The draft program for November’s Advancing Earth Observation Forum in Hobart has been released.

The Advancing Earth Observation Forum will be held in the Tasmanian capital from 9 to 12 November 2026, and promises to be an outstanding event if the draft program is anything to go by.

Indeed, the draft program is one of the fullest and most comprehensive we have ever seen, so the final program is likely to be even better.

The four-day event — the theme for which is ‘Sovereign capability, global impact’ — will comprise one day of workshops followed by three days of presentations. It is being organised by the Earth Observation Australia group.

The workshops will tackle issues such as agentic coding, drone data collection, Earth observation capacity building, and cloud native geospatial for Earth observation.

The list of speakers and presenters includes researchers and industry professionals from across Australia, and from around the region and the wider world.

The range of topics to be covered is very widespread, including:

• Mining and Earth resources
• Bushfire prediction and response
• Vegetation monitoring
• International co-operation
• River, coastal and ocean studies
• Standards, quality assurance and calibration/validation
• Flooding and other natural disasters
• Hyperspectral, SAR and other satellite-based technologies
• Future missions and technologies
• Digital twins

Aside from the conventional presentations, there will also be close to 70 lightning talks covering the gamut of Earth observation topics, such as LiDAR monitoring of ecosystems, kelp mapping, post-fire recovery, crop-type mapping, and hyperspectral mineral exploration.

Although early bird registration for the Advancing Earth Observation Forum has expired, standard registration rates are still available up until 2 October, with late rates applying after that date.

Earth observation awards

Nominations are now open for the 3rd Earth Observation Australia Awards, which aim to showcase and celebrate individuals and organisations within the Australian Earth observation community.

This includes the industry, government, university, education and non-government sectors, as well as community and social enterprises.

This year, there will be five award categories:

• Significant contribution to the development of the Australian Earth observation community
• Early career contribution to the development of the Australian Earth observation community
• Postgraduate student award
• Innovation in Earth observation made by a group, company or organisation
• Innovation in Earth observation with cross-organisational collaboration

The nomination deadline is 11 October 2026. The award recipients will be announced at the Forum in Hobart.