ITC-SCI-TECH

Prof. dr. ir. Alfred Stein (1958) is professor emeritus in Spatial Statistics and Image Analysis. He received his MSc in mathematics and information science, with a specialization in applied statistics from Eindhoven University of Technology and his PhD at Wageningen University. He started his career at the soil science and geology department of Wageningen university, leading to a professorship at the chair of mathematical and statistical models in 2000. In 1995 he was appointed as a visiting professor at the - then - Institute of ITC where in 2002 he became professor at the new department of Earth Observation Science, which he has headed for more than 15 years. From 2008 until 2020 he has been a member of the faculty board alternating with the portfolios of research and education.

His research interests focus on statistical aspects of spatial and spatio-temporal data, e.g. monitoring data, in the widest sense. Optimal sampling, image analysis, spatial statistics, use of prior information, but also issues of data quality, fuzzy techniques, random sets, all in a Bayesian setting.

From 1998 onwards he has been working with more than 60 PhD students on a range of spatial (and temporal) statistical topics. At present, 2 PhD students are working under his supervision. From 2011 till 2026 he has been the editor-in-chief of Spatial Statistics, the leading platform in the domain of spatial statistics. Until 2012 he was the first editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Applied Geoinformation. 

For more information about Prof. Alfred Stein see the UT's Featured Scientists page:

Expertise

  • Earth and Planetary Sciences

    • Synthetic Aperture Radar
    • Time Series
    • Remote Sensing
    • Satellite Image
    • Remote Sensing Image
    • China
    • Land Use
  • Computer Science

    • Deep Learning Method

Organisations

Publications

2026

AI’s eyes on ice: Large-scale glacier mapping and surface mass balance modelling with earth observation and deep learning (2026)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Maslov, K.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036571739A transformer based multi-task deep learning model for urban livability evaluation by fusing remote sensing and textual geospatial data (2026)Remote sensing of environment, 334. Article 115232. Zhou, W., Persello, C., Ming, D., Wang, S. & Stein, A.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115232GlaUnTI: Glacier surface mass balance dataset (2026)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. 4TU.Centre for Research Data. Maslov, K. A., Hugonnet, R., Tolle, F., Bernard, E., Friedt, J.-M., Griselin, M., Małecki, J., Schellenberger, T., Persello, C. & Stein, A.https://doi.org/10.4121/5ea53bc3-2c85-42bb-89d1-606c8ed1d80a.v1Pan-European dataset for glacier facies classification (2026)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. Zenodo. Maslov, K., Schellenberger, T., PANDIT, P. H., Persello, C. & Stein, A.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17473412Poisson cokriging for public health response (2026)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Payares-Garcia, D. E.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036570558Towards an early warning system for pandemics: The case of Covid-19 in Ghana (2026)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Akyereko, E.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036570398Whose city is it?: Mapping perceived urban livability with citizen-guided AI (2026)npj Urban Sustainability, 6(1). Article 16 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Campomanes V, F., Abascal, A., Trento Oliveira, L., Kuffer, M., Dijkstra, A. M., Stein, A. & Belgiu, M.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00320-x

2025

Donald E Myers (1931–2025): Honoring a Life of Dedication as Scholar, Mentor and Friend (2025)Mathematical geosciences, 58(1), 277-278 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Posa, D., Stein, A. & De Iaco, S.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11004-025-10259-5Satellite SAR-optical image fusion for cloud-free image generation (2025)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Duan, C.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036569408Evaluation of spatial variation in chronic wasting disease risk with Bayesian Poisson log-Gaussian model (2025)Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 12. Raghavan, R. K., Osei, F. B., Stein, A., Hesting, S., Jaster, L., Hatuwal, B., Mosley, J. E. & Raghavan, A.https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2025.1568468

Research profiles

Address

University of Twente

Langezijds (building no. 19), room 1332
Hallenweg 8
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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