EduAsiaNews, New Delhi – Two Indonesian remote sensing researchers and practitioners received the 2026 Indroyono Soesilo Award at the closing ceremony of the 47th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS) in New Delhi on Friday (Oct. 16). Of the four award recipients, the other two were from Japan and India.
The top award went to Yustinus Seno of Auriga Nusantara Corp. for his research, MapBiomas Indonesia: Annual Wall-to-Wall Mapping of Forest Ecosystems in Indonesia (1990–2024). The project combines more than three decades of Landsat satellite data with cloud computing and machine learning to monitor changes in Indonesia’s forest ecosystems.
The Honorable Mention award went to Serliah Nur of Indonesia for her research on mapping language vitality and planning language revitalization in Tana Luwu, South Sulawesi. She integrated geographic information systems (GIS) with sociolinguistic analysis to support the preservation of regional languages.
Meanwhile, Serenee Osman of Nakanihon Air Co. Ltd., Japan, received the Technical Excellence award for integrating airborne LiDAR, satellite imagery and bathymetric surveys to assess landscape changes caused by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. The Special Recognition award went to Ankitha Reddy of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for developing the Bhoonidhi platform, which expands access to Earth observation data.
The award commemorates Prof. Dr. Ir. Indroyono Soesilo, a senior remote sensing expert, a pioneer in the development of remote sensing in Indonesia, and one of the founders of the Indonesian Remote Sensing Society (MAPIN). He currently serves as Indonesia’s ambassador to the United States.
The 47th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS 2026) was held in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 12–16, 2026. Under the theme “Remote Sensing for Future Earth: Innovation, Inclusion & Impact,” the conference brought together around 800 participants from more than 30 countries, including scientists, space agencies, universities and geospatial industry professionals.
Remote sensing is no longer limited to satellite imagery. The technology has become a vital tool for monitoring the Earth, from forests and agricultural land to floods, droughts, earthquakes, coastline changes, and movements in the atmosphere and oceans. At ACRS 2026, these topics were explored across eight main tracks, including sustainable agriculture, geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI), satellite and drone sensors, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), disaster mitigation, and the use of data in public policymaking.
The conference was jointly organized by the Asian Association on Remote Sensing, the Indian Society of Remote Sensing and the Indian Society of Geomatics, with strong support from India’s ISRO and NRSC, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences, and various research institutions and technology companies.
For Indonesia, ACRS 2026 provided an important forum for strengthening research cooperation and the exchange of Earth observation data. With more than 17,500 islands, Indonesia has a significant need for this technology to support natural resource exploration, forest and coastal management, fisheries, agriculture and disaster response.
Ultimately, ACRS 2026 underscored one key message: data gathered from space can make a difference only when translated into decisions that protect people and the planet.
