GRSS Initiates and Maintains MOU Agreements with Other Organizations for Mutual Benefit

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GRSS Initiates and Maintains MOU Agreements with Other Organizations for Mutual Benefit

Many GRSS members probably don’t know the Society works behind the scenes to foster a sense of cooperation with other professional associations and organizations. These agreements, often codified in the form of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), benefit members in a variety of ways, including the creation of joint events, alignment of mutual interests, and in some cases, discounts on memberships or activities.

Dr. Mariko Burgin, who served as GRSS President in 2023 and 2024, continues to play a key role in her official capacity as Past President in renewing existing MOUs and forging new ones. Borrowing a term from a GRSS predecessor and previous GRSS president, Prof. Paolo Gamba, Burgin described the MOUs as helping to build a “community of communities.”

“These partnerships are a part of that – finding synergy with other institutions…and making sure we partner with each other, keep each other informed, and have friendly relations,” she said, adding that it’s usually up to the GRSS president to initiate or continue MOU agreements based on their vision for the Society. Each MOU is assigned a member liaison to ensure its goals are met.

Aligning interests and coordinating events between organizations benefits the individual members by enabling a crossover of information. This frequently happens when the partnering societies agree to have booths at each other’s conferences where members can introduce attendees to the resources available – such as webinars, publications and events – from the other organization.

In some cases, partnering societies have even agreed to offer discounts to new members from the other organizations, said Burgin. Additionally, GRSS members in many instances have been pleased to learn there are other organizations providing opportunities for them to submit papers for publication.

There are three levels of MOUs. The first involves formal agreements with other IEEE societies, and there are currently 11 of them. [See the full list below.] Since participating organizations are essentially “sisters,” the arrangements are very close and often lead to creation of joint conferences.

An upcoming example of this is the IEEE Asia-Pacific Geosciences, Electronics and Remote Sensing Technology 2025 conference planned jointly by the Indonesian Sections of GRSS and IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS). It will be held December 17-19, 2025, in Indonesia.

The next level of MOU is typically with regional communities and societies not necessarily related to IEEE. Burgin made this a priority of her time as president because she saw so many geographic areas of the world where there is growing interest in the geosciences and remote sensing disciplines, but they have been underserved historically by professional societies.

Burgin pointed to Africa and Latin America as examples and noted a new MOU with the signal Institute of Electronics is prepared for signing.

As a result of a new MOU signed under Burgin’s leadership, the GRSS Nigeria Section & Sensors Council Joint Chapter proudly showcased its activities last May at the IEEE Africa Entrepreneurship Day 2025 held at the University of Rwanda.

The final level of MOU is an informal agreement usually without any sort of signed documentation. Nearly all of these are with other IEEE societies. GRSS and the other organization agree verbally to non-binding shared activities with one another. Despite the informality, these arrangements keep the two entities in communication and cooperation with each other.

“These are not rigid agreements, essentially just suggestions on working together,” she explained.

Burgin mentioned that the current GRSS president usually spearheads efforts to begin new relationships with organizations. During her time as president, she looked at the world to focus on regions where GRSS had very little existing activity. Burgin also examined membership documents to see where there was potential overlap in interest with other societies. And there have been a few situations where members themselves or technical committees have come to leaders with ideas to build bridges to specific associations and professions.

Here are lists of existing GRSS MOUs:

Formal MOUs with IEEE Societies