The Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP), which is affiliated to the United Nations, has announced its 2020/2021 postgraduate courses in Remote Sensing and GIS, Satellite Meteorology and Global Climate, and Space and Atmospheric Science.

The Remote Sensing and GIS course will be held from 1 July 2020 to 31 March 2021 at the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), which is a unit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in Dehadrun, India. The deadline for applications for the programme is 28 February 2020.

The course is directed towards professionals and specialists working in universities and other educational institutes, who are involved in research in natural resources and environmental management. After developing and enhancing fundamental skills in RS and GIS, students will learn the application of RS and GIS in thematic disciplines such as marine and atmospheric science or agriculture and soil. Experts from Europe, Asia and the US as well from UNOOSA and UN-SPIDER have delivered lectures at the postgraduate programmes in the past.

The Remote Sensing and GIS programme, like all of the postgraduate courses, is split into two phases: in phase I, students study at the Dehadrun Campus for nine months, while in phase two, they return to their home country to conduct a research project for several months.

The 12th postgraduate course in Satellite Meteorology and Global Climate will take place from 1 August 2020 to 30 April 2021 at the Space Applications Centre of IRSO in Ahmedabad, India. The deadline to apply for the course is 2 March 2020. The course is designed for the professionals and specialists working at the meteorological centers, educational institutes and involved in active research in weather forecasting and climate.

The 12th postgraduate course in Space and Atmospheric Science, delivered from 1 August 2020 to 30 April 2021, will take place at the Physical Research Laboratory, also in Ahmedabad, India. The deadline to apply for the course is 30 March 2020. The course is designed towards the scientists, teachers, professionals and specialists of the Asia Pacific region, working in the government, autonomous or university systems and educational institutes in the field of space science and related fields, who wish to improve their skills in the field of Space and Atmospheric Science and thereby improve their usefulness to their parent organizations.

After completing the programme, participating scholars will be able to:

Serve as catalysts for furthering the skills and knowledge of other professionals in their countries

Contribute to policy making, planning, development and management of Satellite Meteorology and its applications in their countries

Enhance the self-reliance of their countries so as to reduce the dependence on external experts

Besides posgraduate courses, CSSTEAP offers master programmes and short courses of two to four weeks. So far, CSSTEAP has conducted 55 postgraduate courses in total with over 2000 participants from 36 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

CSSTEAP is one of six Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Educationaffiliated to the United Nations established by UNOOSA. Its aim is to provide capacity-building in space technology in developing countries by creating education in space-based research information. The RS & GIS postgraduate course is an important tool for contributing to the development and management of this discipline in the participants’ countries, where they can act as catalysts for reinforcing the skills of other professionals.