First GATHERS Summer School is a success

• The summer school comprised of theoretical and practical lessons on three geodetic techniques for monitoring the Earth's surface deformations mainly caused by anthropogenic activities, like underground mining.
• I consider the summer school a success as it reached its goals – says DR. Maya Ilieva

The aim of the project is to streghten the UPWr research rank in remote sensing techniques such as: Interferometric Synthetic-Aperture Radar (InSAR), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Current challenges in the field are related to the deformation rate and scale, a non-linear character of terrain movements, seismic magnitude, differentiation between the sources of surface deformations, require an enhancement of the methodological approaches as well as substantial expertise in interpretation of the results.

Partnering with leading scientific centres in these areas (TU Wien - LiDAR technique; TU Delft - InSAR technique; La Sapienza - GNSS seismisity) based on scientific internships, joint workshops, summer schools, B2B meetings will enhance the UPWr research potential.

The GATHERS Summer School was addressed to master’s, PhD students and young researchers from all over Europe interested in geodesy, geodynamics and remote sensing. The aim is to gather and support a new generation of skilled scientists, to straighten the connections between generations and to create a new European interdisciplinary network. Another goal of the school was to enhance the partnership between the scientists from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics (IGiG), part of the SpaceOS Leading Research Group at UPWr with the GATHERS partners, to develop further IGiG organisational and management skills. 

– On behalf of the UPWr, the GATHERS project is run by scientists from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, and is led by me – says Dr. Maya Ilieva, whose scientific interests are in the field of monitoring of natural and anthropogenic hazards by InSAR and seismology. She’s currently also working further on these topics with Prof. Ramon Hanssen and Dr. Freek van Leijen from TU Delft. 

The other scientists from UPWr who work on the project, are Prof. Jan Kapłon, who is a specialist with expertise in GNSS and GNSS-seismology. – He participates and leads a number of government and European projects. He supervises PhD and MSc students, runs GNSS-seismology courses in the GATHERS summer schools and hackathons with the team of Sapienza University of Rome – Prof. Mattia Crespi, Prof. Augusto Mazzoni, Dr. Michela Ravanelli, Dr. Roberta Ravanelli, and Marco Fortunato – says Dr Maya Ilieva.

– Then we have Prof. Grzegorz Jóźków, who is a specialist in photogrammetry, remote sensing, in particular in LiDAR. He is working on LiDAR training and research, GATHERS schools and hackathon organisation together with the TU Wien team – Prof. Norbert Pfeifer, Dr. Camillo Ressl and Dr. Wilfried Karel – she adds.

As the leader of the project further explains, the GATHERS team is also supported by Prof. Witold Rohm – head of the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics at UPWr, but also a leader of the SpaceOS Leading Research Group. Prof. Rohm's role in GATHERS is as an Innovation and Data Manager aims to encourage high quality scientific achievement in the project. 

What’s it all about?

The summer school comprised of theoretical and practical lessons on three geodetic techniques for monitoring the Earth's surface deformations mainly caused by anthropogenic activities, like underground mining. The three techniques are Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), Laser scanning (LiDAR), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in seismology. 

These topics were chosen in regards to the main objective of the H2020 GATHERS project - to investigate the possibilities of an integrated modern approach in the monitoring and modelling of the surface deformations using these three techniques. During the summer school field measurements were also performed joining GNSS-seismology experiments and UAV (drone) LiDAR measurements in the area of the Ignacy Historical Mine in Rybnik Silesia, where part of the event was hosted. 

– Within the summer school, we also organised a workshop to present the latest scientific achievements of the GATHERS team. During the last academic year we managed to obtain PhD student training for three of our younger colleagues at the headquarters of European partners with the support of their UPWr supervisors. In a hybrid mode Damian Tondaś worked together with Dr. Freek van Leijen, prof. Ramon Hanssen and prof. Hans van der Marel from Delft Technical University on the integration of GNSS and InSAR measurements for monitoring of the surface deformations in the mining area of Rybnik. Iwona Kudłacik had the valuable opportunity to work with the team of Prof. Mattia Crespi from Sapienza University of Rome on GNSS applications for detecting mining tremors, while Agata Walicka spent a very fruitful time in Vienna working with Prof. Norbert Pfeifer and his team. Another notable outcome of this collaboration is the NAWA Preludium 20 project that Dr. Walicka and Prof. Pfeifer won this year – names Dr. Ilieva.

Some of the most notable participants were invited to give a talk during the workshop - Chiara Pileggi and Marianna Alghisi from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, on GNNS and 5G integration, Natalia Wielgocka from UPWr on DInSAR-PSI integration, Rafaela Tiengo from Portugal, on Land cover detection, and Ansgar Dreier from the University of Bonn, Germany, on LiDAR applications for deformation monitoring.

In addition to the scientific core of the school the participants had the opportunity to develop more soft skills during a dedicated course, to explore the architecture and history of the city of Wroclaw during a guided tour, and to see the still-working, hundred-year-old steam machine in the exhibition of the Ignacy Historic Mine in Rybnik. 

The first GATHERS Summer School was a success

– The goal for the first edition was to gather scholars from Europe focused on the chosen topic and to start the first stage of creating the GATHERS alumni of young scientists interested in monitoring the surface deformations using modern geodetic techniques. I consider the summer school a success as it reached its goals – among more than 70 applications, 24 students from 8 countries were chosen to take part in this adventure. They were gathered in 6 groups working on individual tasks which supported one of our networking goals – explains Dr. Maya Ilieva.

The program was very intense covering the theory and practical lessons in the three topics, but also including field experiments. From the initial feedback we got from the participants I can tell we reached our goals – says the leader of the project – the level of lessons was high, focused and very interesting. The students, as well as the teachers had the opportunity to spend time together in scientific discussions and making friendships.

– My experience at the summer school was exciting and challenging. I decided to take part because I wanted to learn more about other monitoring systems with regards to the one that I'm currently using. So I started the school with curiosity and my expectation was exceeded! The lessons were very interesting, not only the theoretical part but also the exercises have been important and helped us so much to deeply understand the arguments. I gained not only knowledge on the subject, but also got to learn about another culture and visit a different country. It wasn’t a typical course in which the professors "teach" and the students "learn", but it was a circular way to expand our knowledge in a very stimulating environment. It was a busy week but it was definitely worth it – says participant Lorenza Randali from the University of Rome.

 Rachele Fratini, another participant from Italy, from the same university, says that being part of this project was an amazing experience. – I decided to apply hoping to acquire further knowledge on the matter of integrating GNSS technologies, which I am most familiar with due to my master's thesis research, with InSAR and LiDAR, that were almost new to me.

Once there, I found a very welcoming, friendly and informal environment. I had the possibility to gain a deeper understanding of how to work with new technologies and interpret data acquired with them. Not only was it helpful on the academic side, but also for the technical and practical aspects related to data analysis – says Rachele, adding that the collaboration with Sapienza, Technical University in Delft and Technical University in Wien brought together some of the greatest experts on the matter, allowing students to take a deep dive into the themes of the lectures. – I’m looking forward to applying the acquired knowledge into my research, since the summer school gave me a wider view of the possible further developments – she adds.

 – I decided to take part in the project because the topic of the summer school is a perfect match for my studies and managerial approaches to InSAR, LiDAR, and GNSS-seismology for monitoring and modelling the Earth’s surface deformations and seismic risk. Knowing that my knowledge level on these topics varies (good on GNSS seismology, moderate on InSAR and beginner on LiDAR), the summer school will bring a balance to it, because of the integrated way of presenting the theoretical and practical aspects in surface deformation monitoring by application of those three main observing methods – says Dr. Eduard Nastase, a researcher at the National Institute for Earth Physics, Romania.

He also adds that the summer school provided him with the opportunity to network, develop new studies and further project ideas, and link all the dots of these three topics.

– I hope to be able to present an integrated methodology in which the complexity of the subsurface can be better characterised and that we can use to make better predictions about the consequences of human intervention in this subsurface – says Dr. Nastase.

The GATHERS Summer School also helped Dr. Nastase on the CRESCENTO project within the National Seismic Network. – Here, we envisage building a research direction for monitoring and modelling subsurface based on integrated Geodesy and Geophysics to significantly improve our ability to predict the effects of interaction with the subsurface, in order to avoid or mitigate undesired effects – the scientist says.