FundaYao Podcast

Science writer and former designer Steve McClure argues creativity is a learnable skill, like playing an instrument, developed through disciplined practices. He contrasts design training with PhD culture, emphasizing the need to separate idea generation from evaluation and judgment to avoid looping on standard ideas. McClure says constraints (like a picture frame or the structure of academic paper...

On the FundaYao podcast, Dr. Prosper Washaya (from Zimbabwe, now in the Czech Republic) discusses studying and working across Zimbabwe, China, and Europe and how cultural and language gaps shaped his experience, while noting academic similarities across continents. He describes moving from urban planning and GIS in Zimbabwe into remote sensing at Wuhan University, being surprised by Shanghai’s inf...

Deep Learning for SAR: Beyond Hype, Toward Sensor-Aware Models and Practical Challenges On the FundaYao Podcast, we interview Michael Schmitt (Professor of Earth Observation, University of the Armed Forces, Germany) and Ronny Hänsch (DLR Microwave and Radar Institute) about their book “Deep Learning for Synthetic Aperture Remote Sensing.” They argue deep learning for SAR is not overhyped, enabling...

On this Fundayao Podcast, Dr. Neema Sumari, a senior lecturer at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania, discusses her path from computer science degrees at Alabama A&M University to a PhD in GIS and remote sensing at Wuhan University, and her work on urban growth, climate change, and sustainable planning. She describes being surprised by Wuhan University’s disciplined, struct...

On the FundaYao Podcast, Prof. Timo speaks with writer and teacher Steve McClure about teaching scientific writing and what helps papers succeed. McClure says he often deletes subjective claims like “this is the most important…” and flags passive voice and unclear jargon, stressing that authors must explain why something matters and define domain-specific terms (e.g., “ontology”). He argues scient...

On the Fundayao Podcast, host Timo Balz speaks with Professor Walter Musakwa (University of Johannesburg, Fundayao co-founder) about human–wildlife conflict in Southern Africa, where people and animals increasingly share space due to land clearing, population growth, unfenced and transboundary parks, and broader pressures such as climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, leading to crop an...

In this episode, we are delighted to have Prof. Tsehaie Woldai as out guest. Prof. Woldai founded the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment AARSE) and has decades of experience in remote sensing in Africa, Europe and all over the world. He says many African countries have their own satellites but often do not share the data, with South Africa, Egypt, and increasingly Nigeria not...

On today's FundaYao Podcast, we interview Steve McClure, a former Wuhan University English editor and instructor who taught scientific writing and methodology after a sociology/GIS background led him to editing Chinese students’ papers and moving from the US to Wuhan University. They discuss how AI tools like ChatGPT can speed up drafting by handling grammar and structure, but cannot replace human...

Host Timo Balz welcomes Professor Çiler Çilingiroğlu (Ege University) and Associate Professor Dr. Nusret Demir (Akdeniz University), winners of the 2026 European Heritage/Europa Nostra Award (Citizens Engagement and Awareness) for assessing earthquake damage to cultural heritage sites after the February 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes. Çelik describes initial grief and communication blackouts, then...

In this episode of the FundaYao Podcast, host Timo speaks with Dr. Zeeshan Afzal (postdoctoral fellow at Harbin Institute of Technology and his former PhD student) and Dr. Sajid Hussain (recent Wuhan University PhD graduate) about studying remote sensing in China. They discuss managing defense pressure and gaining confidence through proposal and pre-defense processes, why they chose Wuhan Universi...

Host: Aigerim Sultanbek Guests: Professor Timo Bolz (Wuhan University) & Cem Boyoglu, PhD Student (Wuhan University) Episode Summary In this episode of the Fundayao Podcast, host Aigerim Sultanbek sits down with Professor Timo Bolz and PhD student Cem Boyoglu from Wuhan University to explore one question: Can radar satellites help protect archaeological sites from looting? The conversation cov...

Fundaya Podcast: Bridging Remote Sensing Education Across the Global South In this Fundaya podcast episode, we introduce Professors Timo Balz (Wuhan University, China) and Walter Musakwa (University of Johannesburg, South Africa) to discuss the Fundayao initiative and their backgrounds in remote sensing. We explain the name Fundayao from “Funda” (to learn/teach in Nguni languages) and “Yao” (far/r...