• Remote sensing
• Land-atmosphere interactions
• Machine learning
• Cryosfeer
• Climate change
• Ecosystem dynamics

Recent projects

• MicroSCOPE – Microclimate Simulation and Carbon Outcomes using Probabilistic Emulation (01/10/2026 - 30/09/2029) - Promotor
• Science-Based Decision Support Tools for Sustainable Cities and the Environment (01/09/2026 - 31/08/2031) - Promotor
• Beyond NDVI - Remote Sensing, AI, and Citizen Science for Urban Green Space and Health Research (15/12/2025 - 30/04/2030) - Co-promotor
• A digital twin for assessing dryland ecosystem functioning with machine learning (15/12/2025 - 30/04/2030) - Promotor
• Graph Neural Networks for Ice Sheet Modeling and Sea Level Rise Projections (28/10/2025 - 28/10/2029) - Promotor
• A warning system for extreme precipitation events in the Bolivian Andes (25/09/2025 - 31/10/2029) - Co-promotor
• Geospatial Impact Evaluation: Measuring the contribution of reforestation on the provision of Forest Ecosystem Services (18/09/2025 - 18/09/2029) - Co-promotor
• Melting ice shelves Of AnTarctica - MOAT (01/09/2025 - 01/12/2029) - Promotor
• AI-based remote sensing for monitoring reforestation success in semi-arid regions (29/08/2025 - 29/08/2029) - Promotor
• AI-based remote sensing for monitoring reforestation success in semi-arid regions (27/08/2025 - 27/08/2029) - Promotor

Recent publications

• launch Wytynck, P., Vanpoucke, K., Heremans, S., Lhermitte, S., Somers, B. (2026). Scaling Connectivity Conservation Planning with Deep Reinforcement Learning. Presented at the Machine Learning for Earth Observation, Exeter, 22 Jun 2026-24 Jun 2026. via repository
• launch Vanpoucke, K., Heremans, S., Schraal, W., Spanhove, T., Lhermitte, S., Somers, B. (2026). Deep learning-based mapping of woody floral resources for wild bee habitat modelling. Presented at the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI 2026), Ghent, 03 Jun 2026-06 Jun 2026. via repository
• launch Lambrecht, T., Soysal, D., Somers, B., Lhermitte, S. (2026). HexNet: Multi-modal Fusion of Panchromatic Imagery and Temporal NDVI Data for Historical Dryland Tree Crown Segmentation. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI 2026) – Oral Presentation Papers. Presented at the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence, Ghent, 03 Jun 2026-05 Jun 2026. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.20287518 via repository
• launch Soysal, D., Lambrecht, T., Blaschko, M., Goedemé, T., Somers, B., Lhermitte, S. (joint last author) (2026). LEAF-Net: Local End-to-End Cross-Modal Alignment via Feature Warping for UAV Imagery. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI 2026) – Oral Presentation Papers. Presented at the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence, Ghent, Belgium, 03 Jun 2026-05 Jun 2026. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.20316175 via repository
• launch Vandenabeele, R., Van Meerbeek, K., Lhermitte, S. (2026). Graph Deep Learning in Species Distribution Models: a Spatial Simulation. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI 2026) – Oral Presentation Papers. Presented at the The 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence, Ghent, Belgium, 04 Jun 2026-06 Jun 2026. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.20288641 via repository
• launch Beele, E., Aerts, R., Ottoy, S., Wang, R., Lhermitte, S., Somers, B. (2026). BRANCH – Beyond NDVI: remote sensing, AI, and citizen science for urban green space and health research. Presented at the EARSeL Workshop on Imaging Spectroscopy, Helsinki, Finland, 02 Jun 2026-05 Jun 2026.
• launch Vanpoucke, K., Heremans, S., Schraal, W., Spanhove, T., Lhermitte, S., Somers, B. (2026). Deep Learning-Based Mapping of Woody Floral Resources for Wild Bee Habitat Modelling. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI 2026) – Poster Papers. Presented at the 1st International Conference on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI 2026), Ghent, 03 Jun 2026-06 Jun 2026. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.20288663 via repository
• launch Goossens, W., Groom, Q., Lhermitte, S., Vandelook, F., Van Meerbeek, K. (2026). Unravelling the role of alien plants in changing pollination networks using citizen science and image recognition. Presented at the InsectAI Annual Meeting 2026, Niš, Serbia, 22 Apr 2026-23 Apr 2026.
• launch Van Passel, J. (corresp. author), Van Meerbeek, K., Bernardino, P.N., De Keersmaecker, W., Lhermitte, S., Rius, B.F., Somers, B. (2026). Higher tree diversity reduces the likelihood of Amazon tipping points. BIOGEOSCIENCES, 23 (7), 2545-2567. doi: 10.5194/bg-23-2545-2026 via repository
• launch Zinck, A-S. (corresp. author), Lhermitte, S., Wearing, M., Wouters, B. (2026). Channelized melt beneath Antarctic ice shelves previously underestimated. Nature Climate Change, 16 (3). doi: 10.1038/s41558-025-02537-1 via repository