BBC Environment & Science Correspondent to speak at ESRI’s  EMEA User Conference 2008

ESRI (UK), provider of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has announced that David Shukman, BBC News Environment & Science Correspondent, will be the keynote speaker at the ESRI Europe, Middle East and Africa User Conference on 28th October 2008.

David Shukman will discuss how reporting at the front-line of global change has provided an opportunity to witness some of the world’s most dramatic geographical and political events, from locations as diverse as the Antarctic, the Amazon, northernmost Siberia and the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Reporting from more than 80 countries over the last five years as Environment & Science Correspondent, David’s coverage of climate change has won him a series of awards in Britain and the US.

Previous roles at the BBC include World Affairs Correspondent, Europe Correspondent based in Brussels and Defence Correspondent – positions which saw him cover conflicts in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Georgia and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  His reports were cited as part of the Royal Television Society award to BBC News for its coverage of the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

A Geography graduate and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Mr Shukman has also written books, reviews books for the Daily Mail and contributes to Traveller magazine.

Based on the conference theme of ‘GIS for everyday life’, other headline speakers on 28th October include:

• Jack Dangermond, President, ESRI Inc. USA ‘ESRI’s vision for the future of GIS’
• Tim Mitchell, Group Underwriting & Claims Director, Royal SunAlliance‘Delivering a new dimension in risk management’
• Sheikh Nawaf Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Vice Chief Executive for Administrative & Financial Affairs, Electricity & Gas Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain ‘Sharing the business benefits of Enterprise GIS’
• Steve Dunn and Mark Smith, Geography Department, The Grammar School of Leeds ‘Bringing the real world into the classroom’
• David Spackman OBE, Director, MapAction ‘Rapid mapping for disaster zones around the world’

Internet: www.gisforeverydaylife.com.