IN FOCUS: InGARSS 2025 Looks to the Future

By Joanne Van Voorhis

This December, the Indian remote-sensing community and global partners will meet in Bhubaneswar for the 2025 IEEE India Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (InGARSS). Scheduled for 10–13 December 2025 at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bhubaneswar, InGARSS 2025 promises a high-energy program of plenaries, technical sessions, tutorials and panels that reflect how rapidly earth-observation is changing.

InGARSS 2025 will feature keynote addresses by eminent experts, technical paper presentations, workshops, and panel discussions on emerging trends such as AI-driven remote sensing, climate monitoring, disaster management, and sustainable development. The 2025 symposium represents the fifth gathering since InGARSS was launched In 2020. While a regional event, it has international impact and has developed into a global platform where academic innovation meets industry practice and government needs across the Indian subcontinent and beyond.

Better World, Brighter Future

Events planned for InGARSS 2025 embrace the theme “Uttamaṁ Viśvaṁ Ujjvalaṁ Bhaviṣyam — Better World, Brighter Future,” which emphasizes how important leveraging geospatial technologies can be in both addressing pressing regional and global challenges while also promoting examples of innovation in the field. The organizing committee has encouraged submissions that link core remote-sensing science to societal impact. “We have encouraged presenters and exhibitors to focus on how technology can really make a difference in our world,” explains Dr. Ashish Ghosh, Director of IIIT Bhubaneswar and InGARSS 2025 Chair. “We know geoscience and remote sensing technologies have already made a difference in the challenges that face our world, and we are looking forward to an engaging program that explores how we can apply our knowledge and tools to make the future an even brighter place,” he adds.

Networking and Collaboration

“The symposium, which will be held at IIIT Bhubaneswar, will provide many opportunities for collaboration, networking, and showcasing cutting-edge solutions that address pressing global challenges. “We encourage attendees to reach out to cohorts, find connections, and explore how best to solve technical challenges in collaborative discussions,” explains Ghosh.

There are many events throughout the InGARSS to encourage networking, from workshops, poster sessions, group luncheons, WIE, mentoring opportunities, and other recreational events. “We have seen how connections forged at prior InGARSS sessions have developed into professional alliances which have impacted our field,” adds Ghosh.

Broad, Contemporary Program

Major technical tracks planned for InGARSS 2025 include:

• Remote Sensing Techniques – sensors and platforms (optical, SAR, LiDAR, CubeSats and UAVs), instrument calibration and mission design, and electromagnetic scattering and radiative transfer modelling.
• Data Analytics – AI and data-science pipelines for imagery, multimodal data fusion (e.g., combining SAR, optical, LiDAR), geospatial big data and cloud computing, predictive modelling, and immersive tools such as AR/VR for scenario planning.
• Applications – atmosphere, land, ocean and cryosphere studies, planetary remote sensing, and application-driven sessions on precision agriculture, pollution monitoring, climate observations, and AI-driven disaster response and recovery.

Inclusivity and Policy – citizen science, geospatial education and policy, ethical and societal implications of ubiquitous remote sensing, and geospatial systems for “Viksit Bharat” (developed India).

Distinguished Speakers

The upcoming InGARSS 2025 will feature four distinguished speakers from around the world whose collective expertise spans remote sensing, radar systems, image processing and statistical modelling.

Saibun Tjuatja (University of Texas at Arlington, USA) brings deep experience in active and passive microwave remote sensing, tomographic radar imaging and through-clutter target sensing. Paul A. Rosen (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA, USA) serves as Project Scientist for the NASA-ISRO SAR–mission (NISAR) and is a pioneer of radar interferometry and Earth-surface deformation monitoring. Alejandro C. Frery (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) is a leading computational statistician whose research focuses on stochastic modelling, statistical computing and image processing of SAR/PolSAR data. And Nilesh M. Desai (Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation – India), as Director, has overseen microwave radar, synthetic aperture radar and remote sensing payload and application development for national space programmes.

“Our guest speakers represent the spectrum of theory, instrumentation and application in geoscience and remote sensing and will provide InGARSS attendees with insights into current and future applications,” says Ghosh.

Exploring Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar and IIIT Bhubaneswar offer a strategic and timely venue for InGARSS. The city has rapidly emerged as a major center for technology and higher education in eastern India, situated in a region that has faced critical climate and environmental challenges such as coastal vulnerability, cyclones, and riverine flooding. Hosting InGARSS in Bhubaneswar underscores the symposium’s commitment to linking cutting-edge geoscience and remote sensing research with real-world regional needs, while fostering collaboration among international experts. Beyond the conference, Bhubaneswar and its surroundings offer a rich cultural and natural landscape for attendees to explore, from the city’s ancient temples and heritage architecture to nearby beaches, wildlife sanctuaries, and historic sites along the Bay of Bengal.

InGARSS 2025: Highlights

• Pre-symposium Workshop and Tutorials
• Keynote Talks and Distinguished Lectures
• Technical Sessions and Poster Presentation
• Glacier-Hack
• Panel Discussion
• Mentor-Mentee Program
• IDEA Luncheon
• Industry Session
• Conference Dinner and Networking
• Specially curated Odia food, cultural program, walks through nature, Yoga, table tennis, badminton, and more!

Join us at InGARSS!

We warmly invite you to be part of India’s premier forum on Geoscience and Remote Sensing this December, InGARSS 2025. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with leading experts, researchers, and innovators shaping the future of Earth observation and spatial intelligence.

The symposium brings together a vibrant community of remote-sensing scientists, geoscientists, computer-vision and machine-learning researchers, climate and environmental researchers, policymakers, engineers, and industry professionals engaged in developing sensors, cloud platforms, and decision-support systems.

Students and early-career researchers will find InGARSS 2025 especially rewarding, offering a highly collaborative environment for learning, networking, and showcasing their work. Make your travel plans now and join us for this exciting gathering of minds and technologies. For program details and registration, visit the InGARSS 2025 website.