Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering and Industrial Automation

The Erasmus+ project "Geomatics for Disaster Risk Reduction" is being implemented at the Silesian University of Technology from 2020/2021. The Project involves 10 Partners: 6 Asian universities from the Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia, universities from Spain and Greece, and an IT consulting company from Luxembourg. The Silesian University of Technology is the Project Leader, and its main coordinator, as of January 2022, is Krzysztof Tomiczek, PhD from the Department of Geoengineering and Raw Materials Extraction (KGiES). The Project is implemented on the part of the Silesian University of Technology by the staff of the Departments of: Geoengineering and Raw Materials Extraction (RG4) and Safety Engineering (RG3), Faculty of Mining, Safety Engineering and Industrial Automation (RG). 

The aim of the Project is to establish a new 2nd degree course of study specialization "Geomatics for Disaster Risk Reduction" with the necessary laboratory facilities at 6 Asian universities. 

Due to the extension of the Project by 12 months, additional activities were undertaken as part of the Project, including the organization of student conferences to disseminate, important from the point of view of Asian countries, the problems of natural disasters. 

"1st International Student Conference "Geomatics for Disaster Risk Reduction". Cambodia - Malaysia - Philippines. Selected problems." (ISCGeoDRR), prepared and hosted by the Project Coordinator, was held on the 13th of February current year. 17 papers in the form of presentations were delivered by 35 authors from the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and China. During nearly 5 hours, the zoom.us platform, on which the conference was organized, was visited by nearly 60 viewers. The conference was also attended by professors - managers participating in the Project. 

Issues were presented, related to the subject matter of the Project, including problems related to geomechanical, geotechnical, seismic, hydrogeological phenomena, geodesy and wide-ranging safety in the context of natural disasters.  

Positive and even some surprise was the high level of content, the good graphic quality of the presentations and the excellent background of the speakers. The course and interest in the conference give hope for a cyclical continuation of the event in future years.