content

Main Features

60th Dies Natalis 2

Wooden Bas-Reliefs 4

Group Decision Room 6

Education news

Training of the Trainers:• Nepal 8• Vietnam 10

Lessons Learned 11

Research News

Observing Soil Moisture 13

Library of Faculty ITC 15

Cooperation between Libraries 16

The Open Access Challenge 18

Project news

Adoption of Scientific

Methodology 21

Nuffic NICHE Project 22

CHANGES Project 23

Life after ITC

El Caballero Repite 24

ITC: The Story of a Lifetime 25

Finding True Love 26

Alumni Meet Addis Ababa 28

Alumni Meet Hanoi 29

Alumni Meet Kampala 30

Tulip Night 2010 32

1ITC News 2010-4

I N T R O

2010number 4

On 17 December 2010, in the year when it became the sixth faculty of theUniversity of Twente, ITC celebrated its 60th Dies Natalis (report on page 2).This important date was marked by speeches that, while looking back onthe achievements of the past, also explored the new thinking and chal-lenges that would characterize the future. On this auspicious occasion, ITCwas honoured to welcome the former Minister for DevelopmentCooperation, Professor Jan Pronk, who delivered the keynote address. Hehad also delivered the keynote address at the celebration of ITC’s 25th an-niversary and was therefore in a unique position to compare and evaluatepast, present and future objectives.

So the times they are a’changing, a view receives pictorial support in the ar-ticle on page 4. This plots the path of 20 wooden bas-reliefs – their cre-ation, location, restoration and new destination – which is inextricably inter-twined with the history of ITC itself. Encouragingly, the outcome in thisinstance illustrates the point that even in a period of rapid technologicalchange and tremendous innovation, cultural values of the past can still beaccorded their place.

Over the past six decades, the ITC Library too has been continuously evolv-ing, and the changes that have taken place – and indeed still are takingplace – make fascinating reading (page 15). Crucial at this time in the worldof publication and copyrights is the issue of Open Access (see page 18). TheOpen Access movement seeks to bridge the digital divide and enable re-search findings of the international scientific community to be freely shared.Much has already been achieved; much remains to be done.

New technologies (GDR), new research (Tibet), new projects (Changes proj-ect), no wonder many can be said to enjoy a love affair with ITC. But educa-tion and capacity building do have a human face and in this issue there areno less than three articles (24, 25 and 26) that go to show that, althoughschedules are tight, the workload heavy and the challenges immense, theyare not the whole story, and people frequently come to ITC and get morethan they actually bargained for. It seems that there are certain advantagesattached to studying at ITC that remain unspecified in the EducationBrochure − but at least ITC News can try to fill in some of the gaps!

Virtually yours, Janneke Kalf Jorien TerlouwManaging Editor Editor

introduction

Managing Editor: Janneke KalfEditor: Jorien TerlouwEditing: Janice CollinsDesign&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg

(Composer DTP service)Printing: Drukkerij Roelofs EnschedeISSN: 1389 9368

Correspondence to: Managing EditorITC NEWS

P.O.Box 2177500 AE Enschede

Phone: +31 (0)53 487 44 11Fax: +31 (0)53 487 45 54E-mail: itcnews@itc.nl

colofonITC NEWS is published quarterly, by ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands

The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC

On Friday,

17 December 2010,

ITC celebrated its

60th Dies Natalis.

After some words of

welcome, the dean

of the ITC faculty,

Tom Veldkamp,

delivered his Dies

speech, Exploring

ITC’s Future, in

which he introduced

a new way of

thinking that moved

towards a more

businesslike

approach to

capacity building,

supporting ITC’s

mission.

The former Minister for DevelopmentCooperation, Professor Jan Pronk, had been invited to give the keynote lecture (as he did exactly 35 years ago on 17 December 1975, when he addressed ITCon its 25th anniversary). In his speech enti-tled Dr Watson’s Oversight, he elaboratedon the differences between the challengesand objectives of 60 years ago and those oftoday. His main message to ITC in 1975 hadbeen: “Please help to direct technologicalinnovation to the benefit of those who arepoor and do not yet have a voice”. In 2010,these two categories may consist of differ-ent people; but the mandate is still thesame. He also mentioned that ITC, nolonger functioning as a separate institutebut as a university faculty with the ambi-tions and pretensions of a real academy, canbenefit from the insights of many differentdisciplines and, in turn, enrich them. After Professor Pronk’s speech, ITC studentsfrom Rwanda performed the traditionalKinyarwanda dance (which they had alsoperformed at the yearly InternationalEvening held in November).

Boudewijn de Smeth reminisced about theITC Delft building, which was inauguratedin 1956 and demolished in November 2010.He mentioned that the 20 wooden bas-re-liefs made by Charles Hammes that hadformed part of the façade of the Delftbuilding had been saved and were being re-stored. One of the restored panels was un-veiled during the Dies ceremony. Eventually,all the panels will be given a place inside oroutside the ITC building.

2

M A I N F E A T U R E S

60th ITC Dies CelebrationCommunication Department itcnews@itc.nl

Dean Tom Veldkamp, delivered his Dies speech,Exploring ITC’s Future.

Staff and students listening to the words of welcomeof Professor Veldkamp

Former Minister for Development Cooperation,Professor Jan Pronk

ITC News 2010-4

One of the restored panelswas unveiled during the

Dies ceremony

Martien Molenaar reminded the audiencethat, as of 1 January 2010, ITC had becamepart of the University of Twente. Althoughthis was a rational decision, it was a deci-sion that nevertheless had a strong emo-tional side. ITC had come to the end of a60-year period as a unique institute. Thisperiod had opened with a pioneering phase,which was then followed by a continuousstruggle to redefine and maintain a rolewithin the context of development coopera-tion and capacity development in a rapidlydeveloping professional and academic field.As a result of these considerations, the ITCFoundation had initiated the writing of abook about the first 60 years of ITC as seenfrom three perspectives:• the fast developments in the professional

and academic domain of ITC • the ever-evolving concepts for develop-

ment cooperation • the internationalization of higher educa-

tion.

This book, entitled 60 years of ITC, was offi-cially presented by Professor Jaap Besemer,chairman of the ITC Foundation, toProfessor Ed Brinksma, Rector Magnificus of the University of Twente, Professor Tom Veldkamp, dean of Faculty ITC and Ms Erna Leurink, managing director ofFaculty ITC. Following the book presentation, EmeritusProfessor Herman Verstappen recalled theearly days of ITC, looking back over 60years of achievement. The former professorof geomorphology joined ITC in 1957 andserved the Institute for several decades. Hegave the audience a vivid impression of ITCin its early stages.

Bringing the ceremony to a close, Tom Veldkamp invited all staff and studentsto drinks and a buffet dinner in the ITCrestaurant.

3ITC News 2010-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Students from Rwanda performed the traditional Kinyarwanda dance

The book, was officially presented by Professor Jaap Besemer to Professor Ed Brinksma

Professor Besemer, Professor Molenaar, Emeritus Professor Verstappen and drs. de Smeth

Emeritus Professor Herman Verstappen recalled theearly days of ITC, looking back over 60 years ofachievement

The book was officially presented by ProfessorJaap Besemer to Professor Tom Veldkamp andMs Erna Leurink

A buffet diner in the ITC restaurant

Although ITC was

established in 1950,

plans were not

drawn up for an

institute building

until 1954. Till then,

ITC was housed in

the building of the

Geodetic Faculty of

Delft University.

Although ITC was established in 1950, planswere not drawn up for an institute buildinguntil 1954. Till then, ITC was housed in thebuilding of the Geodetic Faculty of DelftUniversity. As plans for the new buildingneared completion, ITC’s founder, WillemSchermerhorn, wished to visualize the ideasthat had led to the creation of his new insti-tute. He contacted the Dutch sculptorCharles Pieter Hammes, who at that timelived and worked in Hees near Nijmegen.Schermerhorn explained his views toHammes and in 1955-1956 the sculptor cre-ated two large works of art. The first wasthe Kronkel (as we call it nowadays): a steelsculpture resting on a base on which theemblems of UNESCO (a Greek temple, sym-bol of science) and the FAO (ears of corn)were placed. The sculpture symbolizes thescope of science and photogrammetry spin-ning around the world. On ITC’s move toEnschede in 1971, the Kronkel came tooand was placed in front of the new prem-ises.

The second work of art consists of 20wooden bas-reliefs, carved from the AfzeliaAfricana. The reliefs were inserted in twoblocks into the façade of the new building:four reliefs in the shorter northwest façadeand 16 in the longer southwest façade. Itwas Schermerhorn’s idea to express the ef-fects of technology and science in ten two-by-two sets of portrayal. Eight pairs repre-sent the beneficial effects of technology andscience. For that purpose, images of pastand modern times (i.e. the early 1950s!) areplaced side by side (reliefs 1 to 16, – origi-nally placed in the longer southwestfaçade).

The fact that scientific progress can alsohave a dark side is expressed in the penulti-mate pair of reliefs. Opposite the profile ofthe Chinese Temple of Heaven in Beijing −which became a symbol of wisdom andbeauty to Schermerhorn on his visit there −an atomic cloud is shown, expressing whattechnology and science can also bring tohumankind (figure 1).

The series is concluded by a set expressinghope for humankind: the owl symbolizingwisdom, and the eagle indicating the viewof Earth from space. Perhaps the last reliefalso has a connection with aerial photogra-phy, which was studied inside the newbuilding (figure 2).

In 2010, the former ITC premises in Delft(cleared by ITC in 2000 and sold in 2001)were demolished. The 20 wooden reliefs,however, were saved and returned to ITC.After thorough restoration, this very specialwork of art linked to the former ITC and itsfounder has been given a place of honouron the inner façade of the ITC building onHengelosestraat in Enschede.

4 ITC News 2010-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Twenty Wooden Bas-Reliefsfrom the Former

ITC Building in DelftHomme Martinus martinus@itc.nl

5ITC News 2010-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Demolition of the old ITC building in Delft (Photos Colin Reeves)

ITC Building (Delft) in the past with the reliefs clearly visible on the facade

Figure 2 Air traffic in early days (hot-air balloon)contrasted with modern air traffic (helicopter)

Figure 1 Chinese Temple of Heaven contrasted with an atomic cloud

On 7 December

2010, the ITC Group

Decision Room

(GDR) was officially

opened by the dean

of Faculty ITC,

Professor Tom

Veldkamp.

The GDR is equipped with the cutting-edgetechnology of interactive surfaces and tangi-ble user interfaces to facilitate hands-on ed-ucation and research in the field of collabo-rative spatial planning and decision making.The main advantage of using these touchtables is that the table is both the displayand the input device, thus improving thefluidity of decision-making processes and re-ducing the cognitive load of user/contentinteraction. Assembling stakeholders arounda touch table for face-to-face interactionscreates a collaborative working environmentand positively influences working styles andgroup dynamics.

The invited speakers emphasized the rele-vance of the room for state-of-the-art edu-cation in collaborative planning and deci-

sion making. In his opening speech,Professor Martin van Maarseveen, head ofthe Department of Urban and RegionalPlanning and Geo-information Management(PGM), which had developed the room onbehalf of ITC, welcomed the guests and ex-plained the development process. Dr AliSharifi, former PGM associate professor andmain initiator of the room in its early stages,then reflected on the history of field plan-ning and decision making at ITC, whichdates back almost 20 years and with the ad-vent of the GDR has now reached a newmilestone. Next, Professor Anne van derVeen, professor of governance and spatialintegrated assessment, highlighted the rele-vance of the room for the inclusion ofstakeholders in planning processes andthereby increasing the legitimacy and effi-

6 ITC News 2010-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Professor Tom Veldkamp opening the GDR with a single touch Participants testing a touch table during the opening

Grand Opening of

ITC Group Decision RoomJohannes Flacke flacke@itc.nlLuc Boerboom boerboom@itc.nl

If you would like to knowmore about theGDR, its facilities,and how to use itin education or research, please contactJohannes Flacke(flacke@itc.nl) orLuc Boerboom(boerboom@itc.nl)of the depart-ment of Urbanand RegionalPlanning andGeo-informationManagement.

ciency of planning. As the integration oftangible user interfaces is one of the coreinnovations of the room, ProfessorVeldkamp officially inaugurated the GDRwith a single touch on the digital white-board, which triggered a two-minute videoshowing how the room is used in twothree-week training modules. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKuz0hjgJ_A)

On the occasion of the opening of the GDR,a guest lecture was given by Mr Bujar Nushi,a strategic consultant in GIS working atDHV Netherlands. DHV is a leading interna-tional consultancy and engineering com-pany, with headquarters in the Netherlands,which provides services and innovative solu-tions in environment and sustainability,manufacturing and the industrial process,and urban and regional development andwater. Bujar Nushi and his team at DHVhave been using touch tables for rapid spa-tial cost-benefit studies, with the GeoValue

tool as decision support for stakeholdersand for communicating with citizens. DHVhas been doing this since 2006, and cur-rently organizes some 50 sessions a year inthe Netherlands. Other offices, for examplethe Delhi office, have also started to usethese methods and technologies. The partof the planning process that used to takefive weeks can now be carried out in a sin-gle day!

During the half-day ceremony, guests aswell as ITC staff members, made frequentuse of the opportunity to test the GDRequipment and facilities and discuss poten-tial collaboration and room usage in educa-tion and research at ITC. Initial educationalexperiences were garnered in 2010 duringtwo tailor-made courses on environmentalimpact and risk assessment for spatial plan-ning. Students introduced to the technologywere quite enthusiastic about the new pos-sibilities and the almost intuitive effect ofenhanced collaboration when workingaround a touch table. So far, the GDR is absolutely unique in theNetherlands in terms of both set-up and thepossibilities offered, because it operateswith three touch tables, thus facilitatingprocess creativity, avoiding groupthink, andproviding a plenary environment to promoteconvergence in decision making.Nevertheless, almost all speakers at theopening ceremony demanded further con-tinuous development and usage of theroom. This will be guaranteed through per-manent use of the room in regular ITC edu-cation programmes and MSc/PhD studies, aswell as through cutting-edge research inand concerning the ITC GDR.

7ITC News 2010-4

M A I N F E A T U R E S

Guest speaker Bujar Nushi from DHV explaining the GeoValue touch-table application

From 2 to 4 November 2010, a Training of Trainers Workshop onTransparency in Land Administrationwas held in Kathmandu, Nepal. The event was hosted by the Kathmandu University, strategic academic partner of ITC in the fieldof capacity building in land adminis-tration.

This workshop is part of a pro-gramme of activities organized inSouth and Southeast Asia under theaegis of the Global Land ToolNetwork (GLTN), which is imple-mented by the Training and CapacityBuilding Branch (TCBB) of the UnitedNations Human SettlementsProgramme (UN-HABITAT) and theUnited Nations University School forLand Administration Studies (UNU-LAS) of the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and EarthObservation of the University ofTwente (ITC). The first component ofthe programme was an Expert GroupMeeting, which took place on 20 on21 July 2010 on the campus ofGadjah Mada University inYogyakarta, Indonesia, another part-ner of ITC in the network of strategicacademic partners in land administra-tion capacity building.

The training workshop in Kathmandu,hosted by the School of Engineeringof Kathmandu University, covered athree-day programme, the major aimbeing to build human capacity toreplicate the training in the countriesconcerned.

The event was officially opened bythe Honourable Minister of LandReform and Management, Mr

Dambar Shrestha. In his opening ad-dress, the Minister emphasized theimportance of transparency, referringto the most recent CorruptionPerception Index published byTransparency International in whichSouth Asian countries featured rathernegatively. He explicitly mentionedthat since last year Nepal had sliddown in terms of corruption percep-tion to 146th position on the rankinglist of 178 countries. He stated thatvigilance was required in every aspectof governance to control corruption,and emphasized the need for im-provements in the fields of law andorder administration, particularly landadministration.

The training focused on South Asiancountries and was attended by 17participants originating from Nepal(6), Pakistan (3), Bangladesh (4) andSri Lanka (4), as well as representa-tives of the ITC/UNU-LAS strategicnetwork partners (i.e. Gadjah MadaUniversity, Yogyakarta, Indonesia,

and Hanoi University of Science,Hanoi, Vietnam); the UN-HABITATNational Office Nepal, RegionalOffice for Asia and the Pacific andHeadquarters; and ITC/UNU-LAS.

The training workshop comprisedpresentations on tools to improvetransparency, including:• Land governance and transparency

(including governance principles,elements of transparency, effects ofeither good or poor governance,and success criteria)

• Tools to assess transparency in landadministration (including formalsurveys, vulnerability assessment,rapid anti-corruption assessment,and report cards)

• Tools to improve access to informa-tion (including front- and back-of-fice systems and one-stop-shopprinciples)

• Tools to improve public participa-tion (including information sharing,active involvement, and the role ofmedia)

8 ITC News 2010-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S

The event was officially opened by the Honourable Minister of Land Reform and Management,Mr Dambar Shrestha

education news

Training of Trainers: Transparency in Land Administration in South and Southeast Asia

Sjaak Beerens beerens@itc.nl

• Tools to improve professional ethicsand integrity (including conflict ofinterest laws, code of conduct,whistleblower protection, andtraining in ethics)

• Tools to bring about institutionaland organizational reforms (includ-ing legislation, mandates, servicecharters, organizational restructur-ing, process redesign, and helpdeskprinciples)

• Ways of building human capacityto improve transparency in land ad-ministration (including training, ed-

ucation, awareness-raising cam-paigns, and the role of media).

Breakout group discussions allowedthe participants to discuss in detailcase studies of transparency issues inland administration in each of thefour countries participating in theworkshop. These actual cases com-prised short stories concentrating ondilemmas and long stories thatprompted the participants to identifytools for improvement in trans-parency.

The third day of the workshop wasallocated to the preparation by theparticipants of a country-level actionplan and an individual action plan. Inthese they described the activitiesthey envisaged implementing as agroup and as individuals in terms ofbuilding human capacity in theirhome countries. The country actionplans were discussed in a plenary ses-sion, addressing such issues as rele-vance, reality and performance indi-cators. It was eventually agreed thatan e-group would be established toexchange experiences and keep oneanother informed on the implemen-tation of the action plans.

A second training event is scheduledto be held in Hanoi from 7 to 9December 2010, focusing onSoutheast Asian countries (i.e.Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippinesand Indonesia).

For more photographs of the event,see the Photo Gallery TLA South Asia(www.itc.nl/transparancy-in-land-administration-se-Asia.html).

9ITC News 2010-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S

The training workshop comprised presentations on tools to improvetransparency

The third day of the workshop was allocated to the preparation by theparticipants of a country-level action plan and an individual action plan

The training focused on South Asian countries and was attended by participants originatingfrom Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as representatives of the differentpartners

From 7 to 9 December, a Training ofTrainers Workshop on Transparencyin Land Administration was held inHanoi, Vietnam. The event washosted by the Hanoi University ofScience, strategic academic partnerof ITC in the field of capacity build-ing in land administration.

This workshop completed a series ofevents that is part of a programmeorganized in South and SoutheastAsia under the aegis of the GlobalLand Tool Network (GLTN), which isimplemented by the Training andCapacity Building Branch (TCBB) ofthe United Nations HumanSettlements Programme (UN-HABI-TAT) and the United NationsUniversity School for LandAdministration Studies (UNU-LAS) ofthe Faculty of Geo-InformationScience and Earth Observation of theUniversity of Twente (ITC).

The first component of the pro-gramme was an Expert GroupMeeting, which took place on 20and 21 July 2010 on the campus ofGadjah Mada University inYogyakarta, Indonesia, another part-ner of ITC in the network of strategicacademic partners in land administra-tion capacity building. The secondcomponent was a training workshopin Kathmandu, hosted by the Schoolof Engineering of KathmanduUniversity, also a strategic academicpartner of ITC in land administration.This attracted a total of 17 partici-pants from Nepal, Bangladesh,Pakistan and Sri Lanka

The training workshop in Hanoi fo-cused on Southeast Asian countriesand was attended by 29 participantrepresentatives from Vietnam (7), LaoPDR (7), Cambodia (3), Philippines(5), Indonesia (4), Pacific (2), andGermany (1). Besides the organizer,

Hanoi University of Science, therewere representatives from UN-Habitat and from ITC’s strategic part-ners in South and Southeast Asia (i.e.Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia,and Kathmandu University, Nepal).Apart from 18 participants funded byGLTN sources, there were 11 partici-pants funded by such sources asGTZ, RightLink, UN-HABITAT andITC/UNU-LAS.

The event was officially opened byMr Nguyen Manh Hien, Vice-Ministerof the Ministry of Natural Resourceand Environment of Vietnam(MONRE) and responsible for land

administration. In his opening ad-dress, the Vice-Minister mentionedthe measures taken by theVietnamese government to create atransparent enabling environment forthe proper implementation of the2003 Land Law, including multisectorparticipation in the drafting of thelaw, the publication of land useplans, land prices and administrativeprocedures, and the simplification ofprocedures. He acknowledged that,in spite of these measures, actualethical behaviour had not yet beenfully optimized, thus leaving loop-holes for illegal actions in the landsector.

10 ITC News 2010-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S

Transparency in Land Administration: Training of Trainers, Hanoi

Sjaak Beerens beerens@itc.nl

Group photograph of TLA Southeast Asia participants, organizers and dignitaries

The event was officially opened by Mr Nguyen Manh Hien, Vice-Minister of the Ministry ofNatural Resource and Environment of Vietnam (MONRE)

On 8 December 2010, ITC’s UrbanPlanning and Management MSc stu-dents went on an excursion to thecity of Amersfoort. We were hostedby the consultancy and engineeringcompany DHV.com and the munici-pality of Amersfoort. The purposewas to get an idea of the changes inurban planning that had takenplace in the Netherlands over theyears.

After a warm welcome by the munic-ipality (outside temperature wasbelow 0°C!), we toured two neigh-bourhoods: Vathorst (www.vathorst.com/) andKattenbroek (www.kattenbroek.info/nl/).Then we had lunch around Onze-Lieve-Vrouwetoren, the church towerthat served as the reference point forthe Dutch national map projectionsystem. In the afternoon, we visitedthe DHV offices, where we were

given an introduction to DHV, an ex-planation of its vision on spatial plan-ning after the economic crisis, and ademonstration of the use of a touchtable (like the three in ITC’s newGroup Decision Room) in urban plan-ning.

We learned that Kattenbroek is stillbeing planned and developed, andthe municipality is closely involved inthis respect. The more recent plan-ning and development of Vathorsthas been handled by a public-privatepartnership, with the substantial in-volvement of a couple of large devel-opers. Several thousands of housingunits have been developed in bothneighbourhoods. According to thepresentation outlining a vision of fu-ture planning, large-scale develop-ment of this kind is unlikely to occurin future. People could well developtheir own neighbourhoods with the

aid of web-based tools, and thiswould change the roles of govern-ment, consultants and developers inthe field of planning.

Using the touch table demonstrated,it is possible to dynamically designneighbourhoods and obtain cost cal-culations immediately. We learnedthat DHV uses this application about50 times a year with its clients. It isof particular use in the initial phasesof project design and reduces thetime spent circulating plans and cal-culations in the first weeks to just afew hours. Other DHV offices (e.g.the Delhi office) have also begun touse this technology.

The students found it very interestingto learn about the relation betweenthe public and private sectors inDutch urban planning, as well as theevolving insights into urban plan-

11ITC News 2010-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S

Dr Dang Hung Vo, former Vice-Minister of MONRE and head of theDepartment of Land Administrationof the Faculty of Geography, HanoiUniversity of Science, reflected onanti-corruption and transparencypractices and experiences inVietnam. He gave a detailed presen-tation of the recently published re-sults of a groundbreaking study oncorruption in the Vietnamese landsector conducted by the World Bankand the governments of Denmarkand Norway.

New Collaborative Planning Support Processes and Technologies: Lessons Learned

Luc Boerboom boerboom@itc.nl

Bert Raidt raidt@itc.nl

Dr Dang Hung Vo, former Vice-Minister of MONRE and head of the Departmentof Land Administration of the Faculty of Geography, Hanoi University of Science

For more photographs of the event, see the Photo Gallery TLA Southeast Asia(www.itc.nl/transparancy-in-land-administration-hanoi.html)

ning. They noticed that significant attention was paid not only to urbanplanning but also to urban design.The real-life example presented atthe decision table was of great inter-est, and the students will receivemore exposure in this connectionlater in their training programme, in ITC’s Group Decision Room (seepage 6). Another point that attractedconsiderable attention was DHV’s en-ergy-efficient building, which followsthe open office concept (i.e. a build-ing without rooms).

The students greatly appreciated thehospitality of both the municipalityand DHV.

12 ITC News 2010-4

E D U C A T I O N N E W S

Reference point outside the church tower"Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren" in Amersfoort. The tip of thetower is original cadastral center of the Netherlands(Photo: Waled Shehata)

Demonstration of use of tangible user interfaces in rapidplanning (Photo: Waled Shehata)

After a warm welcome by the municipality, we toured two neighbourhoods:Vathorst and Kattenbroek (Photo: Waled Shehata)

13ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

The importance of the TibetanPlateau for the atmospheric circula-tion over the Asian continent andthe development of large-scaleweather systems has been widely ac-knowledged. Due to its extent andhigh altitude (>3500 m above sealevel), the plateau plays a criticalrole in directing moist air from theeastern Indian Ocean and the Bay ofBºengal towards central China. In-teractions with other large-scale cir-culation systems, such as the south-easterly flow from the South ChinaSea, can result in persistent wet (ordry) patterns over East Asia. As wehave seen in the past decade, thiscan cause severe droughts or devas-tating floods (e.g. Pakistan, Indus2010). On the other hand, the flowof moist air from oceans and seas isalso affected by heat and moisturesources from the plateau. The so-called Tibetan “air pump” affectsthe onset and maintenance of theAsian monsoon.

In a changing climate, global warm-ing will impact the partitioning ofsolar radiation into sensible and la-tent heat over the plateau and, thus,the Tibetan air pump. The 2007 re-port of the IPCC (IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change) docu-ments the observed and projectedimpact of climate change at a globalscale. However, the effects of climatechange at a regional scale can bemuch more severe. High-altitude re-gions in particular are expected to bemore sensitive, because of the feed-back induced by cold-seasonprocesses such as melt from glaciers,snow and frozen soil. Therefore,quantification of changes on theTibetan Plateau and understanding

their effects on the atmospheric cir-culation are needed to oversee theconsequences for the Asian conti-nent.

An important land surface state con-trolling interactions between the landsurface and atmosphere is soil mois-ture. Being highly variable in bothspace and time, it is not feasible tobase large-scale soil moisture moni-toring on in situ measurements. Inthe past, the potential of various re-mote sensing techniques for moni-toring soil moisture has been ex-plored. Datasets collected bylow-frequency microwave instru-ments (<1.4 GHz) have proven to besuperior for retrieving soil moistureover a wide range of vegetated con-ditions. This has resulted in the for-mulation of missions carrying L-bandmicrowave sensors for soil moisturemonitoring. The SMOS (Soil Moistureand Ocean Salinity) mission was re-cently launched by ESA, and NASA’s

SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive)mission is expected to follow in theforeseeable future.

In his PhD research, Rogier van derVelde focused on improving soilmoisture retrieval from active mi-crowaves. In this respect, he had ac-cess to NASA and ESA datasets.NASA provided data measured dur-ing the corn growth cycle by a truck-

research news

Observing Soil Moisture over the Tibetan Plateau

Rogier van der Velde velde@itc.nl

An impression of the Tibetan landscape

The NASA truck-mounted radar system

mounted system (see figure 2), whichwere used to develop an innovativeapproach to correcting for the effectsof vegetation. ESA supplied a seriesof 150 synthetic aperture radar (SAR)images from EnviSat, collected dur-ing a period of 2.5 years over thecentral part of the Tibetan Plateau.Investigation of this dataset showedthat SAR images include valuable in-formation on vegetation, freeze/thawand soil moisture conditions. Usingthis knowledge, an algorithm was as-sembled and employed for retrievingsoil moisture. A selection of theproducts for the 2005 monsoon sea-son is shown in figure 3. Validationof the retrievals against soil moisturemeasured at stations installed in thesummer of 2006 demonstrated thatthe accuracy satisfies the require-ments set for the SMOS and SMAPsoil moisture missions.

Aside from his PhD research, Rogiervan der Velde, together with MrMatthew Ofwono, utilized theTibetan soil moisture measurementsto validate the retrievals from SSM/I(special sensor microwave/images).Their validated product showed thatsince 1987 soil moisture in centralTibet has increased by more than50%. Based on this result, MatthewOfwono was awarded the UTGraduation Prize (formerly known asthe MSc Award) in September 2010.

At present, Rogier van der Velde is anassistant professor at ITC’sDepartment of Water Resources,where he continues to teach and su-pervise both MSc and PhD students.As a member of NASA’s SMAP soilmoisture algorithm working group,he collaborates with colleagues fromNASA and Tor Vergata University inRome on innovative algorithms forglobal soil moisture monitoring.

14 ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

Series of soil moisture maps retrieved over the central part of theTibetan Plateau during the 2005 monsoon

Rogier van der Velde receiving his PhD degree from Professor Bob Su on 5 November 2010

Acknowledgement:Rogier van der Velde’s research was supported inpart by the ESA-MOST Dragon Programme: Support for Training European Young Scientists.

15ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

Not only has ITC existed 60 years,the ITC Library has existed 60 yearstoo. Over this period almost every-thing has changed concerning the library, but in principle the role ofthe library remains the same − onlythe way we achieve this goal hasdramatically changed.

Libraries and information servicesprovide access to information, ideasand works of imagination in anymedium and regardless of frontiers.They serve as gateways to knowl-edge, thought and culture, offeringessential support for independent de-cision making, cultural development,research and lifelong learning by bothindividuals and groups. They con-tribute to the development and main-tenance of intellectual freedom andhelp to safeguard democratic valuesand universal civil rights. Conse -quently, they are committed to offer-ing their clients access to relevant re-sources and services withoutrestriction. They assist people to de-velop lifelong literacy − the range ofcompetencies necessary to engagefully with the Information Society.(Declaration World Summit on theInformation Society WSIS andInternational Federation of LibraryAssociations and Institutions IFLA)

In general, the mission of an aca-demic library is to support the pri-mary processes (education and re-search) of an academic institute byensuring adequate provision of, andefficient end-use access to, useful sci-entific material. The ITC FacultyLibrary is a scientific library that con-tributes to the effectiveness of theeducation provided by Faculty ITCand the research conducted atFaculty ITC. The library helps:• staff and students to find relevant

information as efficiently as possi-ble

• staff and students to present theirexpertise in the form of academicpublications clearly presented onthe ITC library web pages

• ITC to present itself as a leading in-ternational education and researchorganization.

An academic library should provide(electronic) books and (electronic)reference material to students tosupport the educational process. Forundergraduate students, a basic ref-erence collection is necessary. In ad-dition, competent and highly quali-fied staff should be familiar with thelatest developments in their field toupdate their curriculum.

If research staff want to publish in in-ternational peer-refereed journals,they cannot claim originality for whathas already been discovered and theycan easily make errors that have al-

ready been well documented in theliterature. Without access to up-to-date information, research staffcould spend time solving problemsthat may already have solutions inthe literature. Papers that result fromresearch undertaken without accessto necessary information are proba-bly unacceptable for publication inthe highly rated refereed journals. Astrong library helps with promotionthrough research and publications inpeer-refereed academic journals. Sowhen it comes to strengthening edu-cational capacity and building up re-search capacity, access to relevant in-formation is of really greatimportance. In concrete terms, thismeans that, within the frameworkof ITC’s mission statement, the ITCFaculty Library has the task of im-proving access to scientific informa-tion, and that’s why we are involvedin institutional strengthening and ca-

Main Table at the Library ITC Instruction at the Library

Study Carrousel Study Area

Library of Faculty ITC

Marga Koelen koelen@itc.nl

pacity building projects in less devel-oped countries. (One of these proj-ects is described in this issue of ITCNews.)

Investment in knowledge is morethan training and education. Up-to-date knowledge is the most basicprerequisite for intellectual develop-ment as such, as well as for humandevelopment in general. Part ofstrengthening an academic instituteinvolves strengthening the academicinformation supply within that insti-tute. A strong academic informationservice can help a partner institute tobecome a recognized part-ner/university both nationally and in-ternationally, with outreach to localcommunities.

Of equal importance is the teachingof students and staff members toidentify, locate and evaluate informa-tion. A strong library can play a rolein this process as well.

Since information technology hasdramatically changed the way wecollect, transfer and manipulate in-formation, the role of a library hasalso changed dramatically. Today,knowledge exists in many forms, forexample as text, graphics, virtual re-ality and simulations, and it is distrib-uted in digital representations overworldwide networks, accessible toanyone it seems. (See also the articleon Open Access on page 18.)Students, but also staff, sometimeslack the exposure, depth of experi-ence, and the skills required to usethe library as an information resourceand reference and research centre.Literacy lectures and workshops de-veloped by the library can providestudents and staff with a body ofknowledge, practicum and experi-ence in exploiting the library and itsinformation resource applicationsand tools.

The ITC Faculty Library also maintainsa repository of all academic publica-tions of its scientific staff, including

MSc theses. An automated workflowis created to deliver the publicationsto the library and, after the libraryhas validated the metadata in thesystem, the publication will automat-ically appear at many different placeson the ITC website (for example, allresearchers have their own résuméswith a list of current publications).This repository is called the greenroad to Open Access.

Another activity of the ITC FacultyLibrary is the book and journal dona-tion programme for our partners. Weoffer books and journals to our part-ners; they can choose which publica-tions they are interested in, and thematerial will be sent upon request.We have also created an online sys-tem where you can choose and pickout material of interest for your locallibrary.

Sixty years ago, the ITC Library sup-ported partners in the ODA countriesin buying books and bookcases, butby the time the cooperation hadended most of the books had disap-peared and in many cases the book-cases too. This was not a sustainableway of developing local informationservices at our partner institutes andin that sense did not support capac-ity building and institutionalstrengthening. Nowadays, the ITCFaculty Library often fulfils more of amentoring role.

Upgrading or changing local infor-mation services is a complicated andlong-term process. Creating a digitallibrary environment requires variousconditions, for example consortiaagreements with publishers for ac-cessing the digital information, an in-frastructure that enables users to ac-cess the digital library, and users whoare information-literate. Creating adigital library environment requires along-range plan, because it also im-plies financial consequences.

16 ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

ITC Library 1985

For more information on thedonationprogramme:www.donationprogramme.nl

From ITC Library Guide 1989: "Those wishing to use the auto-mated system are requested tocomplete a special form, availablefrom the Library staff, to besigned by the head of their de-partment. MSc-students should first contacttheir director of studies."

From Library Brochure 2000: "Digital library of the Faculty ITCis open 24 hours per day and 7 days per week."

Harry Ngum, ICT resource person ofthe University Library of Buea inCameroon tells his own story:

Under the Erasmus Mundus ExternalCooperation Window (Lot 10), I wasgranted a scholarship to embark on atwo-month working visit to the li-brary of the International Institute forGeo-Information Science and EarthObservation (ITC), Enschede, theNetherlands, in order to acquire ex-perience in IT-related library business.

To me, this was a once in a lifetimeexperience, as it was the first time Ihad travelled to Europe and had theopportunity to experience a differentculture and environment. All travelarrangements made, I arrived inEnschede on Tuesday, 17 March2008. The reception at the train sta-tion, hotel and on the ITC campuswas quite interesting. All the people Imet for the first time were very wel-coming. It was quite an experienceon this first day. Settling down to thebusiness proper was not a problem,as I could call on many resource per-sons for assistance.

Work at the ITC Library was interest-ing and enriching as every daybrought a new experience. The staffwere collaborative and, even thoughin a different environment, I felt verymuch at home. I received answers toall my questions regarding the pro-fession, and the staff did not hesitateto come to my assistance whenever Ihad any difficulty. I must admit that,apart from the stacks, shelving andclassification method, everything elsein this library was new to me, and Ikept feeling “I need to take this backto Cameroon”. Besides the profes-sional exchange in the library, therewas this “cosmopolitan” environ-ment at ITC: every other part of the

world was represented at ITC in oneway or another. As a result, my stayat ITC was very enriching, both pro-fessionally and culturally.

While at ITC, I acquired a different vi-sion and a different attitude towardswork. Not that the attitude towardswork at my own institution was bad,but there was this driving force push-ing me to implement back home allthat I had learnt at ITC. I knew it wasnot going to be easy, but thanks toadvice from the head librarian, MargaKoelen, I have been able to introduceseveral concepts that I learnt at ITCwithout causing much of an imbal-ance in my own university system.

After two months of intensive profes-sional exchange, I returned to myhome institution. On my arrival, I im-mediately set to work. The encour-agement and advice from the ITCstaff were my driving force. I mustadmit that I was afraid the transferredknowledge would not suit my institu-tion. However, after convincing theadministration − and with a great dealof effort from the university librarian,Dr Rosemary Shafack − we acquiredsome equipment and found someopen-source software that could helpus with our library automation. Basedon my experience at ITC, and with thejoint effort of the UB administration,we have installed and configured an

open-source integrated library man-agement software package (PMB). By the end of January 2011, we hopeto be the first university library inCameroon to be automated. We alsointend to use the same software torun our institutional repository.

Here I must admit that what is goingon in the UB library as far as automa-tion is concerned is a replica of whatoccurs at ITC, but customized some-what to our local situation. The cus-tomizations stem from the differ-ences in our technical resources.Nevertheless, we are doing it in ourown way and moving one step at atime. We started small but every daywe think big!

Thanks to this cooperation with ITC, Iwas able to participate in the firstAfrican conference on institutionalrepositories and digital libraries inAddis, Ethiopia, and present the UBcase in a joint paper with MargaKoelen and Rosemary Shafack.

In a bid to maintain this cooperation,ITC’s head librarian paid a workingvisit to Cameroon and saw for herselfthe level reached in automating thelibrary. Her contributions during thevarious sessions have been very use-ful in enhancing the work alreadydone. We will remain grateful to herand to ITC.

17ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

Cooperation between the ITC Faculty Library and the University Library of Buea, Cameroon

Harry Ngum ngum_harry@yahoo.fr

Lending Administration of the Library (University of Buea)

Study room (University of Buea)

Over the last years, Open Access toscholarly/scientific information hasbeen a hot topic of debate world-wide among librarians, scholars andpublishers, as well as in organiza-tions such as Unesco. While thereare multiple definitions of “OpenAccess”, the idea behind it is simple.Open Access publications are thosemade freely available online to li-braries and readers everywhere,with no charges imposed for access.

Open Access is the online, free avail-ability of research output without thesevere restrictions on use commonly

imposed by publisher copyrightagreements. Open Access providesthe means to maximize the visibility,and thus the uptake and use, of re-search output. Open Access contri-butions include original scientific re-search results, raw data andmetadata, source materials, digitalrepresentations of pictorial andgraphical materials, and scholarlymultimedia material. It has direct andwidespread implications for acade-mia, medicine, science, industry, andfor society as a whole − and espe-cially for our partners in the manycountries where ITC is active.

The Open Access movement beganat a meeting of the Open SocietyInstitute (OSI) in 2001 with theBudapest Open Access Initiative, itsstated objective being to make re-search articles in all academic fieldsfreely available on the internet.

The next milestone came in October2003 with the Berlin Declaration onOpen Access to Knowledge in theSciences and Humanities, a widelysupported call for public availabilityof publically financed research re-sults. This declaration clearly statesthe social philosophy behind Open

18 ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

The Open Access Challenge

Marga Koelen koelen@itc.nl

Study room Individual Study places Label printer to start with the Library automation

Workshop "Capacity Building Projects" Public Lecture on the role of libaries inachieving the MDG's

ITC Head Librarian Marga Koelen paid a working visit to Cameroon

Access: “Our mission of disseminat-ing knowledge is only half completeif the information is not made widelyand readily available to society.”

There are two roads to Open Access:• the gold road: publishing in an

Open Access journal, with free ac-cess for the reader

• the green road: depositing in anOpen Access repository.

Gold Road to Open AccessHere researchers can submit their ar-ticle to an Open Access journal, anonline journal that offers free accessto the reader. There are more than5,400 peer-reviewed journals listed inthe Directory of Open Access Journalsand new journals appear online everymonth. However, only a few are jour-nals with an impact factor. Only 4%of all ISI journal articles are OpenAccess available. Travelling thegolden road, an article is published ina peer-reviewed journal and this jour-nal is freely available worldwide. Theunderlying business model is differ-ent from that of the green road.

Green Road to Open AccessHere the scientific authors enter theirarticles into an electronic archive (therepository) of a university or into adiscipline-oriented repository. This isa form of self-archiving but all the ar-ticles are freely available worldwide.For purposes of the green road, li-braries should offer an infrastructureenabling the information to flowfreely all over the world.

The easiest and cheapest road toOpen Access is depositing a publica-tion in an open institutional reposi-tory. Most important scientific pub-lishers permit the deposit of thepostprint (the revised version, as pub-lished in the journal) in an openarchive. Depositing publications in arepository is free of charge.

Among the many advantages ofOpen Access are the following:• Open Access promotes interna-

tional and interdisciplinary cooper-ation between scientists. Free avail-ability of Open Access researchpublications enables people inpoorer countries to access and userelevant scientific information. Theycould probably benefit most fromthese research results but the tradi-tional model, where restrictions areimposed by the international pub-lishers for various reasons, deprivesthem of access. The Open Accessmovement helps the digital divideto be bridged and all countries toshare the research findings of theinternational scientific community.

• Most research is publicly funded sothe results should also be publiclyavailable. The public sector (e.g.scientific libraries) has to pay threetimes for its information. First, re-searchers executing their researchand submitting their findings andresults for publication are usuallypaid by the public sector; second,the submitted manuscripts arepeer-reviewed by colleagues whoare also paid by the public sector;and third, when the articles arepublished they must be purchasedfrom the publishers by publicly-funded libraries and institutes.Open Access will solve this unfairsituation.

Open Access WeekEvery year an Open Access Week isheld across the world. The fourthyear, 2010, became an opportunityfor the academic and research com-munity of Faculty ITC to continue tolearn about the potential benefits ofOpen Access, to share what they hadlearned with colleagues, and to helpto inspire wider participation in mak-ing Open Access a new norm inscholarship and research.

The Open Access Week in 2010 washeld from 11 to 15 October in theNetherlands and the ITC FacultyLibrary organized a programme tomark this event, inviting two speak-ers to deliver lectures on 11 October.The complete lectures, including thediscussions afterwards, are availablefrom the ITC Library website(http://vimeo.com/15798324).

The first speaker was Professor JohnMackenzie Owen, professor of infor-mation science, from the Universityof Amsterdam, who gave a lectureentitled Open Access - Promises andPitfalls. Open Access is a way to elim-inate the cost of scientific publica-tions for end users and their institu-tions, and could therefore lead tofree access to information for all.

19ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

Opening of the Open Access Week

However, there are many obstacles toachieving this goal, and the road tofull Open Access is not free of pit-falls. He briefly introduced the con-cept and background of OpenAccess, provided an overview of cur-rent developments, and discussedsome of the major issues, both posi-tive and negative. He especially em-phasized those aspects that are rele-vant to developing countries,potentially the chief beneficiaries ofOpen Access in the long run.

The second speaker, Wim van deStelt, executive vice-president busi-ness development Springer, delivereda lecture with the promising title:Every Dutch Corresponding AuthorCan Publish Open Access in aSpringer Journal, the Libraries Pay theFee! Springer is the second largestscientific publisher in the world, with2,200 journals and 6,500 books pub-lished annually. Springer has a prag-matic approach to Open Access: ifOpen Access is a model that our cus-tomers (scientists, libraries, universi-ties, funders) want or need, we arehappy to provide it, as long as it issustainable. As a result, Springer hasa suite of Open Access opportunitiesfor scientists: liberal green policies,Springer Open Choice and SpringerOpen. Wim van der Stelt discussedthese different models and explainedhow authors from Dutch universitiescan take advantage of them. He alsorevealed some background on theOpen Access policies and strategiesof a large commercial publisher.

Many scientific staff attended thesession and there was a lively discus-sion afterwards.

In his speech, Professor John MackenzieOwen made the following points:• Open Access is a different business

model for scientific publishing.Content, structure and form of thearticles, as well as quality control(peer review), remain the same.

• Up-front payment by the author (orthe author’s institution): payment isfor publishing, not for the publica-tion. Publication becomes freelyand globally available over the in-ternet. Author (usually) retainscopyright.

• Open Access removes pricebarriers (subscriptions, licensingfees, pay-per-view fees)and permission barriers (mostcopyright and licensing restric-tions).

• Increasingly, funding agencies aredemanding Open Access publica-tion as a condition for funding.

• Open Access makes sense only ifand when the major (i.e. commer-cial) publishers participate; in theend, that will happen.

• Developing countries will benefitfrom free access to scientific infor-mation, but will need financial sup-port for publishing their own re-search.

• There will be no cost reduction;large publishers will remain mo-nopolists and they will not andcannot downsize.

• High transition costs in moving to-wards full Open Access will dimin-ish the financial benefits in theshort term.

• More than ever, available resourceswill determine who is allowed todo research. Since price differenti-ation is inevitable, the choice ofpublication channel will be basednot only on scientific quality crite-ria but also on budgetary criteria.This will make it easier for large,rich institutions, as against small,poor institutions, to publish in theimportant journals.

20 ITC News 2010-4

R E S E A R C H N E W S

Opening of the Open Access Week

Team ITC Library (from left to right: Nina vanden Hoek, Penelope Salter, Marga Koelen en Carla Gerritsen)

The planning and development au-thority for the industrial town ofHaldia in the eastern state of WestBengal, India, is in the process ofupdating its land use plan to accom-modate future urban and industrialgrowth over an area of about 300sq km. As the area is being pro-jected as one of the largest indus-trial areas in the eastern part of thecountry, with accessibility to a port,the land use planning has to factorin scope for accelerated growthwhile taking into consideration is-sues such as the prevailing popula-tion density and the predominanceof valuable agricultural land in thearea. In response to these chal-lenges, the Haldia Development Au-thority (HDA) took a decision to uti-lize scientific tools and methods (in-cluding the use of GIS technology)to facilitate the preparation of theland use control plan.

As the Haldia planning area is alsothe study area of two ITC PhD stu-dents, HDA sought technical assis-tance from ITC’s Department ofUrban and Regional Planning andGeo-information Management in for-mulating the Land Use andDevelopment Control Plan (LUDCP).As a first step in this endeavour, ajoint seminar cum workshop washeld at Haldia on 13 and 14December 2010 to discuss areas forpossible collaboration and try toagree broadly on a methodology forthe planning process by deliberatingwith various stakeholders at the stateand local levels. The event was or-ganized as a collaborative effort of

HDA, ITC and the Institute of TownPlanners of India (ITPI), and wasstructured as a seminar on the firstday and a participatory workshop todiscuss possible planning methodolo-gies on the second day.

The seminar began with opening re-marks from the secretary of the ITPIRegional Chapter and a welcomenote by the CEO of HDA. After that,in his keynote address, the PrincipalSecretary of the Urban Planning andDevelopment Department of theState Government, Mr DebashishSen, stressed the need for adoptingholistic and cutting-edge techniquesfor planning that will enable the de-cision maker to arrive at a planningdecision. He also focused on theneed for adopting sustainability prin-ciples in the planning for fast-grow-ing areas in India such as Haldia.

The first session of the seminar dis-cussed issues related to the Indianplanning process, statutory provi-

sions, and existing methodologies fora port-cum-industrial town. Speakersfrom CEPT, ITPI and IIT Kharagpurpresented a number of case studiesthat could be relevant to the Haldiaplanning process. This was followedby a session that deliberated on thehistorical development of the indus-trial town over the last few decades,current issues relating to alternativesto the existing port, and the presentbasemap preparation work usinghigh-resolution imagery that wasbeing carried out by a consultant.

The second session was organized byITC. In his presentation, Dr Flackeemphasized the need for a collabora-tive planning approach where thestakeholders could contribute to theplanning process in a transparentmanner, which would result in theformulation of more plan ownership.Ms Anandita Sengupta, ITC PhD stu-dent, presented her methodologythat enabled technological risk, oneof the major concerns in a industrial

21ITC News 2010-4

P R O J E C T N E W S

Expert Workshop Scientific Methodology for Land Use Planning

project news

Seminar-cum-Workshop on Adoption of Scientific Methodology for Land Use Planning in Haldia, India

Debanjan Bandyopadhyay dbandyopadhyay@itc.nl

Anandita Sengupta sengupta15552@itc.nl

Johannes Flacke flacke@itc.nl

Nuffic has awarded ITC a grant forthe implementation of an institu-tional strengthening project withthe University of San Carlos,Guatemala, in the field of land ad-ministration. ITC will implement thisfour-year project together with theDutch Kadaster. The counterpart isthe regional university centre inQuetzaltenango (CUNOC).

Activities will focus on strengtheningthe five-year university programme inland administration, developing a re-search programme, and improvingresearch and teaching facilities. Theproject will also benefit the regionaluniversity centres in Peten and

Chiquimula, Guatemala. The projectwill kick off with a two-day work-shop in Guatemala at the beginningof February. The ITC project directoris Dr Javier Morales of the ITCDepartment of Geo-informationProcessing.

town with a predominance of petro-chemical industries, to be incorpo-rated into the land use plan. MrDebanjan Bandyopadhyay presentedan approach integrating those eco-nomic, social and environmental indi-cators that can be factored into theplan-making process, thereby con-tributing to socially acceptable andenvironmentally sustainable planningscenarios for the future. Dr Flackebrought the technical session to aclose by informing the audienceabout the new ITC Group DecisionRoom, which houses large touch-screen-based map interfaces thatcould offer decision support to a col-laborative planning process of thiskind. This was followed by a ques-tion and answer session, and theseminar was concluded with a voteof thanks from ITPI.

On the second day, a range of stake-holder groups from Haldia, includingplanners, industry, local governmentsof both urban and adjoining ruralareas, an environmental protectionagency and NGOs, took part in theparticipatory workshop conducted byITC. To initiate the stakeholders intothe planning process, Dr Flacke intro-duced them to a collaborative spatialmulticriteria-based evaluation plan-

ning technique − a method thatcould be considered for applicationto the land use planning process inHaldia. The participants were dividedinto mixed groups to facilitate thesharing of views between stakehold-ers, and were given the exercise offormulating relevant criteria for landuse planning, taking into accounttheir knowledge and appreciation ofthe area. This was followed by an ex-ercise where they assigned values tothe criteria, based on methods such

as simple ranking, weighting andpairwise comparison, and then con-solidated them in order to see theoverall picture. The entire automatedSMCE process as applicable to aplanning process was then demon-strated through a GIS case study,using the ILWIS software.

The workshop concluded with a voteof thanks from HDA and the promiseto further strengthen the collabora-tion with ITC.

22 ITC News 2010-4

P R O J E C T N E W S

New Nuffic NICHE Project in Land Administration

Sabine Maresch maresch@itc.nl

Stakeholders discussing spatial criteria for land use zoning

For more information on the Nuffic NICHE programme, visit www.nuffic.nl/international-organizations/services/capacity-building/niche

ITC has succeeded in acquiring European funding for a Marie CurieInitial Training Network, which willbe coordinated by ITC and involve15 other European partners. Theproject name CHANGES stands forChanging Hydro-meteorologicalrisks – as Analyzed by a New Gener-ation of European Scientists. The project director is Dr Cees vanWesten of ITC’s Department of Earth Systems Analysis.

A kick-off workshop will be organ-ized at ITC on 13 and 14 January,bringing together all the partners todiscuss the project planning ingreater detail. The project, whichlasts four years, will support a net-work of PhD and postdoc re-searchers, offering short courses,joint research projects, and the op-portunity for the different partners toshare and exchange expertise.Vacancies for these positions will beadvertised on the websites of the

partner universities and are also opento young non-European researchers.

The project will soon have its ownwebsite. For the latest news, checkthe ITC website.

23ITC News 2010-4

P R O J E C T N E W S

Kick-Off Workshop CHANGES Project: A Marie Curie Initial Training Network

Sabine Maresch maresch@itc.nl

For more information on Marie Curie Actions, visit http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/marie-curieinbrief/home_en.html

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“A gentleman repeats” − it’s a com-mon saying in some Latin Americancountries. It’s used, for example,when you’re invited to dinner andyou want to eat more. Well, I’m notreally a gentleman but for sure I liketo repeat … on some occasions.

This is my third time at ITC; I hopethat makes me a gentleman. Whenpeople tell me that I must love ITCvery much, I usually reply that ITC isthe one that loves me. Among thestudents at ITC, we say if you come,you will be back, and we have seenthis proved on plenty of occasions.

First TimeI came to ITC for the first time in2002, to do a Professional Master’scourse in Geoinformatics (GFM3).Actually I applied for a nine-monthdiploma course but I got a letterfrom ITC saying that I was overquali-fied. One year later my mom, Lilia(she will be very happy reading hername in this article), called me atwork telling me that the Dutch em-bassy had just called and that I wasbeing offered the one-year Profes -sional Master’s course. When I ar-rived in Enschede with five otherColombians, we were given accom-modation not in the ITC Hotel but insome apartments not very close tothe city centre. It was a nice experi-ence living in the same building withDutch people of different ages. Wedid not have internet in those apart-ments and all of us arrived withoutlaptops, so we used to remain at ITCuntil late at night, doing assignments(it was a tough programme) or justbrowsing the Web (if we had time).

Becoming a GentlemanI left Enschede in 2003 with the feel-ing that I wanted more. Two yearslater, I was accepted for the MSc pro-gramme Environmental Modellingand Management (GEM), which runsfor 18 months and used to be deliv-ered in four countries: England,Sweden, Poland and the Netherlands.I was the only Latin American in theclass, in a group composed mainly ofAfrican and Asian students. Being agroup of foreigners in each countryhelped us to create a bond that stillexists today. The GEM programme al-lowed us to experience different cul-tures, different systems of teaching,different atmospheres, currencies …it trained us in both scientific andadaptability skills. Just imagine 28students travelling together, cookingtogether, packing together, shippingtheir luggage from one place to theother, and struggling with the lec-tures together. I clearly rememberour first days in Sweden, when wewere at the Lund University, finishingan assignment around 3 or 4 am thatwe had to submit to England. Andstruggling with the “essays” systemin England, which also applies towritten exams. In each new place,we made new friends and it washard to say goodbye after our stay ofsome months.

Thrice BlessedIn 2007, when we graduated fromthe GEM programme, I was offeredthe opportunity to study for a PhD inSoil Erosion under the DESIRE pro-gramme against desertification. Itwas a lucky break. One of my tenta-tive MSc supervisors, Victor Jetten,had lent me a book about soil ero-sion, and I stayed in Europe some

extra weeks, travelling around. Iwent to his office to give the bookback and he asked me about myplans for the near future. “Well,” Isaid, “maybe find a job, or a PhDopening.” “A PhD?” he replied. “Imay have one for you!” After someconversations about my backgroundand the topic, I signed for the PhD.Now I am studying how rainfallcauses erosion in the Cape Verde is-lands … and that’s where I am now,writing this article.

Enschede and ITC have become mysecond home. I have lived in all thetypes of accommodation that the

24 ITC News 2010-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

life after itc

El Caballero Repite

Juan Francisco Sánchez Moreno sanchez@itc.nl

My version of the GEM students 2005-2007

Enschede has given me and my wife Sallyour daughter, Sara Valeria, who was born inSeptember 2010

International Hotel can provide: out-side the hotel, in the hotel, in thenew apartments, and now in thefamily apartments. Living in Enschedeis as exciting as you make it. It is asmall city but one with plenty of pos-sibilities. Here you can get involved invarious sports, and enjoy not onlythe Dutch culture but also the cul-tures of your colleagues and class-mates. Enschede has given me and

This story is not meant to be a lovestory or a fairy tale, but an anecdoteof our time at ITC, where we foundmore than we were looking for.

We, Ana Karina from Honduras andMauricio from Ecuador, have suchgood memories of our time at ITC.Each of us came from different partsof Latin America, sharing two things:our language and a tremendous en-thusiasm for learning. We decided tocome to ITC because we had heardof its prestige in the GIS field and ofits multicultural environment.

Ana: “I came to ITC to learn aboutGIS management, something thatwas becoming fundamental to mydaily work. At the Opening of theAcademic Year, I immediately beganto understand the real meaning of

the word International: so manycountries gathered in one place andso many colourful traditional dressesrepresenting the cultural diversity.Everything made me realize that Iwas going to live in a unique atmos-phere. From the very first day, I methighly experienced teachers, andwonderful classmates from Africa,Asia and Latin America. Together weshared lectures, hard work, studytrips and also entertainment. I had agreat time right from the start, butmeeting someone so special ex-ceeded all my expectations.” Mauricio: “From the day I went touniversity to study Geography, Iheard about ITC as one of theworld’s most important institutions inthe field of geo-information science.And I’m certain that my decision tostudy there dates back to this time.

Years later, the dream finally cametrue and suddenly I was attendingmy first lecture in the auditorium −the topic, obviously, was GIS.Science, technology, friendly teach-ers, food, great classmates andfriends from almost every continenton Earth were the ingredients thatcreated a wonderful environment tolive in for one year. I was studyingand working hard to get a Master’sdegree, but what I could not imaginewas that this step in my professionallife was going to be the most impor-tant step in my entire life.”

As typical Latin Americans, westarted to gather together to eat,watch Latin American films, dancesalsa, exchange expressions from ourcolourful language, and to travelaround Europe. We made a good

my wife Sally our daughter, SaraValeria, who was born in September2010. Of course, when looking fornames for our daughter, ILWIS, thesoftware developed by ITC, was sug-gested by some friends. I guess for aLatin American girl the female ver-sion would be ILWISA or ILWINA.Being away from our home countryof Colombia, ITC staff and studentsbecame Sara’s family.

If you are coming to ITC, most prob-ably you will come back. And if thisis your second time, don’t be sur-prised if you come back again. AsPaulo Coelho wrote “what happensonce may never happen again, butwhat happens twice for sure will hap-pen a third time”. And who knows?perhaps a fourth time!

25ITC News 2010-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

ITC: The Story of a Lifetime!

Ana Karina Aguilar Estrada aguilar16981@itc.nl

Mauricio González Mantilla gonzalez16351@itc.nl

We started to gather together to eat, dance salsa, exchange expressions from our colourful language, and to travel around Europe

group of friends from many coun-tries. Suddenly, Mauricio and I foundourselves sharing great moments andenjoying − too much probably −each other’s company. That is wheneverything started! However, unlikein a fairy tale, the most difficult partstarted after we finished our studiesat ITC, when each of us went back toour own country. Happily, the rela-

tionship had become so strong afteralmost one year apart that we de-cided to get married. The marriagetook place in a beautiful small chapelin Ecuador, amidst our families andfriends (three of our dearest ITCfriends joined us that day).

As a result of this great experience,here we are again, getting ready to

go back to ITC next year, and con-tinue our education … but now as acouple!

ITC is full of surprises, so if you arestill hesitant about coming, we cantell you that you will surely find whatyou are looking for: high-quality edu-cation … and probably somethingelse too.

26 ITC News 2010-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

SusanGoing to ITCIt was the morning of 12 July 2008when a call from the Netherlandsembassy changed my life forever. Mr Harry, then the fellowship officer,delivered the good news that I hadbeen awarded a scholarship to studyat ITC. I was very excited because mydream had been fulfilled.

According to my ITC admission letter,I could expect to obtain an MSc de-gree after 18 months … but not alsofind my future husband. I think it’sthe best non-scientific bonus that ITCoffers. But again, I have been askingmyself this question: What are thechances of finding true love at the“International Torture Centre”? I’mvery sure most of you know or stillremember the torture but how aboutthe great reward I am talking about?I think this could be a potential PhDtopic … although I guess this topicwon’t be needed since we alreadyhave the results!

Finding Mr RightIt all started in November 2008,when an e-mail that Brandon ad-dressed to me opened the door toour relationship. ITC gave us the bestdating environment because we hadgood times and tough moments. Wewent on all those cold ITC field trips

together; we trudged in the snow onso many mornings together, espe-cially on Saturdays going to the mar-ket. These moments brought us evencloser together and made our rela-tionship stronger. We always toldourselves that, if we could survivethe torture centre, then nothingcould ever defeat us. ITC gave us thebest platform for endurance and pa-tience, which are the basic principlesof relationships.

On the morning of 23 July 2009,Brandon asked me to come with himfor a walk in G.J. van Heek Park,Enschede, and that’s where he askedme to marry him. The engagementring was very special to Brandon andI now feel honoured to wear it. Thering belonged to his grandmother,who passed away while we werestudying at ITC. Unfortunately I nevermet her, but every time I look at it, itreminds me of how blessed I am tobe part of his lovely family. On 29December, while on our trip to Paris,we bought our wedding bands.

Introducing Brandon to My FamilyAfter graduation, Brandon came withme to Uganda to meet my family. Hewas very excited because it was hisfirst time in Africa. The introductionceremony, called a kwanjula, wasfantastic and for the first time

Brandon put on our traditional attire,a kanzu, as an in-law. He loved everyminute of the ceremony − althoughhe was a bit overwhelmed by the sizeof my family since he himself comesfrom a very small family.

Finding True Love at ITC

Susan Asiimwe babesukie@yahoo.com

Brandon Wysowski by_vcu@hotmail.com

Brandon and ITC Alumnus Emmanuel Oletwho was his best man at the introductionceremony in Uganda both dressed in Kanzus

Susan and Brandon after the engagementceremony

Brandon Going to ITCAfter earning a certificate in Geo -graphical Information Systems, Iwanted to further my education byobtaining a Master’s degree. Aftersearching for schools in my homestate without success, I began ex-panding my search and that led meto ITC. When I read about ITC online,I instantly knew it was the school forme. Little did I know, I would bewalking away from ITC with aMaster’s degree and my future wife!

WeddingSusan later joined me in the UnitedStates in May 2010. On 24 July2010, we got married in Richmond,Virginia, at my childhood church,Manakin Episcopal. The wedding was

fantastic − although few of Susan’sfriends and family could attend be-cause of the distance.

We are now living happily togetherin Gaithersburg, Maryland, which isjust outside Washington DC. I amworking as a geospatial analyst taskmanager at MDA InformationSystems in Rockville, Maryland.

ITC not only offered us the opportu-nity to meet but also allowed us tolearn how to associate and live withpeople from across the world. Thankyou ITC for the knowledge and skillsyou gave us and for bringing us to-gether!

Long live the ITC family!

27ITC News 2010-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

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Sharing the first dance Mr and Mrs Wysowski waiting tocut the cake

On the occasion of the AARSE Con-ference in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia),an informal alumni gathering wasorganized by Mr Sisay Zenebe.

Meeting old friends and ITC staffmembers, as well as making contactwith fellow ITC alumni, was the maintask of the evening. Around 75alumni were present at the event.The alumni were also honoured bythe presence of His Excellency Mr Hans Blankenberg, Ambassadorof the Netherlands to Ethiopia, whospoke some words of welcome tothe participants. ITC’s rector,Professor Tom Veldkamp, and man-aging director, Ms Erna Leurink, alsoattended the event and met the par-ticipants.

28 ITC News 2010-4

L I F E A F T E R I T C

ITC Alumni Meet Addis Ababa

Sisay Zenebe s_zenebe@yahoo.com

Meeting old friends and making new contacts

ITC Alumnus and Bert Boer Professor Tom Veldkamp, and managing director, Ms Erna Leurink, also attended the event and met the participants

ITC recently organized a successfulalumni meeting in a very charmingrestaurant in Hanoi.

It was attended by some 45 alumni,as well as former ITC rector ProfessorKlaas Jan Beek and his son MartienBeek (First Secretary NetherlandsEmbassy Hanoi) and wife Olivie, andformer staff member Patrick vanLaake, who is now working for theUN in Vietnam. It was great to seethat the alumni form a tightly knitgroup; they know one another welland meet regularly.

The dinner reception also served as an opportunity to say farewell to our resident representative inVietnam, Ms Marjan Kreijns, whowas due to leave the region at theend of 2010.

29ITC News 2010-4

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ITC Alumni Meet Hanoi

Marjan Kreijns kreijns@itc.nl

Marjan Kreijns says farewellto the alumni

Professor Klaas Jan Beek alsoattended the gathering

The Alumni form a tight group and meet regularly

Thanks to the ITC tradition of bring-ing alumni together at every oppor-tunity, a get-together for ITC alumniwas held at Hotel International,Muyenga, Kampala, on 19 Novem-ber 2010. This alumni gathering wasorganized as part of the MinisterialConference on Higher Education inAgriculture in Africa (15 to 19 No-vember 2010). The conference wasorganized by the Regional Forumfor Capacity Building in Agriculture(RUFORUM), together with the Gov-ernment of Uganda and variouspartners, the aim being to mobilizesupport and resources for higher ed-ucation in science and agriculture. Itwas attended by policy makers (es-pecially ministers responsible for ed-ucation, agriculture, science & tech-nology, finance and planning); tech-nical experts in the focus ministries;university vice-chancellors and theirdeans; university networks; develop-ment partners/NGOs; sub-regionalorganizations; university partners inresearch for development, such asresearch and extension; farmer or-ganizations; and knowledge centresand networks within and outsideAfrica.

ITC was represented by three alumni(Dr R.P. Singh, secretary general,Indian Agricultural UniversitiesAssociation; Dr Babatunde Nuga, lec-turer from Nigeria, and Dr JaneBemigisha from Uganda) and mostimportantly Professor Eric Smaling,who attended the conference in hiscapacity as senator in the DutchParliament and professor of agricul-tural sciences at both ITC, Universityof Twente, and WageningenUniversity.

It was a great honour for the ITCalumni attending the conference andthose within Uganda to welcomeProfessor Smaling as chief guest at

the alumni gathering. The gatheringwas also graced by the presence ofMs Marieke Janssen from the RoyalNetherlands Embassy, Kampala; DrWim Andriesse of WageningenUniversity; Dr Nighisty Ghezae, headof programmes, InternationalFoundation for Science, Sweden; andMiguel Leal, REDD project manager,Albertine Rift Programme, Kampala.

During the gathering, the alumni andtheir guests were entertained withlocal Ugandan cultural music anddancing before sharing dinner. In theinterlude, the alumni introducedthemselves and highlighted their ca-reer paths and life experiences afterITC. It was a pleasure for the alumnito receive a written message fromMs Jorien Terlouw, who sent warmgreetings and gave an update on ITCactivities. The message was read outby Dr Babatunde.

Finally, Professor Smaling addressedthe gathering. In his speech, he un-derscored the importance of theMinisterial Conference and askedthose that had attended to highlightthe main lessons learned and howthey should be applied. In the sameway, he took an interest in the careerpaths of the alumni and asked themto explain in greater depth how theywere applying the knowledge ac-quired at ITC. A number of alumnibriefed the gathering on how theywere utilizing this knowledge, and itwas found that ITC was indeed con-tributing greatly not only to personalcareers but also to national and re-gional development agendas, ashighlighted in the examples below.

Mr Godfrey Kimuli works for theMinistry of Energy and MineralDevelopment. He did not use GISand remote sensing immediatelyafter he had completed his ITC

course because at that time theMinistry did not have the appropriatesoftware available. In recent years,however, many ministerial staff havegone to ITC, and the tremendousknowledge and skills acquired havehelped to raise awareness of the po-tential of these technologies. As a re-sult, the Ministry is now equippedwith GIS and remote sensing facilitiesand the staff can apply the knowl-edge gained at ITC.

Dr Grace Nangendo works for theWildlife Conservation Society as amanager/specialist in GIS and remotesensing. With her knowledge of GISand ecology, she has contributed tothe National Oil Exploration SensitivityAtlas. She also does a lot of biodiver-sity modelling in her work. At themoment, the National PlanningAuthority is setting up a spatial datainfrastructure and most of the teaminvolved (including Grace) are ITCalumni. This indicates how ITC hascontributed to developing the capac-ity and skills in geo-information sci-ence of different individuals.

Robert Charles Aguma is the direc-tor of associates for Strategic Re -source Development and Environ -ment Management Ltd (ASRDEMLtd).

Matthew Ofwono works for NAROin Lira, where he is active in a climatechange programme

Beatrice Kyasiimire is working forthe Wildlife Conservation Society ona WILD programme in northernUganda. Using geo-information toolsin this programme, WCS is cooperat-ing with local governments in envi-ronmental action planning for thebenefit of communities that are re-turning home from internally dis-placed camps following a 20-year

30 ITC News 2010-4

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ITC Alumni Meet Kampala

Jane Bermigisha bermigisha@itc.nl

armed conflict. In collaboration withGulu University, the staff have beentrained in GIS. A GIS laboratory hasextended services to district officials,who have been trained in, andschooled to conduct, environmentalaction planning exercises with theuse of geo-information tools.

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L I F E A F T E R I T C

Professor Smaling addresses the gathering

A number of Alumni briefed onhow they were utulizing the

knowledge gained at ITC

During the gathering a dinner was served

The Alumni and guests were entertained with local music and dance

ITC News 2010-4

On Friday evening, 26 November2010, Nuffic Neso Thailand, theNetherlands Alumni AssociationThailand (NAAT), and the RoyalNetherlands Embassy jointly organ-ized another successful Tulip nightfor all Thai who had graduatedfrom the Netherlands.

The dress code was “orange” andthe Tulip Night was organized out-doors in the beautiful garden of theDutch embassy. The successful eventattracted about 260 guests, who en-joyed food, drinks, games, fantasticprizes and live music. Fortified byplenty of delicious food and excellentHeineken beer, everyone danced thenight away.

The ITC alumni were well repre-sented and occupied two large ta-bles. We also drew some jealousglances, as ITC alumni won many ofthe beautiful prizes during the luckydraw.

32 ITC News 2010-4

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Tulip Night 2010: Let’s Colour the Night Orange!

Marjan Kreijns kreijns@itc.nl

Mrs. Parida Kuneepong, Secretary ITC-NAATChapter with Marjan Kreijns and Ms. Dawis,

alumni officer of the Dutch Embassy

Mr. Thiva Supanje, Chairman of ITC-NAATassociation

Dancing the night away

ITC alumni won many of the beautiful prizesduring the lucky draw

ITC alumni together with the Dutch Ambassador

ITC alumni together with the Dutch Ambassador