Prof Félicia Norma Rebecca TEFERLE

Félicia Norma Rebecca Teferle is full professor in geodesy at the University of Luxembourg. She leads the Geodesy and Geospatial Engineering research group within the Department of Engineering.

Her research topics are listed below:

Development of, and geodetic, geophysical and environmental applications of high-precision GNSS:
– GNSS processing strategies
– Long-term, near-real-time and real-time monitoring of atmospheric water vapour for climatology and meteorology
– Long-term monitoring of 3D land movements in relation to climate change and sea level change studies, modelling of glacial isostatic adjustment, plate motions and crustal deformations

Development of, and geodetic, geophysical and environmental applications of remote sensing and 3D imaging technology:
– Remote sensing and 3D imaging processing methods (digital photogrammetry and laser scanning from terrestrial and aerial platforms (including UAVs), mobile mapping, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), persistent scatterer interferometry, SBAS
– Long-term monitoring of 3D land movements in urban areas using SAR
– Long-term monitoring of buildings and structural deformations using airborne and terrestrial digital photogrammetry and laser scanning technologies

Development and application of digital engineering and geospatial technologies for digitalisation:
– Building Information Modelling (BIM) within sustainable construction
– Building Information Modelling (BIM) / Geographical Information Systems (GIS) integration
– Machine learning for classification and feature extraction in geospatial Big Data for improved 3D city modelling

“The contact with young generations keeps me on my feet technically and it reminds me of how important it is for the future of this planet, to guide young and competent engineers and potential leaders into their roles”.

Prof. Teferle is passionate about teaching and learning and has over 30 years of experience, stemming from her employments at the Technical University of Vienna, the University of Nottingham and the University of Luxembourg.

In the Bachelor in Engineering (BENG) she teaches the modules of Vermessungskunde (BENG-24) in Semester 2 for BENG track Civil Engineering and Mathematik III (BENG-50) in Semester 3 for all BENG tracks. In the Master in Civil Engineering Sciences (MCES), she is responsible for the module of Engineering Surveying (MCES-10) in Semester 2. She is also involved in the FSHE’s Master in Geography and Spatial Planning, for which in module Global Environmental Change in the Anthropocene (GECA) she lectures on climate change, sea level rise, river flooding as well as principles of risk management of such hydro-meteorological events.     

As Programme Director of the Bachelor in Engineering and Director of the Doctoral Programme in Engineering Sciences she is responsible for two major educational programmes within the Department of Engineering, spanning the full range of higher education from first degree to doctoral education.  

Prof. Teferle frequently takes part in various outreach activities, including lectures/exercises at primary and secondary schools, receiving high school students in her team for “Schnuppertage” or short internships, and taking part in the University’s or nationally-organised Open Days. While these are targeting young minds or the general public, she has introduced annual Research Days within the Doctoral Programme in Engineering Sciences that allow, amongst other things, to target Luxembourg’s industry and government administrations, providing them with an opportunity to inform themselves on the latest research in engineering at the University. In the past she was involved in initiatives such as ESA’s Space Expo or the programme Science meets Parliament.

Having a diverse background and being active for the University’s Gender Equality Committee, she is keen to attract excellent young people of all genders and backgrounds into engineering, especially into Geodesy and Geospatial Engineering.

Prof. Teferle has professional experiences from industry and academia in the fields of geospatial engineering and related sciences from Austria, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. After her employment as Lecturing Assistant at the Technical University of Vienna she spent some years in the offshore industry working with the then newly emerging Global Positioning System (GPS) for offshore geophysical investigations as well as installing and calibrating GPS positioning and attitude determination systems on ships. After completing her PhD, she was employed as Research Fellow and then as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham where she, later on, was appointed as Lecturer in Geospatial Engineering. In 2010 she followed the call to the University of Luxembourg as professor. Throughout her career, Prof. Teferle has continuously striven for professionalism and excellency in all her endeavours, including higher education, mentoring and research.

Prof. Teferle holds the degree of Dipl.-Ing. in Landesvermessung und Ingenieurgeodäsie from the Technical University of Vienna and a PhD in Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy from the University of Nottingham. For the latter she did her research in high-precision long-term monitoring of vertical land movements for sea level studies.