(23-08-2023) At the 19th General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association (ICA), Haosheng Huang was elected as one of the vice-presidents of the ICA for the period 2023-2027. The mission of the ICA is to promote the disciplines and professions of cartography and GIScience in an international context. Learn more about the ICA and its activities at https://icaci.org

(16-08-2023) In June, several researchers and PhD students from Social and Economic Geography participated in the BIVEC-GIBET conference in Leuven. Yue Hu's paper ("Revealing multiplex topological features of China's domestic air transport network: intralayer and interlayer characteristics") was among the top three papers of the conference. Congratulations Yue!

Co-authored by Kurt Fuellhart, Shengrun Zhang, and Frank Witlox

(03-08-2023) On Wednesday 5 July 2023, Songyao Huai, successfully defended her PhD “The application and validation of social media data in landscape planning and urban planning”

SUPERVISORS: Prof. dr. Tim Van de Voorde, Prof. dr. Haosheng Huang EXAMINATION COMMITTEE: Prof. dr. Alain De Wulf (UGent), Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe (UGent) , Prof. dr. Veerle Van Eetvelde (UGent) , Prof. dr. Frank Canters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) Prof. dr. Ross Purves (University of Zurich).

Congratulations Songyao Huai!

(03-08-2023) We are delighted to announce that Sien Benoit from the CartoGIS research group and Frank Witlox and Tom Storme from the Social and Economic Geography research group in collaboration with Delfien Van Dyck, Greet Cardon, Jasper Schipperijn, Steven Verstockt, and Dirk Lauwers, have been awarded the Best Paper Award 2022 by the Journal of Location Based Services.

The award recognizes their paper titled "Environmental factors associated with perceived cycling safety along adolescents’ home-to-school routes" published in Volume 16, Issue 3. This recognition underscores the significant contributions our department's researchers continue to make in their respective fields.

(01-08-2023) On Wednesday June 28 2023 Fengqi Cui successfully defended her PhD "Modeling land-atmosphere interactions and urban climate in Eastern China."

Supervisors: Prof. Piet Termonia, Prof. Philippe De Maeyer, Dr. Rafiq Hamdi.

Members of the examination committee: Prof. Nico Van de Weghe (UGent), Prof. Van Doan Quang (University of Tsukuba, Japan), Prof.Wenhui Kuang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), Prof. Natalie Theeuwes (KNMI, Dutch), Prof. Steven Caluwaerts (UGent), Prof. Bert Van Schaeybroeck (UGent)

Congratulations Fengqi Cui!

(25-05-2023) On Monday, 22 May 2023, Long Zhang successfully defended his PhD "Attribute trajectory analysis: analyzing the dynamics of non-spatial data as trajectories".

Supervisors: Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe (UGent), Prof. dr. Philippe De Maeyer (UGent).

Members of the examination committee: Prof. dr. Veerle Van Eetvelde (Chair) (UGent), Prof. dr. Robert Weibel (University of Zurich), Prof. dr. Frieke Van Coillie (UGent), Prof. dr. Steven Caluwaerts (UGent), Prof. dr. Haosheng Huang (UGent), Prof. dr. Tim Van de Voorde (UGent), Dr. Laure De Cock (UGent).

Congratulations Long Zhang!

(17-05-2023) In May 2023 a Membership of the Academia Europaea (MAE) was conferred to professor Frank Witlox. Membership is competitive, by invitation only and judged during a peer review selection process based on demonstrated "sustained academic excellence".

The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages. The aim of the Academy is to promote European research, advise governments and international organisations in scientific matters, and further interdisciplinary and international research.

(11-05-2023) Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Maite Dewinter successfully defended her doctorate "Optimising daily police patrol: Towards better matching police supply and demand by directing police in space and time."

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Frank Witlox (Ugent), Prof. Dr. Christophe Vandeviver (UGent) and Prof. Dr. Tom Vander Beken (Ugent). Committee members: Chairman:Prof. Dr. Veerle Van Eetvelde (UGent), Prof. Dr. Haosheng Huang (UGent), Prof. Dr. Eva Lievens (UGent), Prof. Dr. Wim Hardyns (UGent), Prof. Dr. Wout Dullaert (VU Amsterdam).

Congratulations Maite!

(25-04-2023) The UGent Department of Human Resources published two vacancies for a full-time assistant in the Department of Geography, Ghent University (ID:25891, ID:25892). The vacancies are in the research areas of Social and Economic Geography on the one hand and Physical Geography on the other. The deadline for application is May 23.

https://jobs.ugent.be/go/Assistant-academic-staff/8808502/

(29-03-2023) We have some exciting news! Soon you can walk, cycle and drive in VR at our group because the faculty approved the moVe moRe project. This new research infrastructure will boost research in mobility, navigation, sport sciences, safety and much more! Stay tuned...

(14-03-2023) One thing is certain: as an alumnus you cannot miss the Alumni Day. You can experience the day as you wish, with your family, with fellow students, or alone: there is something for everyone in the extensive program! Geography is well represented on the alumni day with numerous activities, come and visit us at:

• The mapathon: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activiteiten/mapathon/

• The interactive ambulance game: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activiteiten/ziekenwagen-op-zijn-plaats/

• VR and AR demo: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activiteiten/virtual-and-augmented-reality/

• Test your worldview: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activiteiten/ken-je-wereld/

• lecture on urban climate and heat stress: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activiteiten/stadsklimaat-en-hittestress/

• lecture about climate models: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activities/climatemodels-ons-window-op-de-toekomst/

• lecture on the history of Belgium: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activiteiten/de-historie-van-belgie-in-100-oude-kaarten/

• lecture on the humanitarian crisis in Tigray: https://alumnidag.ugent.be/nl-be/programma/activities/de-geografie-van-warsmisdaden-humanitaire-crisis-en-bijhorende-bad-oogsten-in- tigray-northern ethiopia/

(07-03-2023) The 18th conference on Location Based Services takes place in Ghent this year. We are looking forward to welcome you under the tower of St. Bavo's cathedral. Full papers can be submitted until June 1st, work in progress until July 15th.

Visit the website: https://lbs2023.lbsconference.org

(28-02-2023) Friday, February 24, 2023, Fangli Guan successfully defended his PhD: “Modelling of the Scene Complexity of Navigation Environments and Visual Areas of Interest for Egocentric Pedestrian Navigation Systems Using Street-View Panoramas”. Supervisors are Prof. dr. Haosheng Huang (UGent) and Prof. dr. Zhixiang Fang (LIESMARS, WHU). Committee members: Chair: Prof. dr. Veerle Van Eetvelde (UGent), Co-chair: Prof. dr. Bisheng Yang (LIESMARS, WHU), Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe (UGent), Dr. Laure De Cock (UGent), Prof. dr. Biyu Chen (LIESMARS, WHU), Prof. dr. Shen Ying (LIESMARS, WHU)

Congratulations Fangli.

(01-02-2023) Wednesday, January 25, 2022, Dilawar Ali successfully defended his PhD “Al-Based Methods to Enrich, Geolocalize and Rephotograph Historical Newspaper Photos.” Supervisors are Prof. dr. Steven Verstockt and Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe. Committee members: Prof. dr Hennie De Schepper (chair), Prof. dr. Dieter De Witte, Prof. dr. Tan Lu, Prof. dr. Hiep Luong, dr. Thomas Smits, Prof. dr. Christophe Verbruggen. Congratulations Dilawar.

(20-12-2022) Monday 12 December 2022, Nohemi Ramirez Aranda successfully defended her PhD “Barriers towards the widespread adoption of PPGIS in spatial planning practice”. Supervisors are Dr. Jeroen De Waegemaeker and prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe. Committee members: Prof. dr. Haosheng Huang (chair), dr. Lieze Mertens, Prof. dr. Nora Fagerholm, Prof. dr. Tim Van de Voorde, Prof. dr. Veerle Van Eetvelde. Congratulations Nohemi.

(29-11-2022) Wednesday 23 November 2022, Hannah Hook successfully defended her PhD “The Happy Traveler. Connecting undirected trips to travel satisfaction, positive utility and subjective well-being”. Supervisors are Frank Witlox, Jonas De Vos, and Veronique Van Acker. Committee members: Ben Derudder, Patricia Mokharian, Alexa Delbosc, and Giovanni Circella (chair Veerle Van Eetvelde) Congratulations Hannah.

(19-10-2022) Last Monday and Tuesday, the bi-annual meeting of the EX-TRA project took place in Ghent. On Monday morning, Eldermen Filip Watteeuw told us more about the circulation plan, after which the role of livingstreets in Ghent was explained. In the afternoon, there was a session on participative projects to involve citizens in urban policy and we visited some living streets and a filter of the circulation plan by bike. On Tuesday, there was an update on the different researchers in the project and a workshop with the GOAT tool with some policymakers from the City of Ghent.