2016 Annual Meeting

Annual MeetingG-SPASE program, an education program intended to foster personnel who can solve social issues using space and geospatial technology, has been in practice for 5 years by the fiscal year 2016. The Annual Meeting was held on February 23rd (10:00-17:00) at North Hall, Mita Campus, Keio University. In the gathering, explanation of the overall accomplishment, an invited lecture “Minerva School and the Future of Higher Education”from Hideki Yamamoto (Regional Outreach, Minerva Schools at KGI), presentation of student research projects on 11 themes, poster session and panel discussion were held. Approximately, 100 people participated the meeting.

Professor Ryosuke Shibasaki, The University of TokyoAssociate Professor Naohiko Kohtake, Keio University

In the invited lecture, as an opportunity to think on how universities should function in the future, Hideki Yamamoto introduced the emerging educational experience in Minerva School. In the world, universities hold issues on (1) preparation gap, (2) pedagogy, (3) global immersion and (4) campus bubble. 2014 Gallup Poll has even announced that “96 % of universities believe they are preparing students but only 11 % of employers believe students are prepared.” The talk sent out a message that in a rapidly changing world, it is urgent to educate university students who can adapt to the environment.

Following, participants gave out presentations to explain the outcome of their student research projects. G-SPASE program puts emphasis on actually going out on fields to collect meaningful data. For example, to name a few, the themes were on deployment of high-accuracy satellite positioning base stations in Asian regions, coconut monitoring using UAVs in Ko Pha-Ngan Island/ Thailand, traffic congestion analysis using taxi probes in Bangkok/ Thailand and visualization of foreign visitors and handicapped accessible places in Tokyo.

Poster Session 1Poster Session 2

Finally, in the panel discussion, the need to improve negotiation skills among various stakeholders and raising consciousness towards that idea to solve social issues were shared. There were voices from the master students that the G-SPASE program assisted on providing new insight going out on fieldworks, meeting with working students, learning difficulty of team management and motivation maintenance.

Panel Discussion 1

Panel Discussion 2

2017 welcomes the last funded year for the G-SPASE program. In fostering students who can contribute in solving global issues in the future, faculties are striving to improve the program.

Thank you for your participation!

An article was introduced on the Cabinet Office, Governmentof Japan website. (Only available in Japanese)  http://qzss.go.jp/news/archive/g-spase_170302.html