Recently, Thai vice foreign minister H.E.Mr.DON Pramudvinai, leading a eleven-member team, visited the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, the Mapping and Remote Sensing (“Laboratory”) and Sirindhorn International Center for Geoinformatics (“Research Center”) in the campus to discuss about the deeper cooperation with Wuhan University.
In the meeting, WHU’s Executive Vice President Feng Yongmei provided a brief introduction of Wuhan University, especially the intensive partnership with Thailand. She indicated that the Thai delegation’s visit would deepen the bilateral cooperation on science, promoting the friendship and communication between Thailand and China to a new level.
H.E.Mr.DON Pramudvinai also said that the cooperation between Thailand and WHU, especially the co-founded Sirindhorn International Center for Geoinformatics, would facilitate the cooperative relations to benefit people with space information technology with the support of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
After Gong Jianya introduced the development of the Laboratory and Research Center, a symposium was held for further exchange and communicaion. Then the delegation visited the Research Center.
Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Wuhan University share a long-time friendship. Princess Sirindhorn was named distinguished professor of WHU in 2005. The Thai Science and Technology Ministry and WHU co-founded the Research Center in July, 2006, which was put into use in the next year. Princess Sirindhorn returned to WHU to unveil the plaque for the new site of the Research Center when it was officially inaugurated in April, 2014.
Since 2010, the Thai Science and Technology Ministry and the Research Center have held 4 councils respectively in Thailand and China. The meeting contents precisely included the annual joint research project, the program of receiving Thai students and attending cooperative international academic exchanges. Wuhan University has already sent numerous times experts to Thailand for lectures and personnel training on satellite remote sensing application technology.
The plans for the Research Center are to set up an exemplary space information platform integrated with industry, education and research, which will fully cooperate with GISTDA in Thailand, NASA in USA and ESA in Europe in regards to spaceflight test control and remote sensing ground application of satellites. The Research Center will manifest the tremendous strength of WHU in terms of astronomy and earth observation.
(Rewritten by Luoxi Zhang, edited by Sijia Hu & Diana)
