Nordic webinar on Skills Supply and Education in GI

The geospatial society is developing and renewing itself at such a pace that the education system is sometimes struggling to keep up with the development. As a result, the demand for skilled workers exceeds the supply of employers in all fields.

A Nordic webinar on Skills Supply and Education in GI is organised on May 31st 2023. Due to different time zones the webinar starts in Iceland at 12:00pm (GMT), in Sweden, Denmark and Norway at 2:00pm (GMT+1, summer time), and in Finland at 3:00pm (GMT+2, summer time).

Join this webinar to strengthen your knowledge on today’s work requirements and education in GI! We will hear examples from universities and the private sector from all Nordic countries.

Preliminary program

02.00 (GMT+1, summer time): Welcome to the GI Norden webinar. Sofi Almqvist, Geoforum Sweden

02.05: Searching for talents – co-creating new generation experts for increasing geospatial labour market. Niina Käyhkö, Professor in Applied Geospatial Research, University of Turku, Finland
New generation geospatial experts need to be competent with the novel technologies, but equally they need to master the interface between technologies’ potential and societies’ emerging needs. The labour market of the geospatial professionals is revolutionizing as location data and -technology opportunities spread to diverse industry segments, responding to increasing needs in the societies. How do we cope with this change in Finland, and work together to ensure that supply meets the future demand?

02.25: Specialist or Generalist? We must cover both profiles in our university curriculum. Lars Bodum, Associate Professor at University of Aalborg, Denmark
The demand from society on candidates with GI skills has intensified these years. We see a growing community of companies, municipalities, and governmental agencies in line to recruit the students as they leave university. This is a positive development and a clear sign that the whole area is growing and developing in a dynamic way. But the situation is still critical because the number of candidates coming out of university is not following the demand. Geoforum in Denmark has taken this challenge and made it a priority in their new strategy. More students should be introduced to GI tools during their education preferably in high school already, and at the same time we should be able to attract the talented group on master level and give them an introduction to more advanced GI methods and tools such as AI/ML and mathematical modeling within geodesy. This presentation is not about interesting results that you can implement in your own country or organization. This is merely a problem formulation and an important call for action from both the communities, the universities and from our governments.

02.45: Skills supply in the geodata industry. Ann-Kristin Belkert, CEO of Actinate, Sweden
Skills supply has long been pointed out as a major challenge for the geodata industry in Sweden. It is difficult to recruit staff with relevant experience, it is difficult to develop the skills of existing staff and the college/university admissions are low, with even zero admissions to several university programs. Geodata competence is critical for Sweden’s digitalization and for our ability to meet the societal challenges we face, most importantly the transition to a sustainable society. Attracting more people to the industry is a long-term job that requires the industry to speak with one voice and work together to break anonymity and raise the status of the industry. The long-term goal is that the number of admissions to educations increase and that more people with relevant skills apply for vacancies in the industry. The benefits of this project are great both for the industry and society as a whole, as geodata competence is a crucial for the transition to a smart and sustainable society.

03.05: Educations within geomatics and GI competence in Norway; Changes and challenges. Assistant professor, Kirsti Lysaker, Western Norway Uni. Of Applied Sciences, Norway
All employers hunt for the same heads, and there are too few of them. How can society demands and needs explain this? How are studies organized, and who decide which to offer? What can we do to get focus on needs and competence?

03.25: On connecting education plans with the predicted needs of future users. Atli Guðjónsson, GIS specialist at Soil Conservation Service of Iceland
Is there a disconnect between what is needed and what we are teaching and how? GIS and remote sensing are continually growing subjects seeing broader use in a modernizing society. In this fast-moving technical subject are we on the right course when it comes to connecting education and the needs of industry and research organizations? The need for well-educated GIS professionals is predicted to keep growing. At the same time the number of graduates does not appear to be keeping pace. Is further education in GIS focused on nesh research education as opposed to giving students the ability to go out into the workforce as specialists. With the continuing ease of access and use of GIS how can we continue to integrate into more fields to increase awareness. Can we assist more students and members of the workforce to gather more experience and confidents in using the great research in more subjects and user cases? Is there a need for our platform to come together on a country and then a regional space to assist each other in connecting education plans with the predicted needs of future users?

03.45: Discussion

04.00: Webinar ends

Host and Q&A-manager of the webinar
Host of the webinar: Sofi Almqvist, Geoforum Sverige
Q&A-manager of the webinar: Birgitte Wang Schumacher, GeoForum Norge

Company representative or recruiter? Please, join us and get a deeper understanding in today’s University and UAS GI study programmes and skills in all Nordic countries!

Student? Come find out what your fellow Nordic students do!

Registration
All members of one of the Nordic geofora (GeoForum Finland, Geoforum Sverige, GeoForum Norge, LISA Iceland, or Geoforum Danmark) will be granted access for free upon registration. For this webinar the board of GI Norden has decided also to grant a free access for non-members upon registration.

The webinar takes place in Livehouse (a Danish webinar platform). A link for sign-up and subsequent participation will be sent to registered participants in the morning at the day of the webinar.

Please do your registration below (In Danish: ‘Tilmeldinger’).