Each conference day 25-28 May 2026 will start with a plenary session with key topics under the overall theme of "The Future We Want - The SDGs and Beyond".
Speakers:
Speakers:
Speakers:
Speakers:
𝗧𝗢𝗣𝗜𝗖: Transforming data chaos into digital clarity for land and beyond
Join Dr. Craig Hill, Vice President in the Geomatics Division at Leica Geosystems (Heerbrugg, Switzerland), for a compelling plenary exploring how nations across Africa and beyond are converting disconnected land data into integrated, digital clarity.
With a PhD from RMIT University and academic foundations in land surveying and the design of new technologies for surveying professionals, Dr. Hill brings both deep technical expertise and real-world perspective. Since joining Leica Geosystems in 1995, he has been a core contributor to numerous global development projects—helping deliver innovative technologies and services that significantly improve surveyor efficiency worldwide.
As Leica Geosystems’ representative to the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), Dr. Hill is a familiar and respected voice at FIG Working Weeks and Congresses.
𝗧𝗢𝗣𝗜𝗖: Surveyors and climate resilience: Practical climate actions
Join Dr Clarissa Augustinus, Chair of FIG Climate Compass Task Force, elaborate on how humanity is dealing with a global climate crisis.
Humanity is dealing with a global climate crisis. Surveyors are already playing a major role dealing with the impacts of climate, and this will increase. New technologies have enhanced the surveyors’ critical role in the management of these impacts. The presentation focuses on practical surveying actions, methods and tools for climate resilience, for land, water and marine. Surveyors are working on 16 major climate actions from new technical approaches, to ethics, to environmental sustainability, to climate resilient fit-for-purpose land administration, natural disaster impacts and more.
The environmental crisis is creating new markets for surveyors, and new business models are emerging to support climate resilience. This is a growing industry able to support multiple workflows going beyond business as usual. Solutions need to cross the digital divide of the global north and global south to ensure global and national environmental goals are met for people and the planet.
Dr. Clarissa Augustinus - Bio:
Chair of the International Federation of Surveyors Climate Compass Task Force (2023-2026).
Key author and coordinator of the new FIG Task Force publication 'Surveying for Climate Resilience: Practical Climate Actions.'
Honorary Ambassador, International Federation of Surveyors (2014-).
Awarded the Michael Barrett Award by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (2018).
Senior Adviser, Arab Land Initiative, UN-Habitat/Global Land Tool Network (2019-).
UN-Habitat, Section Leader, Land and Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) (2003-2015) and Lead Founder of GLTN.
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Land Surveying in the School of Engineering, Surveying and Construction at the University of KwaZulu Natal (1994-2000).
TOPIC: The S-100 Standard: Enabling a New Digital Vision of the Marine Environment
Join Rear Admiral Luigi Sinapi – IHO Director when he talks about how the future of global development will be shaped by the capacity to manage spaces that connect people, economies, and ecosystems in a coherent and integrated manner. Oceans, seas, and coastal zones—once considered peripheral to land-based planning—have become central to global challenges related to climate change, security, trade, energy, and sustainable growth. In this evolving landscape, authoritative marine geospatial information is increasingly recognized as a strategic enabler for governance, resilience, and informed decision-making. The S-100 Universal Hydrographic Data Model represents a decisive step toward a fully digital, integrated, and interoperable representation of the marine environment.
Rear Admiral Luigi Sinapi - Bio:
Rear Admiral Luigi Sinapi was born in Grosseto (Italy) on August 27 1967. He joined the Naval Academy in Livorno (Italy) in 1985.
From 1st September 2020, Rear Admiral Sinapi has been elected International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Director for six years, as responsible for coordinating the IHO’s program.
Among the many medals and decorations he was awarded in the course of his career, RAdm Sinapi received the Commemorative Medal for the 11th Italian Expedition to Antarctica, NATO Medals for the former state of Yugoslavia and Kosovo operations, and the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Knight).
TOPIC: Applications of Geospatial Solutions and Technologies for Climate Resilience
Join Dr.Victor Khoo Hock Soon, Chief Surveyor & Director, Survey and Geomatics Singapore Land Authority when he elaborate on climate change and its impacts are inherently spatial, dynamic, and multi-scalar, demanding responses grounded in location-based evidence and continuous insight. This plenary examines how geospatial solutions—integrating Earth Observation (EO), GEOAI, digital twin technologies, and positioning infrastructure—provide an end-to-end framework to support climate action through five structured approaches.
Dr.Victor Khoo Hock Soon, Chief Surveyor & Director, Survey and Geomatics Singapore Land Authority Bio:
Victor Khoo is the Chief Surveyor and Director for Survey and Geomatics at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), where he leads transformative mapping programmes and geospatial strategies supporting agencies and industry across Singapore.
In his statutory appointment as the Chief Surveyor, he is responsible for the determination of legal property boundaries and cadastral survey information. He oversees the establishment of national positioning infrastructure, digital transformation in cadastral survey, and the Singapore National 3D Mapping Programme. In 2017, Victor initiated the Digital Underground project to develop a comprehensive ecosystem for the mapping underground utility networks.
Currently, he serves on the Singapore Land Surveyors Board, United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE) International Advisory Committee and Vice-Chair of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Asia Pacific regional committee.He has a Bachelor of Surveying (Land) from the University Technology Malaysia (UTM), and received his PhD and Master in Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
 
 #FIG2026 |