has hands-on activities on general remote sensing challenges, which helps to make the conversations of scientific issues become more vivid and easier to grasp.

Winter School

After the conference, many attendees felt it was very valuable and expressed a desire for a second conference and more practical sessions.

As a leading institute in the UK-China Newton Agri-Tech Projects, researchers from the UCL Department of Geography are closely collaborating with Chinese partners. We are also working to create long-term benefits by establishing a platform for professors, researchers, and students to share, discuss, and learn about remote sensing research, particularly in farming monitoring.