Leicester scientist receives prestigious award for forest biomass research using space satellites
Dr Pedro Rodriguez-Veiga has received the Student Award (PhD) from the Council of The Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society
Dr Pedro Rodriguez-Veiga from our School of Geography, Geology and the Environment has received the Student Award (PhD) from the Council of The Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc).
Pedro has received the award for his thesis titled ‘Large-Scale Mapping of Forest Aboveground Biomass Retrieval from Maximum Entropy using SAR and Optical Satellite Data and Topographic Variables’.
Pedro’s research developed methods to generate biomass estimates and its associated uncertainty over large areas. The work also explored different aspects of biomass mapping from space using satellites, such as forest cover area mapping, allometric relationships, and the differences between global and regionalized biomass retrieval approaches.
Pedro said: “I feel extremely honoured and delighted to be receiving the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetric Society PhD award. This award is granted by peers in the field, so this gives me confidence and motivation in my work. Thank you for the recognition!”
“I am also very grateful to my PhD supervisors Heiko Balzter and Kevin Tansey of the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research who gave me guidance and support in this dissertation. This is also an award for them.”
Professor Heiko Balzter added: “As a supervisor, I want to personally congratulate Pedro on receiving this award. Doctoral research takes a lot of effort and perseverance. I am proud that he is getting this national recognition for the exceptionally high quality of his work.”
The award was presented to Pedro during the Society's Annual Conference (The UK National Earth Observation Conference) at the National Conference Centre & National Motor Museum, Coventry Rd, Bickenhill, Solihull, B92 0EJ, on Thursday 6 September 2018.