Keynotes
Ioana Popescu, Professor PhD.eng.
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Netherlands
Professor Ioana I. Popescu is a zero appointed Professor of Hydroinformatics at TU Delft and contributes to IHE Delft in The Netherlands. She holds degrees in Civil Engineering (Hydrotechnics) and Mathematics (Applied Mathematics and Informatics), with doctoral studies in Computational Hydraulics. With 37 years of research experience, Prof. Popescu specializes in computational methods, aspects of flood modeling and vulnerability related to floods, lake and reservoir modeling and water supply systems modeling and optimisation. She is particularly interested in integrating mathematical models into decision support systems. Data is key in model development, hence she explores all sources of data, from EO to in situ data and is for the FAIR data sharing. She has published over 100 journal papers and 4 books, supervised 92 MSc students and 8 completed PhD students (with 4 ongoing). Moreover, educating students and water professionals forms a significant part of Prof. Popescu's professional portfolio. She has been instrumental in teaching and curriculum development across various formats, including traditional classroom settings, online platforms, open courseware, and specialized short and tailor-made courses. During her 24-year tenure at IHE Delft, she has contributed to over 47 research projects (EU and other fundings), with research applied to case studies all over the world (such as: Vietnam, Egypt, Colombia, Romania, China, Bangladesh, Kenya, etc) This extensive experience has led to her involvement in numerous international scientific committees for conferences, scientific communities, and associations. Notably, from 2018 to 2024, she served as a member of the Scientific Committee of World Data Systems, part of the International Council for Science. Ioana is a member of several engineering associations and research schools, including the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), the European Geophysical Union (EGU), and the SENSE research school.
Ana Maria Olteanu - Raimond, Senior researcher PhD.eng.
LASTIG, IGN-ENSG, Université Gustave Eiffel, Saint-Mande, France
Ana-Maria Olteanu-Raimond is senior researcher in Geographic Information Science and deputy director of LASTIG laboratory of the French National Mapping agency (IGN France) and Université Gustave Eiffel. Her research interests include the integration of heterogeneous spatial data, imperfect information fusion, data matching, land use land cover mapping, and collaborative mechanisms and quality assessment of VGI for joint use with authoritative spatial data. She is also conducting research on citizen science: data collection, platforms, tasks, motivation and sustainability. She is also teaching at the ENSG (Ecole Nationale des Sciences Géographiques – Engineering school in Geographic Science). She is involved in French and International communities such as ISPRS (co- leader of WG IV/8) and GDR CNRS MAGIS (co-leader of WG VGI and crowdsourcing).
Ionuț Cristi Nicu,Senior researcher PhD.
Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Tromsø, Norway
Dr. Ionuț Cristi Nicu is a Research Professor (Researcher I) at the High North Department, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, in Tromsø. He has a PhD in Geography from UAIC Iasi and a research experience of 16 years. His interdisciplinary background shows a high interest in the evaluation and monitoring of natural hazards (landslides, gully erosion, coastal erosion) with direct effects on immovable cultural heritage using GIS. A few keywords that can better describe his research background and interests are: soil erosion, natural hazards, landslides, gully erosion, landscape archaeology, geomorphology, cultural heritage, RS and GIS, protection of cultural heritage, spatial analysis, predictive modelling. He has conducted fieldwork in Azerbaijan, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Svalbard (Norway). He is part in numerous projects funded from the European Union's Horizon Europe Programme, Marie Curie Actions People International Research Staff Exchange Scheme with the 7th European Community Framework Programme, Research Council of Norway, JPI Climate. His scholarly contributions include peer-reviewed journal publications, co-edited books, books, book chapters.
Wilfried Karel, Senior researcher
TU Wien, Austria
Mr. Wilfried Karel received his master's degree in geodesy and geophysics at TU Wien, Austria, in 2005. Since then, he has been working at TU Wien at what is now the Research Group of Photogrammetry within the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, with interludes at the Vienna Institute for Achaeological Science at the University of Vienna, the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia, and the National Center for Cartography of Romania. Besides the development of scientific software for terrain and vegetation modelling (OPALS), and for sensor calibration and orientation (OrientAL), his focus is on the calibration and orientation of multi-camera platforms, historical imagery, Laser scans, satellite images, and time-of-flight range cameras. The latter resulted in a publication honoured with the E. H. Thompson Award by the British "Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society" (RSPSoc).
Pietro Grimaldi, Photogrammetry Senior Expert
Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy
Mr. Pietro Grimaldi formed under the Civil Engineering Building (School of Supsi in Lugano and at the Faculty of Engineering in Bari) since 1982 is interested in "Architectonic Photogrammetry" is the remarkable photogrammetric documentation of the "Convent of San Damiano in Assisi" performed in 1990. Grimaldi turns great interest to architectural documentation with the use of new technologies following the development of digital technology in Photogrammetry and starting, in recent years, the study in addition to the finalization of the survey, the proper use of laser scanning 3D and thermographic technology in architectonic documentation. Focussing the documentation of cultural heritage as evidenced by the last "business" of initiating a "Center for Documentation of Cultural Heritage on line in South America" with the sponsorship and contribution of the University Central of Venezuela (UCV). Finally, the participation in and publication of some 50 works, most of them in international conferences (Spain, Poland, Romania, Greece, USA, Brazil, Venezuela, China, Costa Rica). At the moment Professor Pietro Grimaldi is in the position of expert on the subject of photogrammetry and 3D laser scanner in the Politecnico di Bari (Italy).
Ana Cornelia Badea, Professor Habil. PhD.eng.
Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania
Prof. Ana-Cornelia Badea is the director of the Doctoral School of UTCB. Since 2016 she is leading the Research Center Geodetic Engineering Measurements and Spatial Data Infrastructures. She is the representative of the UTCB at FIG, being delegated to Committees 3 (Spatial Information Management), 7 (Cadastre and Land Management), 8 (Spatial Planning and Development). Prof. Badea is UTCB responsible for the Horizon project ReGreeneration and she has been involved in international projects: EU-Conexus Enables, DivAirCity-H2020, COST16219, COST17125. She is vice-president of the Romanian Surveyors Union and member of the ASRO TC 359 Standardization Committee, connected with ISO and CEN. Her research interests are related to GIS analysis, WebGIS applications, spatial planning, 3D modeling, UAV/UAS, Remote Sensing, 3D cadastre, GIS-BIM integration, mobile mapping, geospatial standards, LADM. Within the European alliance EU-CONEXUS she is responsible for the courses “GIS and GeoAI”, “GIS and Remote Sensing”, “UAS Principles, Data Modeling and Analysis”.
Laurențiu RĂDVAN, Professor PhD.
Faculty of History of the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași, Romania
His main field of interest is urban history. Up to now, he has published four books, seven volumes of studies, and over 70 articles on this subject. His PhD covered the medieval towns in Wallachia (2004) and the published version, the book titled Oraşele din Ţara Românească până la sfârşitul secolului al XVI-lea [Towns in Wallachia Until the End of the 16th century], received the Romanian Academy Award in 2006. He is also interested in economic history, historical sources, Western medieval history, paleography, sigillography and heraldry. He was involved in three research grants focusing on the history of towns. Currently, he is vice president of the Commission for the History of Towns of the Romanian Academy and since 2009 he represents Romania in The International Commission for the History of Towns, being a member of the board of this organization. Research in recent years has focused on exploiting the treasure trove of maps and plans of Romanian towns in foreign archives (Moscow, Vienna), publishing several studies and volumes of unknown plans.
Ionuț SĂVOIU
Secretary of State in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
Mr. Ionuț Săvoiu is Secretary of State in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure since January 2022. Between 2012 and 2016 Mr. Savoiu was member of The Romanian Parliament – Vice-president of IT&C Commission. From 2005 to 2012, he was country managing director of Blom Romania and international consultant in Blom International. During the Blom Romania period, Ionut Savoiu was in charge of business development, sales and projects in Romania and countries in East Europe. Further Ionut was responsible of mapping and GIS production for Blom Group. In 2004, he was appointed as Deputy General Manager of National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (NACLR), Romania. He is honorary advisor to the Board of the Romanian Surveyors Association. Ionut Savoiu graduated from Faculty of Geodesy – Technical University for Construction Bucharest, Romania. His diploma was prepared at Institute for Photogrammetry – Hannover University, Germany. He holds an MBA at IEDC - School of management Bled, Slovenia. Between December 2018 and January 2022 Ionut Savoiu was the President of UGR.