FIG Congress 2026
Franck Ghomsi @ FIG Congress 2026
Franck Ghomsi, our early career representative (ECS) of the Inter-Commission Committee on Climate Research (ICCC), attended the recent FIG Congress and represented the IAG ECS group there. FIG is the International Federation of Surveyors, and they have a larger meeting every four years – the FIG Congress. This year’s FIG Congress was in Cape Town (South Africa), gathering around 1500 people working in the fields of surveying, real estate management, and GEODESY. Also, IAG’s Vice-President Peter J.G. Teunissen attended the FIG Congress to foster the connection between IAG and FIG, two organisations that host many geodesists worldwide.
New this year was that an IAG ECS Representative was invited to attend the FIG Congress, having the chance to present IAG, the IAG ECS group, and all our activities that are currently in progress. His attendance was also sponsored by an IAG Travel Award. Franck joined not only the congress itself, but also two pre-events before the actual congress – the 10th FIG Young Surveyors Conference and the Reference Frames in Practice (RFIP). The former is basically the equivalent of the IAG ECS group – it is a group of young professionals working in surveying, and some probably identify themselves more as geodesists than surveyors.
Caption: Franck Ghomsi presenting work done by the IAG ECS group during the 10th FIG Young Surveyors Conference. Picture taken by Shirley Chapunza.
Franck was extremely busy during the entire week, as FIG took advantage of the opportunity that an IAG ECS Representative was there and invited him to many panel discussions. His background, coming from Cameroon, added both value and regional weight to his attendance. One session where Franck represented us was the session on “Education, Training and Capacity Building: Updates from around the World”, organized by Ryan Keenan (current Chair of FIG Commission 5 Positioning & Measurement, which features Reference Frames) together with Shirley Chapunza (current Chair of the FIG Young Surveyors Network). Franck presented the IAG ECS group and later joined the panel discussion on geodesy capacity development. One outcome of the discussion was to strengthen collaboration across associations working on geodesy matters. Franck’s attendance was a first step in this direction.
Caption: Advertisement figure for the session on “Education, Training and Capacity Building: Updates from around the World”. Created by Shirley Chapunza.
In those years between the FIG Congresses, they hold annual FIG Working Weeks and the upcoming ones will be in Stavanger (Norway) in 2027, Paris (France) in 2028, and Halifax (Canada) in 2029. The next FIG Congress will be in 2030 in Qingdao (China). Participation at FIG’s annual events are an excellent chance to further intensify the connection between the two organizations and to connect geodesists from around the world, no matter whether they work in government, industry or academia. The FIG Young Surveyors Network and the IAG ECS group will continue working together, and maybe FIG will join us at the next IAG Scientific Assembly in three years.
Caption: Panellists and moderators of the session on “Education, Training and Capacity Building: Updates from around the World”. From left to right: Edinah Ahebwa (Uganda), Jean-Yves Pirlot (CLGE), Shirley Chapunza (Chair, FIG YSN), Franck Ghomsi (Canada – IAG ECS), Aletha De Witt (South Africa), Ryan Keenan (Australia – Chair, FIG Comm 5). Picture by Ryan Keenan.
Author: Rebekka Steffen
