Programmes

This course discusses the principles, structures and applications of geographic information systems. It emphasizes on the use of GIS in organizing and managing spatial data, and how to perform spatial analysis with GIS. Topics include hardware/software components, raster and vector data structures, spatial database, spatial analysis and application issues.

It is a introduction-level complusory course. This course provides an overview in environmental information, public health, and public management. The course topics covered the both sides: the principles, techniques and methodologies of environmental information, as well as the foundations of public management which has crucial relationship with policy-making.

This course provides an introduction of a wide spectrum of spatial analytical models and their applications in environment, health, and public management. The course has two major aims. On the technical front, this course aims to teach students fundamental concepts and recent progress of spatial analysis. On the substantive front, this course integrates the introduction to spatial analytics with their applications in environment, health, and public management, ranging from mapping the inequality among economic and health outcomes, to environmental quality evaluation and innovative census using remote sensing and locational based service. After completing this course, students are expected to have a sound working knowledge of GIS and spatial data analysis and an ability to identify and apply proper analytical methods to problem solving, and to correctly and appropriately interpret and present analysis results.

This course is for students intending to gain fundamental knowledge in the discipline of public health. General basic concepts, theories and methodology and scopes of public health practice will be introduced, with some emphases on occupation/environment and health risk assessment. Other important public health topics including air pollution, climate change, food sustainability, water pollution and land use, as well as health promotion and intervention in the community, healthcare management and policy implications.

This course is to inform, explain, analyze, interpret and communicate the role of Geoinformation technologies in EW and CM situations (tsunamis, earthquakes, fires, landslides, anthropogenic disasters) and improvement of their use in adequate operations with aim to show their till now under-evaluated potentials and way how to integrate knowledge of cartographic, geographic, and ITC community to EW and CM into wide decision making process.

The course helps students to understand remote sensing principles and basic skills in remote sensing image processing and analysis. The students will develop the capability to solve practical problems in the Earth System Science by using remote sensing methods. The theory, methods, and applications of environmental remote sensing are taught in the course. The lectures cover the principles of electromagnetic radiation, satellite observation sensors, digital image processing, Earth target classifications, and the remote sensing applications in land and ocean. ERDAS Imagine software will be used for lab practices.

Each student is required to carry out an independent research project under the supervision of a teacher.

This course introduces the concept of the Earth System Science - the study of the Earth as a system consisting of many inter-related and interacting components. The topics of lectures include individual components of the Earth System and their respective roles in the changing system. The emphasis is on interactions among different components of the system-atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and anthrosphere.

This course provides an overview and hands-on experience in the design, use, and interpretation of Geographic Information Systems for Transportation. Topics covered include transportation layers, transportation related referencing systems, data structures, network structures, urban transportation planning models and other spatial models. At the end of the course, students will have a sound working knowledge of transportation GIS and an ability to work directly with real-life problems.

The course introduces the basic knowledge of earth environmental model simulations. Numerical models serve as important tools for earth environmental research and operations. While the topic of earth environmental modelling is broad, this course will focus on the fundamental concepts of numerical modelling, such as temporal and spatial discretizations, parameterizations, model uncertainty and evaluation. Various components of coupled climate and earth system model will be introduced, including atmospheric general circulation model, regional climate model, weather prediction and land surface model, oceanic general circulation model, air quality model, and integrated assessment model. In addition, this course will discuss numerical model design, application and testing. Practical exercises are also provided for students to gain technical skills in modelling.

This seminar course is an open forum which aims at making students acquire up-to-date knowledge and techniques of the Earth system and Geoscience. Well-known scholars, professional, researchers and officials from local institutions and from overseas will be invited to present their latest research and timely topics relevant to Earth System Science.