News

September 25 – October 5, 2022

CUPAGIS project final event: the students training, masterclasses and closing conference in the University of Tiaret

During 25.09.–05.10.2022 the very intensive study focuses on the main topics: precision agriculture (basics and principles); geographic information systems; remote sensing and its applications in agriculture (crop mapping and monitoring); communication skills and information technologies regarding marketing and sustainability of precision agriculture, etc. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page

The students received their certificates for successfully completing the intensive training. Project coordinator Professor Tarmo Soomere commented at the ceremony that the students who participated in the CUPAGIS project are extremely inspiring in terms of their impressive motivation and their deep desire to learn. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page

CUPAGIS students in the Tiaret Radio

The master class students from five universities were invited to the Tiaret Radio to talk about the CUPAGIS project and the master classes and seminars but also about the professional prospects of their training in general. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page

October 3, 2022: CUPAGIS project final conference

All the Algerian partner universities of CUPAGIS project: Djillali Liabes University, Université d'Oran Ahmed Ben Bella, Ibn-Khaldoun University Tiaret, Université de Mostaganem, Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Agronomie reviewed the results of the project. In addition, future perspectives, and possibilities of continuing cooperation with European universities were discussed. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page

“Science in 3 minutes” competition

In addition to the CUPAGIS master classes, the three-minute lecture competition “Science in 3 minutes” was held for the first time in Algeria at the final seminar. Professor Tarmo Soomere (CUPAGIS project coordinator, “Science in 3 minutes” competition initiator in Estonia): “The most important product of our universities is not publications, but really well-educated young people who will go from the universities to society and can change the world there.” The students who participated in the “Science in 3 minutes” competition within the CUPGAIS project proved that they are capable of making the world a much better place. The fact that the students only had a few days to prepare, and practice made the competition a particularly difficult challenge. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page

September 9–13, 2022

Professor Tarmo Soomere (Coordinator of the CUPAGIS project; President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences) visited Bulgaria for meeting the project partners at the Plovdiv University of Agriculture. The main purpose of the meetings was to discuss the activities taking place in the final phase of the project, including the material to be presented to the students training session, selection of matters for master classes and necessary topics of the final conference in Algeria.

In addition, Professor Soomere also had a discussion with Dr. John Bell (Director of the Healthy Planet Directorate at the General Directorate of Scientific Research and Innovation of the European Commission). Dr. Bell is a top-level expert in bioeconomy development, food security combined with sustainable use of renewable resources. In his current position, he is responsible for policies regarding climate change, bioeconomy, and food systems. Dr. Bell was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Plovdiv University of Agriculture.

In the conversation circle held by the Rector, Professor Hristina Yancheva also attended the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Yavor Gechev and the recent Deputy Minister of Innovation and Growth Mrs. Karina Angelieva. The focus of the discussion was the sustainability of Bulgarian agriculture, needs of the infrastructure, marketing opportunities, as well as the (weak) abilities of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to participate in social developments.

Professor Tarmo Soomere gave a short speech of inspiration to the first-year students of the Department of Economics. He was emphasizing society's expectation that the next revolution in science and technology should come in the field of social sciences and humanities, because without their contribution it is not possible to solve any of our modern global crises.

Professor Soomere met colleagues and CUPAGIS partners Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zhulieta Arnaudova, Assist. Prof. Dr. Krum Hristov, Assist. Prof. Dr. Rositsa Uzunova. Many thanks to Assist. Prof. Dr. Dimo Atanasov (Dean of Faculty of Economics at the Plovdiv University of Agriculture), who helped to organise the meetings and discussions at the University.

See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page

Summer School 2022 – CUPAGIS training in Prague 25 - 29 July 2022

The second major training event of CUPAGIS was taking place at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague under leadership of Prof František Kumhala and Prof Jitka Kumhalova and with participation of 14 professors and teachers from Algerian partner universities. As much of the presented material is relevant and applicable for wider audience, the event was organized back-to-back with a similar training in the frame of other EU projects, such as NICOPA. Doing so made it possible to establish contacts between professors and teachers in different fields and regions. Such contacts and possible further transboundary and interdisciplinary cooperation could play a major role in supporting sustainability of the outcome of single projects.

Similar to other CUPAGIS trainings and workshops, the program included a wide variety of subjects. It ranged from specialized topics on precision agriculture and its supporting knowledge, such as the use of robots and drones in agriculture, up to generic transferable aspects, such as development of communication skills and sharing experience in running and managing of large international projects presented by the coordinator Prof Tarmo Soomere. Particularly interesting for participants were visits to experimental farms in Steknik and Dolni Ujezd that included hands-on training and practical demonstration of the use of precision farming technologies in practical operation of agricultural holdings. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page.

June 28 – July 9, 2022

During the last two weeks (June 28 – July 9, 2022 ), there have been active brainstorming about the future of precision agriculture at our partners of the CUPAGIS project in Algeria. Professor Tarmo Soomere, Coordinator of the CUPAGIS project (President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences) visited all the CUPAGIS project partner universities in Algeria: Djillali Liabes University, Université d'Oran Ahmed Ben Bella, Ibn-Khaldoun University Tiaret, Université de Mostaganem, Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Agronomie. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page.

PHOTO GALLERY

All the project partners provided a short overview of the recent progress of CUPAGIS activities in the partner universities. They all have made considerable progress in accreditation and implementation of new curricula:

• New curricula have been created at all five universities and fully accredited and launched in four universities;
• The syllabi (short description of the courses), curricula and the teaching materials have been prepared and peer-reviewed;
• New VCR equipment classes fully installed in freshly renovated classrooms; PAGIS IT centres launched and PASENSO competence centres unveiled (partially in temporary facilities) at all universities;
• Almost 100 students have already completed the first study year; more than 100 are expected to enrol from autumn 2022;
• The number of already enrolled students to the new curricula varies from 14 to 28 in different universities, with a roughly equal share of male and female students over all universities;
• A variety of different stakeholders have been engaged.

Visit of the CUPAGIS team of the Djillali Liabes University of Sidi Bel-Abbes to the production area of the Groupe Hasnaoui SODEA Spa. (https://sodea-hasnaoui.com/) on 04 July 2022. The founder and leader of this company Mr Brahim Hasnaoui (the second from the left) personally explained the principles of creation and running this farmstead.

Local coordination meetings took place in all partner universities: on 28 June in Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie (ENSA, Algiers), on 03 July in Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Université de Mostaganem, on 04 July in Djillali Liabes University of Sidi Bel Abbès, on 05 July in Université d’Oran1, and on 07 July in Ibn Khaldoun Tiaret University.

These meetings involved extensive discussion about the future of teaching of precision agriculture in Algeria, the mission and modus operandi of the PASENSO competence centres, and perspectives of engagement of various stakeholders at both local and regional level. These aspects were considered as an important component of the third mission of universities – the economic and social mission of the university and its contribution to communities and territories.

During the brainstorming the additional teaching equipment (sensors for specific needs of precision agriculture in the context of Algeria) has also arrived. This set contains a spectroradiometer (at the right), a crop camera (at the left) and two different soil sensors (middle). Customs clearing will take a few days and it is hoped that at the instant of posting this message the devices will already be in the hands of partners. See more about the CUPAGIS equipment: https://cupagis.eu/index.php/equipment

On June 29 the CUPAGIS/ENSA (Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Agronomie) team organised an international high-level seminar / science day: “Perspective for the Development of Precision Agriculture in Al Management”. Several high-level officers and stakeholders (Director of ENSA, Ministry of Higher Education and Science, representatives of the farming industry, various stakeholders) took part in the seminar. Professor Tarmo Soomere presented the opening address and an overview of CUPAGIS project. The Algeria Press Service (APS) was also present – Professor M. Abdelkader Laribi (CUPAGIS project partner at ENSA) and Professor Tarmo Soomere commented on the perspectives and goals of precision agriculture in Algeria. See more in the APS online news (in French) here.

A sequence of events towards successful finalising the project tasks will take place from the end of July until the beginning of October 2022.

With the help of colleagues from Czech University of Life Sciences under leadership of Prof František Kumhála and the embassy of Czech Republic to issue visas within exceptionally short notice, a major training event of CUPAGIS project will take place in Prague 25–29 July 2022.

This training includes additionally to conventional lectures a visit to Hop Research Institute in Zatec, practical demonstration of the use of capacitive throughput sensor for hop picking machine control, demonstration of hop field imaging using UAVs, examples of other special crops imaging and robotic team results, and demonstration of the use of precision farming technologies in practical operation of agricultural holdings.

A sequence of events will take place in Tiaret at the end of September–beginning of October 2022 in this auditorium of the library building.

The chain of events will start from training of students and teachers towards improving presentation and academic writing skills.

This training will culminate with a competition of students’ three-minute-lectures and with a set of selected master classes.

The final seminar of CUPAGIS project on 3–5 Octobertargets first of all the regional stakeholders with the simple message: The new generation of agriculture experts is already growing. Its quality and impact on the future for the benefit of society substantially depends on the link between academic agriculture education and the needs of practical agriculture in the country. It is the joint challenge of academia and industry to make this impact as strong as possible.

The first professional bachelor training courses started within the CUPAGIS project

Last year (in October 2021) the University of Oran 1 Ahmed Ben Bella started the first bachelor training course in precision agriculture within the CUPAGIS project. The course will give the students theoretical and practical skills – new decision making tools that can generally help to find better solutions in smart and sustainable agriculture, land development, environmental protection and restoration, management of water resources, and etc. The course will give a good insight into machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data to provide students with an understanding of how IT professional design and technology could be used in precision agriculture. See more

The first CUPAGIS professional master courses started in 2021/2022

In the first semester of 2021/2022 within the framework of CUPAGIS project the first student groups follow the professional master degree courses in Algeria. The students will be provided the very modern contemporary solutions for precision agriculture that has the potential making farming future-proof. The students will be trained how to use innovative digital technologies that can help to achieve more sustainable, economically and environmentally efficient agricultural systems. At the end of 2021 a small ceremony took place, bringing together the students and teachers who participated in the CUPAGIS master classes where modernised curricula in precision agriculture has been used. The students and professors from Djillali Yabes University have received their first CUPAGIS certificates.

The major part of the necessary equipment for precision agriculture training has arrived in Algeria

We are very happy that the equipment for CUPAGIS has arrived in Algeria and is being distributed to all partners (in late autumn 2021). All the equipment was originally foreseen in the project proposal. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic created a long delay with the purchase of these sets. We had to restart the entire process and to some extent reshape the description of the these sets as some items were no more accessible. But the good thing is that we got an even better price and/or more powerful devices, so that there was more room for specific sensor equipment for precision agriculture.

The set of equipment consists of four major sets:

(1) CUPAGIS or PAGIS [Precision Agriculture using GIS (geographic information system)]. This set includes desktop computers (including keyboards with French + Arabic alphabet), one notebook, workstation, data server, UPS, storage unit and port switches. The idea of this set is to be able to retrieve, store, and analyse different kinds of data that are used for developing and teaching/learning various aspects of precision agriculture.

(2) VCR [Virtual Class Room]. This set is foreseen for teaching the new curricula. It includes 16 all-in-one desktop computers (and headset), printer, wall-mount projector, interactive board, notebook and one port switches.

(3) PASENSO stands for International Precision Agriculture using SENsing data Service Office. The idea is to help the dissemination of the project results to others who might need knowledge in precision agriculture, and also to inform the public about the possibility of having this kind of experience in Algerian universities. This kind of activity definitely needs more than just two all-in-one desktop computers (and headset), and a printer, projector, tripod screen, digital camera and notebook. However, this „seed“ set hopefully serves as a starting point, to stimulate an environment for experience exchange, promotion and dissemination of CUPAGIS project results, and helps to develop links between universities and local labour market. See also the CUPAGIS Facebook page.

01.04.2021 -

Webinar "CUPAGIS Project: Women in agricultural science and technology"

On April 7, 2021 the webinar “Women in Agricultural Science and Technology” within the CUPAGIS project will take place. The webinar will address the important gender question in science, the role of the women in agriculture in Algeria. The researchers of the CUPAGIS project working in the field of agriculture and technologies will present their works, the European partners of the project will provide some recommendations to the researchers. The dissemination regarding this webinar will be provided for Phd and Master Students as well as different stakeholders in the agricultural sector. Below you can find the information regarding the webinar.

Draft Agenda:

26.03.2021 -

The online master classes in the framework of the CUPAGIS continue! The master classes will be provided by Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany), Agricultural University Plovdiv (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague, Czech Republic), and Tallinn University of Technology (Tallinn, Estonia). Below you can find the program of the online master classes for April 2021.

Agenda for April 2021:

25.02.2021 -

The online master classes in the framework of the CUPAGIS continue! The master classes will be provided by Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany), Agricultural University Plovdiv (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague, Czech Republic), and Tallinn University of Technology (Tallinn, Estonia). Below you can find the program of the online master classes for March 2021.

Agenda for March 2021:

26.01.2021 -

The online master classes in the framework of the CUPAGIS continue! The master classes will be provided by Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany), Agricultural University Plovdiv (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague, Czech Republic), and Tallinn University of Technology (Tallinn, Estonia). Below you can find the program of the online master classes for February 2021.

Agenda for February 2021:

15.11.2020 -

The online master classes in the framework of the CUPAGIS project will start at the end of Novemebr 2020. The master classes will be provided by Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany), Agricultural University Plovdiv (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague, Czech Republic), and Tallinn University of Technology (Tallinn, Estonia).

Draft Agenda for November 2020 - January 2021:

03.06.2019 -

We are currently preparing for the first Training of our CUPAGIS project, which is set to take place from 19th to 30th August at the Technical University of Berlin.

Draft Agenda:

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