Original new at: https://www.uji.es/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2020/7/women-copernicus/
The Geospatial Technologies Research Group (GEOTEC) integrated into the Institute of New Imaging Technologies of the Jaume I University of Castellón participates in a European initiative with the aim of deepening the role that women play within the Copernicus program of the European Comission. The action, coordinated by Bretel (Brittany Remote Sensing Group, France) has the collaboration of the SPW (Public Service of Wallonia, Belgium) and the Castellón team.
“Women in Copernicus” (Women in Copernicus) wants to give voice and face to women who work in the Copernicus field, whether they are experts in the analysis of satellite data or users of Copernicus services in various fields of application. The initiative, selected through a call for expressions of interest and funded by the H2020 CoRdiNet project, aims to identify opportunities and obstacles along the way for these women, and also inspired girls and women capable of being at the forefront of the program Copernicus.
In the first phase, a survey was designed for women who work (or have worked) with data or in the Copernicus domain. The survey is available in six community languages to invite further participation. In a second phase, interviews will be conducted in short video format of the different cases that offer relevant female experiences, examples of improvement or inspiring models for other young people or girls.
The startup company from the Jaume I University of Castellón UJI Ubik Geospatial Technologies has developed the website, available in several community languages, which can be accessed from https: //womenincopernicus.eu and has designed the visual identity of the initiative.
The Copernicus program of the European Commission (made up of two satellites and six missions dedicated to Earth observation) is providing enormous amounts of data that can be transformed into useful products and services for society. In parallel, a full ecosystem of services around Copernicus data is already developing, and numerous creative business initiatives are expected to spread across Europe. Although sometimes hidden, women are part of the Copernicus program, and are present in the flow of their production. The professions related to Copernicus, Earth observation and geographic information are very varied: physics, geography, computer science, environmental sciences, geomatics, oceanography, etc., and in different fields such as research, management or academic , also including professionals from consulting or entrepreneurship. The technical nature of many of these professions seems to diminish interest for the incorporation of women. In addition to support from CoRdiNet, this initiative also has the support of Nereus (Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies), EURISY (European Association of Space Agencies), EARSC (European Association of Remote Sensing Companies) and BELSPO (Programming Service Public Scientific Policy, Belgium). The University of Strasbourg (France) and the University of Salzburg (Austria) are supporting partners.
