Mrs. Olga Gershenzon
Experience:
More than 25 years of practical experience in remote sensing for applications including land cover change, disaster monitoring and mitigation, wildlife preservation, education... She is particularly interested in environmental monitoring via the use of the Earth remote sensing data.
Participating in International Projects and Initiatives:
- Executive Committee Member of GOFC/GOLD (Global Observation for Forest and Land Cover Dynamics, http://www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold/)
- Steering Committee for Forest Watch Russia.
Professional interests:
Olga is keenly interested in the application of Earth remote sensing technology and data for solving practical problems, and she is an advocate of affordable, decentralized solutions for receiving, processing and analyzing Earth observation information from space. SCANEX was the first company in Russia to provide affordable satellite reception systems to the remote sensing community, and today supports more than 200 ground stations around the world. Olga has contributed to several socially significant projects, including saving of Harp Seals in the White Sea; organizing an annual “Alive Map” online competition for schoolchildren. Olga contributed in creating the first Russian web portal (www.kosmosnimki.ru) to provide online access to high-resolution satellite images of the Earth, and SCANEX was the first company in Russia to supply satellite images with spatial resolution of better than 1 meter for the popular Russian website Yandex Maps. Olga is the originator of the “Open Landscape” Partnership Platform and the “Space Patrol” project for engaging citizen scientists.
Social activity:
- Expert of Working Group of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation on the issue of remote sensing of the Earth on the territory of Russia,
- member of the Social Council of the Federal Forestry Agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation,
- member of the Committee on social responsibility, philanthropy and patronage of All Russia Social Organization "Business Russia".
- member of the Coordinating Board for Ecological Chamber of the Russian National Office of the FSC.
- member of the NGO “The Northern Sea Route”.
Olga has authored more than 50 publications in Russian and international publications, and has given numerous public speeches and media interviews.
Personal data:
Olga is married with a daughter and two sons. She enjoys mountain hiking, downhill skiing, snowboarding, windsurfing, and winter swimming.