Prof. dr. F. (Freek) D. van der Meer (1966) has an MSc in structural geology and tectonics of the Free University of Amsterdam (1989) and a PhD in remote sensing from Wageningen Agricultural University (1995) both in the Netherlands. He started his career at Delft Geotechnics (now Geodelft) working on geophysical processing of ground penetrating radar data. In 1989 he was appointed lecturer in geology at the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC in Enschede, the Netherlands) where he worked to date in various positions. Since January 2010, ITC is the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente.

At present he is the Dean of the Faculty ITC. In the past he was Departmental Chair, Vice Dean Capacity Development and Vice Dean Education for the Faculty ITC.

His research is directed toward the use of hyperspectral remote sensing for geological applications with the specific aim of use geostatistical approaches to integrate airborne and field data into geologic process models. This has been directed toward exploration for oil and gas and mineral potential in hydrothermal systems. At present an additional focus is on renewable energy and climate adaptation strategies with emphasis on the study of geothermal systems.

On 1 November 1999, Prof. van der Meer was appointed part-time full professor of imaging spectrometry at the Delft University of Technology (DUT, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences). From 1999-2004, Dr. van der Meer worked at Delft University of Technology. In 2005 he was appointed professor of geological remote sensing at Faculty of Geosciences of the Utrecht University. Prof. Van der Meer is editor of the book Spatial Statistics for Remote Sensing published in 2000 by Kluwer, editor of the book Imaging Spectroscopy: Basic Principles and Prospective Applications published by Kluwer in 2001 and editor of the book Remote sensing image analysis: including the spatial domain published by Springer in 2004.

Prof. van der Meer is the past chairman of the Netherlands Society for Earth Observation and Geoinformatics, past chairman of the special interest group geological remote sensing of the European Association of Remote Sensing laboratories (EARSeL), past member of the Board of earth and life sciences of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), past member of the section earth observation of the Society Geoinformatics Netherlands, past chairman of the WG VII/3 Information extraction from hyperspectral data of the International Society for Photogrammetry and remote sensing (ISPRS). Van der Meer is the council member and Netherlands national delegate of EARSeL and national representative for the Geological Remote Sensing Group (GRSG). He served on selection panels for ESA missions and science panels for IWT and the Royal Academy of Finland and Bulgaria. At present he is the Editor – in – Chief of the International Journal of Applied earth observation and geoinformation, associate editor of Terra Nova, associate editor of the Brazilian Journal of Geology, associate editor of Computers and Geosciences and series editor of the remote sensing and digital image processing book series of Springer.

At present he is chair of the steering board of the VU-UT alliance, acts as UT vice president for ECIU, chair of the geoscience knowledge committee of TNO GDN, delegate to GEO.

Prof. van der Meer’s education focuses on principles of remote sensing; physical principles of remote sensing, principles of sensors and systems, multi spectral scanning systems and multi- and hyperspectral remote sensing for geologists. He also guides MSc students in these fields.

Prof. van der Meer’s research focuses on the use of hyperspectral remote sensing in geology and on the development of image processing strategies to analyse high spectral resolution data sets in the context of geothermal systems. 

Activities in capacity development

Prof. van der Meer has been active in research and consultancy projects for major oil companies on the use of hyperspectral remote sensing in the oil and gas industry. At present he is the coordinator of the EU Asialink project BRIDGE: Building Human Resources In the Development of Academic Programmes in Sustainable Geosystem Exploration and Engineering with partners in Thailand (AIT), Laos (National University of Laos), Vietnam (Vietnam National University) and Sweden (Stockholm University). At present he is the program coordinator of the Geothermal Capacity Building Program-Indonesia-Netherlands (GEOCAP; www.geocap.nl) which is a 6 m. Euro project with partners from universities (in Netherlands UT-ITC, TUD, UU, and in Indonesia ITB, UI, UGM), knowledge institutions (TNO), companies (IF Technology, DNV GL) and branch organisations (INAGA) supported by the NL Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BAPPENAS, and MEMR. Prof. van der Meer is the project director for the EP-NUFFIC NICHE Tanzania-Netherlands Energy Project. Within this project a consortium consisting of University of Twente (lead), Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, Delft University of Technology and University of Utrecht support the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) and the Karume Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Zanzibar in the development of their academic and organisational capacity to deliver quality research and education in oil & gas and geothermal energy.