Theses

Winners of the UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize 2023

UNIGIS Honors Top Master’s Students with 2023 Academic Excellence Awards The UNIGIS International Association (UIA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2023 Academic Excellence Prize. Since 2008, this prestigious award has recognized outstanding Master’s theses in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from students at UNIGIS partner universities worldwide. Rigorous Competition Yields Exceptional Winners This year, the UNIGIS International Association Review Board had the challenging task of evaluating seven exceptional Master’s theses. After careful consideration, they selected three winners: First Place: Christopher S. Hayner, University of Southern California (USA). Thesis title: “Exploring the Pernicious Effects of Redlining …

Winners of the UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize 2022

Every year, since 2008, the UNIGIS International Association (UIA) awards the Academic Excellence Prize to students having submitted the best MSc theses (or paper) during the previous academic year, accepted for graduation at one of the UNIGIS partner universities worldwide. In this year’s competition six excellent, high-quality MSc theses were considered by the UNIGIS International Association Review Board. The panel decided to make three awards, including one winner, one runner-up and one third place of the Academic Excellence Prize for 2022: The Winner of the Academic Excellence Prize 2022 is Artur Jorge Abreu Varanda, from NOVA Information School – Universidade …

Winners of the UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize 2020

The annual UNIGIS International Academic Excellence Prize, initiated in 2008, is awarded to UNIGIS students having submitted the best MSc theses (or paper) during the previous academic year, accepted for graduation at one of the UNIGIS partner universities worldwide. This year the competition was very tight with excellent high quality MSc theses being considered by the UNIGIS International Association Review Board.  In the end, the panel and board decided to make five awards: The winner of the Academic Excellence Prize 2020 is Lindsay Hennes from University of Southern California. Her outstanding Master Thesis “Increase in Surface Temperature and Deep Layer Nitrate …

Congrats to UIA Academic Excellence Prize winners 2019

Every year, the UNIGIS International Association (UIA) awards the Academic Excellence Prize to students having submitted the best MSc theses during the previous academic year, accepted for graduation at one of the UNIGIS partner universities worldwide. In this year’s competition five excellent, high-quality MSc theses were considered by the Review Panel. The panel decided to make three awards, including one winner and two joint runners-up of the Academic Excellence Prize for 2019: Cass E. Kalinski, UNIGIS USA, was awarded the first place for his Master thesis “Building Better Species Distribution Models with Machine Learning: Assessing the Role of Covariate Scale …

Winners of the UIA Academic Excellence Prize 2018

The UNIGIS International Association (UIA) would like to announce the winners of its Academic Excellence Prize. The Prize, initiated in 2008, is presented to the student, or students, who submits the best MSc thesis (or paper) during the academic year and are nominated by their UNIGIS sites. In this year’s competition six excellent, high-quality MSc theses were considered by the Review Panel. The panel decided to propose three awards, including two winners of the Academic Excellence Prize for 2018: – Carrie Elizabeth Steves (UNIGIS USA; thesis “Trends in the Alaskan Bottom-Trawl Fishery from 1993 – 2015: A GIS-based Spatiotemporal Analysis”) …

Marijke Bekkema receives UNIGIS Academic Excellence Prize @AGIT conference

“For my MSc thesis I chose a subject that matters a lot to me because it is happening in my backyard: agricultural intensification of grassland use which causes loss of biodiversity and specifically meadow bird decline.”, Marijke Bekkema, UNIGIS Amsterdam. Marijke Bekkema, UNIGIS Amsterdam alumni has been awarded the third place within the Academic Excellence Prize 2017. This annual Prize is awarded by UNIGIS International Association to students having submitted the best MSc theses during the previous academic year, accepted for graduation at one of the UNIGIS partner universities worldwide. In her thesis Marijke presented an elaborated methodology of using …

Winners of the UIA Academic Excellence Prize

The UNIGIS International Association (UIA) would like to announce the winners of its Academic Excellence Prize. The Prize, initiated in 2008, is presented to the student, or students, who submits the best MSc thesis (or paper) during the academic year and are nominated by their UNIGIS sites. As usually, this year’s competition was again very tight with seven excellent high quality MSc theses being considered by the Review Panel. In the end, the panel decided to make three awards, including two winners of the Academic Excellence Prize for 2017 – both researching the topic of Volunteered Geographic Information: – Luke …

1st place: Tim Hernon – UNIGIS UK

The winner of the Academic Excellence Prize for 2016 is Tim Hernon (UNIGIS UK). His thesis showed a novel approach to extract urban land use data from Volunteered Geographic Information (in this case, OpenStreetMap data), successfully tested and discussed in detail for a case study in Nottingham, UK.

2nd place: Nathan Novak – UNIGIS USA

The first runner up is Nathan Patrick Novak (UNIGIS USC) who proposed an elaborate modelling of Sperm Whale habitats within the Central Gulf of Alaska, using a range of geospatial data. You can read his thesis here.

3rd place: Irene Fellner – UNIGIS Salzburg

Irene Fellner (UNIGIS Salzburg) is awarded the third place. In her thesis she presents an innovative way to implement the concept of landmarks in indoor navigation, using a case study at the Vienna University of  Economics and Business Administration campus. You can read her thesis here.