Rate My Professor Benjamin Robson

Benjamin Robson is an Associate Professor in Geomatics and Remote Sensing at the Department of Earth Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bergen, Norway. He earned his PhD in 2016 with the thesis 'Quantification and Change Assessment of Debris-Covered Glaciers using Remote Sensing,' supervised by Svein Olaf Dahl. He began his career at the University of Bergen as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geography in 2017 before advancing to his current position. Affiliated with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimate research group and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Robson specializes in utilizing remote sensing, photogrammetry, UAVs, LiDAR, and satellite data to monitor glacial and periglacial changes in high-mountain regions worldwide, including Norway, the European Alps, Chile, Nepal, and the Himalayas. His research also encompasses geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) and machine learning applications for automating the detection and analysis of complex landforms such as rock glaciers and landslides, with a focus on assessing the reliability of these methods in geomorphological studies.

As principal investigator, Robson leads funded projects including SnowAI for enhancing snow property estimation with GeoAI and high-resolution satellite data (Akademia Agreement), CO-INVENT on cryo-climatology in the Himalayan region (HKDIR), and Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Earth Sciences (University of Bergen). He serves as co-principal investigator on initiatives like ROGER for rock glacier mapping (FFG Austria) and JOSTICE on climate impacts at Jostedalsbreen (NFR). Key publications include 'Automated detection of rock glaciers using deep learning and object-based image analysis' (2020), 'Spatial variability in patterns of glacier change across the Manaslu Range, Central Himalaya' (2018), 'Spatio-temporal variability in geometry and geodetic mass balance of Jostedalsbreen ice cap, Norway' (2023), 'Glacier and rock glacier changes since the 1950s in the La Laguna catchment, Chile' (2022), and 'Mass balance characteristics of the ‘vanishing’ Rolleston Glacier, New Zealand' (2025). With over 940 citations, his contributions advance understanding of cryospheric responses to climate change. Robson is course-responsible for GEOV205/GEO215: Introduction to Geographical Information Systems and GEOV316: Practical Skills in Remote Sensing, and contributes to courses on glaciology, geohazards, and quaternary geology. He supervises PhD and MSc students on GeoAI, glacier monitoring, and related topics, and organizes summer schools and workshops on UAVs, machine learning, and paleoenvironmental methods.