PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Begüm Demir

Begüm Demir applies machine learning to remote-sensing images and large Earth-observation datasets. She earned degrees in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering at Kocaeli University and built her academic career at the University of Trento and TU Berlin. Her ERC-funded BigEarth project pursued scalable processing of Earth-observation data, and her research groups work on geospatial AI, including foundation-model work and a planned assistant for Copernicus satellite data. As of October 2026, she is Vice Director of BIFOLD and a professor at TU Berlin.

Works
272
Citations
4,957
h-index
34
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2005–2010

    Degrees at Kocaeli University

    She earns a B.S. degree in 2005, an M.Sc. degree in 2007, and a Ph.D. degree in 2010, all in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering at Kocaeli University.

  2. 2010–2018

    Research and teaching at Trento

    At the University of Trento, she joins the Remote Sensing Laboratory in 2010 and holds a professorship in the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science from 2013 to 2018.

  3. 2017

    An ERC grant for BigEarth

    She receives an ERC Starting Grant in 2017 for BigEarth, a project on accurate and scalable processing of large Earth-observation data.

  4. 2018

    An award and a new group

    She receives the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Early Career Award in 2018 for machine-learning research on remote-sensing information retrieval. At TU Berlin, she starts the Remote Sensing Image Analysis Group.

  5. 2020–2022

    Leading the BigEarth group

    In 2020, she becomes a full professor at TU Berlin and BIFOLD; in 2022, she leads BIFOLD's Big Data Analytics for Earth Observation group. Her research combines machine learning, remote sensing and signal processing to analyze large airborne and satellite Earth-observation data.

  6. 2025

    Geospatial AI at ESA–NASA

    For the 2025 ESA–NASA workshop on AI foundation models for Earth observation, she serves on the programme committee. Her BigEarth group plans posters on remote-sensing vision-language models and mixture-of-experts foundation models.

  7. 2026

    Agent-BigEarth for Copernicus

    In 2026, she receives an ERC Proof of Concept grant for Agent-BigEarth, a planned AI assistant that helps people explore Copernicus satellite data.

  8. As of October 2026

    Vice Director of BIFOLD

    As of October 2026, she is Vice Director of BIFOLD and a professor at TU Berlin.

Career

  1. Since 2020Charité - Universitätsmedizin BerlinFull Professor, Group Leader
  2. Since 2018Technische Universität BerlinFull Professor
  3. 2010–2018University of TrentoProfessor
  4. 2006–2010Kocaeli Üniversitesi

Education

  1. 2010Kocaeli UniversityPh.D.
  2. 2007Kocaeli UniversityM.Sc.
  3. 2005Kocaeli UniversityB.S.

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Bigearthnet: A Large-Scale Benchmark Archive for Remote Sensing Image Understanding2019 · IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) · 557 citationsWith Volker Markl
  2. Batch-Mode Active-Learning Methods for the Interactive Classification of Remote Sensing Images2010 · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing · 317 citationsWith Lorenzo Bruzzone
  3. Multilabel Remote Sensing Image Retrieval Using a Semisupervised Graph-Theoretic Method2017 · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing · 236 citationsWith Lorenzo Bruzzone
  4. Updating Land-Cover Maps by Classification of Image Time Series: A Novel Change-Detection-Driven Transfer Learning Approach2012 · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing · 187 citationsWith Lorenzo Bruzzone
  5. Hyperspectral Image Classification Using Relevance Vector Machines2007 · IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters · 185 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Technische Universität Berlin. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 3% to 32%Includes Technische Universität Berlin. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 3% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Technische Universität Berlin. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  4. Stanford University trained or employed 27 of the 111 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Technische Universität Berlin. Stanford University trained or employed 27 of the 111 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Begüm Demir yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Begüm Demir's web page begumdemir.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Prof. Dr. Begüm Demir - RSiM rsim.berlin. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Prof. Dr. Begüm Demir bifold.berlin. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. News from the BigEarth Group at BIFOLD bifold.berlin. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. Satellite Data for All and Resilient Communication Networks tu.berlin. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Presseeinladung: Agentische KI in der Erdbeobachtung tu.berlin. Checked 18 October 2026.