TSPC News

Integrating energy and resource efficiency into tourism education in Kyrgyzstan is crucial for sustainable development. With support from the EU funded SWITCH-Asia PERETO project, several universities have updated their curricula to foster a greener future.

Within OSUN's GeoHub project, we held the next event at Central European University in Vienna, Austria. On February 23rd, Daniyar Karabaev from the LAS department AUCA, Kanat Sultanaliev and Otabek Nigmatov from the Tian-Shan Policy Center AUCA, gave a talk for CEU students in the Environmental Studies department.

Recognizing environmental best practices

On October 4, 2023, we hosted our first joint online course, Introduction to Geospatial Data Visualization (IGVI), within the framework of the Network Collaborative Course (NCC) initiative.
 

Students from the AUCA, Zhypara Kadyrakunova and Savlet Nishanbek visited students from the 8th and 9th grades of School No. 41 named after Ibrahimov Umarov in the village of Zhany-Zhol in the Jalal-Abad region.

Zere Abisheva from AUCA, Environmental Management 4-year

Asel Dzhovozova from American University of Central Asia (Software Engineering, 4- year) about Summer school in Budapest.

 
From June 25th to 29th, 2023, the Tian-Shan Policy Center organized a summer environmental camp for students "Sustainable Natural Resource Management and GIS in Chychkan." The objectives of the event were to raise students' awareness about the importance of preserving the Chychkan Gorge ecosystem and conducting research on the use of natural resources in this unique complex.

The ever-present topic of Big Data was once again in the spotlight with the talk by Chrys Margaritidis on the ethical implications of Big Data, particularly addressing the field of geographic information systems (GIS). This public lecture, organized by the OSUN GeoHub project, was held at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) on June 7 and gathered an audience both in-person and online.
The talk recognized the predominant role of Big Data and metadata in our daily lives. One day we are witnessing the positive impact of Big Data analytics on consumer experience and the management of global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The next day, we hear about the misuse of personal information by technology giants like Facebook and Cambridge Analytica or the reports about the effect of fake news on the electoral process.
Focusing more on the potential "dark" side of Big Data, the lecture discussed such examples as predictive policing, real-time surveillance, and pre-emptive punishment, showing how otherwise beneficial uses of Big Data can pose significant risks to our society if we don’t develop a comprehensive understanding of their importance and an ethical framework to handle their potential consequences. The last part of the presentation explored the challenges in the GIS field, particularly looking at the ways the geospatial data is gathered, stored, analyzed, and used.
The lecture sparked a lively discussion among both online and in-person participants about the ethical aspects of Big Data and GIS, highlighting the relevance and importance of the issue and encouraging further exploration of this crucial topic.

OSUN's GeoHub project is inviting you to join a talk by Lorant Czaran, Scientific Affairs Officer at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), who will explore the application of Earth observation data and geospatial technologies for monitoring Global Agendas.