Join the Earth Observation Remote Sensing Workshop 2025 in July!

Earth observation is more than ever a hot topic in the space sector. ESA remains at the heart of this domain, with keystone projects such as the Sentinel missions and the Copernicus services, but also by developing new projects and all the while constantly strengthening its expertise in remote sensing. The applications for remote sensing data are nowadays of utmost importance, being used to prevent flooding, forest fires, to optimize agriculture and to monitor the weather, vegetation as well as urban development. They help us to better understand our Earth and its evolution.

ESA's Education Office is proud to offer university students the opportunity to participate in the Earth Observation Remote Sensing Workshop 2025. Throughout the week a strong emphasis is placed on hands-on activities where the learners actually process remote sensing data. The participants will have the chance to learn from trainers having cutting-edge expertise in this field, and to apply their knowledge during exercises involving large database and Earth Observation tools they will be introduced to. Students will get familiar with topics such as optical, thermal infrared and radar remote sensing, and technologies such as synthetic aperture radar and data fusion, among others.

Join us to this exciting journey!

Preliminary schedule

Day 1	Basics of Remote Sensing ESA Earth Observation Missions Image Visualisation and Analysis
Day 2	Introduction to Cloud-Based Earth Observation Data Earth Observation Processing Workflow Bio-geophysical Parameter Retrieval for Ocean Applications
Day 3	Bio-geophysical Parameter Retrieval for Land Applications Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Day 4	Processing and Analysis of Multi-Sensor SAR Time-series for Land Applications Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)
Day 5	Radar and Optical Remote Sensing Data Fusion Evaluation

Who can apply?

• aged minimum 18 years old. ESA Academy will only appraise applications from students who have no or limited professional experience in relevant engineering or scientific topics;
• be a citizen of an ESA Member State, Canada*, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovakia;
• be enrolled as a Master or PhD student in a university for the academic year 2024-2025 or 2025-2026; 
• be studying an engineering or scientific subject.

Selected students will be requested to attend the entire 5-day workshop and will be sponsored by ESA. This sponsorship will cover accommodation and meals as well as up to 350 Euros for travelling to Belgium.

Upon completion of the workshop, students will be evaluated via an online questionnaire and will receive a certificate of participation as well as a course transcript, enabling them to request ECTS credit(s) from their respective universities.

ESA is committed to achieving diversity and creating an inclusive professional environment. To this end, we welcome proposals and applications from all eligible candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. The ESA Academy strongly encourages inclusiveness within its programmes and within participating teams, which contributes to the enrichment of our programme.

Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support, either digitally or at the location of the training. In case of any questions or specific needs, please reach out to academy.training@esa.int to get assistance or advice during the application process.

How to apply

• Fill in the application form;
• Upload a motivation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, no images);
• Upload a CV (Europass format, PDF, maximum 2 pages);
• Upload a formal recommendation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, including signature, no images) from a university professor or academic supervisor of current university (if it is not possible to receive the recommendation letter from your referee, please ask them to send a recommendation email to academy.training@esa.int before the application deadline);
• Upload a copy of your Transcript of Grades from the two previous semesters, or, if not available, the previous graded academic year (PDF).

All answers and documents should be in English (Transcript of Grades can be submitted in the language of the hosting university, if unavailable in English).

*Canadian students enrolled in a Canadian post-secondary institution may apply for additional support from the Canadian Space Agency through this Announcement of Opportunity (grant applications should be submitted at least 7 weeks before the course delivery and account creation 3 weeks before the submission deadline – create an account soon!). This additional support is to cover costs that are not already covered by ESA for selected Canadian post-secondary students.

The deadline for applications is 27 April 2025, 23:59 CEST.

For further information, please contact academy.training@esa.int.