Title: Diversity, Equity, Justice and Inclusion in the Earth Observation sector: examples of how the EO community has begun refining itself

Speakers: Dr. Flávia De Souza Mendes (Ladies of Landsat and RSATE), Dr. Gopika Suresh (German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy), Dr. Morgan Crowley (NRCan), Dr. Yhasmin Mendes (Arcmor Ventures)

Abstract: In the field of remote sensing, a field that already lacked diversity and representation, the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized known, yet ignored, problems with respect to gender equality and inclusivity. Lack of representation in academic programmes, university staff, research organisations and institutions, lack of funding opportunities for women scientists from developing or underdeveloped countries, as well as lack of women speakers at online webinars and conferences where male panels, or manels, were seen are some of the issues negatively impacting this field. We believe that it is vital to promote and empower women in the field of remote sensing, and share their stories, be it accomplishments or hardships, by replicating and promoting initiatives that prioritize the support, promotion, and showcase women and underrepresented scientists. With this webinar, we aim to bring together leaders of such initiatives from around the world, such as Ladies of Landsat (Twitter: @LadiesofLandsat), Sisters of SAR (Twitter: @SistersofSAR), RSATE (Twitter: @rsategroup), to share the examples of how underrepresented EO groups have organized themselves to help bring about a change with respect to inclusivity and representation in this field. We will address and highlight some of the important challenges identified in our session at the Living Planet Symposium in Bonn earlier this year in May 2022 and discuss how we, as a community, can implement some action plans that we concluded during the session.

Proposed Agenda:
Introduction of the agenda and speakers (3 mins)
Ladies of Landsat presentation (10 mins)
Sisters of SAR presentation (10 mins)
RSATE presentation (10 mins)
Challenges identified and action plans from LPS (10 mins)
Q&A (7 minutes)

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Flávia De Souza Mendes started her career in 2007 at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil. From this moment on, she has accomplished and impacted the geospatial sector in many ways. She learned and added value in important projects and initiatives in the field of environmental protection and climate change in tropical biomes, mainly in the Amazon and Savanna, such as Soy Moratorium (it is an agreement of non-commercialization of soybean from areas that are involved in deforestation). Nowadays, she is the Program Manager of Forest and Land Use at Planet Labs, also nominated as Google Expert Developer and Geospatial Rising Star by Geospatial World Media this year. Her experience lies in managing projects and products in forestry (carbon/REDD+), agriculture and land use change using optical and SAR data. Flávia is an active member and enthusiast of initiatives such as Ladies of Landsat (Lead Organizer), Women in Copernicus and RSATE group that work towards a more inclusive and diverse environment in the geospatial sector. Through her large network of contacts, she connects companies and institutions in Europe with local communities in Brazil for greater development, collaboration and inclusion in the geospatial sector. From a humble beginning in Brazil, Flávia is now making a big difference in the geospatial sector in Europe.
 
Dr. Gopika Suresh is a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) scientist with many years of experience with using EO data for marine, coastal, land cover and disaster response applications. She currently works as a research scientist at the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy and is a co-organiser of the Sisters of SAR initiative aimed at showcasing women in SAR. Born in a coastal town in the south of India, she has a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the University of Kerala, India, a MSc in Satellite Applications engineering from the Technical University of Munich, Germany and a PhD in marine Geosciences from the University of Bremen. For her PhD, she developed the first automatic SAR based system to detect marine oil in SAR images and estimate their source hydrocarbon seeps. Since then, she has worked mostly in Germany, as a scientist for the public sector, as a lecturer for postgraduates at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and as a research fellow at the Earth Observatory of Singapore. She was selected as a Geospatial World's 50 rising stars in 2021 and a leading woman in ML4EO by the Radiant foundation in 2021. And she does all this while bringing up a 1 year old toddler who just got into day care..
 
Dr. Morgan Crowley is a Forest Fire Research Scientist with NRCan at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre - Canadian Forest Service and the Tier 2 scientific lead of the WildFireSat mission that will be launched in 2027/2028. She recently completed her Ph.D. at McGill University, where her research explored novel applications of fire monitoring using Google Earth Engine and multi-sensor satellite data fusion. Morgan has been recognized for her research and outreach using Google Earth Engine, including as a 2022-2023 Google Developer Expert, an inaugural Geospatial Rising Star by Geospatial World Media in 2021, and a 2021 leader in ML4EO by Radiant Earth Foundation. She is also the co-director of the Ladies of Landsat organization, which works to increase support for underrepresented scientists in the field of remote sensing.
 
Dr. Yhasmin Mendes is a Remote Sensing scientist, a mother and an avid book-lover, whose work is inspired by ecological and environmental functioning and how natural ecosystems will face the daunting task of assessing climate change. Currently she is the Carbon Project Manager at Arcmor Ventures, where she monitors and ensures their investments to have the highest quality and integrity.
She is a Honorary Researcher at Centre for Landscape and Climate Research (@CLCR_Leicester) at University of Leicester, UK. Her research interests involve the use of remote sensing technologies to unveil terrestrial ecosystem functions and processes. She is also very active towards a more inclusive and diverse environment in the academic sector.