Deed of Award

Article I. Description of Award and Fund

1. ISPRS is the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
2. The White Elephant Club (WEC) was founded on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Professor Armin Gruen. Its founding meeting was held at Yildiz Hisar Club, Istanbul, Turkey on 18 July 2004 in conjunction with the XXth ISPRS Congress. WEC consists of previously or still active senior officers of ISPRS and other recognized persons with close relations to ISPRS. WEC has become recognized as an ISPRS ad hoc committee with the brief “knowledge transfer”.

The aims of WEC are to support the missions and goals of ISPRS and to communicate and encourage young people to grow into potential ″elephants″ through their own activity. This should be based on friendship among the members. Meetings are convened on special occasions of commemorative events of the members, in conjunction with ISPRS Congresses, symposia and other related meetings.

1. The Award is known as the ISPRS WEC Kennert Torlegård Travel Grant.
2. The purpose of the Award is to support attendance at an ISPRS congress by a young scientist.
3. The Fund from which the Award is financed is known as the White Elephant Restricted Kennert Torlegård Travel Grant Fund, hereafter “the Fund”.

The Fund was established as a restricted grant category in TIF to support young people to attend ISPRS events and especially the quadrennial ISPRS Congresses. This restricted grant category is financed by senior members of ISPRS who are members of WEC and wish to demonstrate their continued commitment to the aims and goals of ISPRS. It is named after the late Prof. Dr. Kennert Torlegård, a renowned Swedish photogrammetrist and President of ISPRS 1988-1992, who made substantial contributions in the areas of digital terrain models and surface modeling. By supporting outstanding young scientists worldwide to attend ISPRS congresses, the Fund will demonstrate the commitment of WEC to the future of ISPRS. The support for these young people will encourage and equip them to take over leadership in ISPRS in the future. Members of WEC donate generously to the Fund to enable TIF to support as many young people as possible to attend ISPRS events.

The first awards financed by the Fund were made at the XXIIIrd ISPRS Congress in Prague in July 2016.

1. Awards financed by the Fund are administered and presented by The ISPRS Foundation (TIF).
2. Acknowledging the contributions of late Kennert Torlegård to the further developments of ISPRS, WEC has undertaken to donate every year at least USD 1000 to sustain the Fund for the period 2020-25. In 2024 the financing of the Fund will be reviewed.
3. The Fund may be supplemented from TIF unrestricted donations if necessary, provided that this step is approved by TIF’s Executive Committee.
4. The goal is to make at least one Award to support attendance at each ISPRS Congress.
5. The number of Awards is decided by TIF Executive Committee. Hereafter, whenever, “Award”, “candidate”, “recipient” etc. are written, they should be construed as being plural where appropriate.
6. The Award will consist of a certificate and a cash grant in US dollars.
7. Awards will continue to be made as long as they are supported by the Fund. The Fund will continue as long as restricted donations are made to TIF.

Article II. Eligibility

1. The Award is made to a young scientist, whose eligibility is determined by the Selection Committee defined in Article IV below.
2. The candidate must attend the ISPRS congress for which the Award is being made.
3. To be eligible for the Award, the candidate must have produced a high-quality paper in the areas of digital terrain modelling, surface modelling or related topics. This paper can be the one that the candidate plans to present at the ISPRS congress for which he/she is applying for the Award, provided that it has been accepted by the congress organizers for presentation and inclusion in the ISPRS Archives or Annals.

Article III. Application

1. Applicants must submit an application in accordance with the instructions given by TIF when the Award is announced or marketed.
2. The paper(s) referred to in Article II.C above must be provided as part of the application. The candidate may provide more than one such paper in support of the application.
3. The deadlines for applications are given on TIF’s web pages.

Article IV. Selection Committee

1. The Award Selection Committee consists of three persons: a TIF trustee, who will be chosen by ISPRS Council; the President of WEC; and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of TIF.
2. The Committee evaluates each applicant. The applicant(s) who, in the opinion of the majority of the Committee, has/have the highest overall ranking is/are designated as the winner(s).
3. The Operations Officer of TIF will communicate the name(s) of the successful applicant(s) to ISPRS by whatever predetermined deadline will be in effect.

Article V. Presentation

1. The winner of the Award will be promptly notified of their selection, prior to the date of the Award presentation, by the Operations Officer of TIF.
2. The presentation of the Award will take place during the ISPRS congress.

Article VI. Management

1. The title of the Award is the property of TIF.
2. TIF is responsible for managing the Fund and the total investment return derived therefrom.

Article VII. Changes

At such time as any part of this Deed of Award is found inapplicable to existing conditions, TIF may consider and establish appropriate modifications to this Deed. TIF requires the approval of ISPRS and WEC for these changes.

Article VIII. Other

It is expected that the recipient will prepare a report about his/her experience at the congress for publication in ISPRS/TIF websites and newsletters. The deadlines for this report is published on TIF’s web pages to allow for timely publication in the above media. If there is more than one recipient, a joint report is required.

Approved by TIF and ISPRS Council on February 19, 2021