DDE AT THE 62ND ANNUAL SESSION OF CCOP, TSUKUBA, JAPAN
DDE has been attending annual sessions of CCOP since the 60th session in Langkawi, Malaysia (2024) followed by the 61st in Vientiane, Laos (2025). In April 2026, CCOP Steering Committee, which met at its 86th session in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, recognized DDE as a Co-operating Organization of DDE. DDE’s attendance in the 62nd annual session of CCOP, from 25 to 30 October 2026, in Tsukuba, Japan, is its first presence at a session as a CCOP Co-operating Organization.
On 25 October 2026, DDE representatives Prof. Qiuming Cheng, Chair of DDE Executive Committee (EC) and Dr. Natarajan Ishwaran, Secretary General, attended the CCOP Advisory Committee meeting. The CCOP Technical Secretariat, in its report to the Advisory Committee, informed the participants that DDE and CCOP organized a Business meeting the day after the Steering Committee meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan on 8 April with the attendance of all Steering Committee members. Since then, DDE had attended the online CCOP Advisory Committee meeting in May and online discussions with the CCOP Technical Secretariat resulting in DDE submitting a proposal comprising 5 initiatives for cooperation with CCOP Member States to support the implementation of the CCOP Strategic Plan for 2026-2030. This proposal is due to be considered by the 87th session of the CCOP Steering Committee session in Tsukuba, Japan, on 30 October 2026. Prof. Qiuming Cheng and Dr. Ishwaran contributed to Advisory Committee discussions, particularly on themes such as digital innovations for geological mapping, capacity building and graduate studies in geology.
DDE at the CCOP Advisory Committee Meeting
On the 25th of October, the Head of International Relations, Mr. Shen Juxin and Program Officer, Ms. Lingyu Li, set up the DDE booth in the exhibition area displaying posters that described DDE’s origins and evolution into China’s first international big science program. The booth also made available posters and other information on DDE to visitors.
Visitors communicate with DDE Secretariat representatives
Prof. Qiuming Cheng and Dr. Ishwaran represented DDE at the plenary session of the 62nd annual session on 26 and 27 October 2026. Prof. Qiuming, in his presentation on DDE as a CCOP Cooperating organization on 27 October recalled DDE-CCOP relations since CCOP joined DDE as a founding member of the DDE Governing Council in 2020 and collaboration up to 2026 when CCOP Steering Committee formally recognized DDE as a Co-operating Organization. He outlined the proposal DDE has submitted comprising initiatives for setting up a joint DDE-CCOP Technical Working Group, Capacity Building on AI, machine learning and other digital technology applications in geology, staff and student exchanges between DDE and CCOP Member country institutions, modelling and AI aided predictions of mineral resources distribution in selected CCOP countries and digital technology supported geological mapping in East and Southeast Asia as part of DDE International Science Initiative’s (DDE-ISI) (see: DDE-ISI.pdf) aim to produce the first ever 1:1 M digital geological map of the world. Prof. Qiuming’s presentation to CCOP Members can be viewed as an annex 1 to this report.
Prof. Qiuming Cheng presenting DDE’s first report as a CCOP Co-operating Organization
Mr. Shen Juxin presented a 5-minute “pitch” to the CCOP Plenary on a summary of information and displayed at the DDE booth as part of the time provided to all exhibitors who had set up booths in the exhibition area to address CCOP Members. Mr. Shen’s presentation can be viewed as annex 2 to this report.
DDE Secretariat’s Head of International Relations, Mr. Juxin Shen, making a “pitch” on information presented at the DDE booth.
The two presentations together provided information and insights to CCOP Members, and Cooperating Countries and Organizations on potential CCOP-DDE joint contributions to the implementation of the CCOP Strategic Plan for 2026-2030.
On 28th October, Prof. Qiuming was one of the keynote speakers of sub-session 3 – Digital Transformation, Innovation and Practice in Geoscience on the theme of “Advancing Geosciences for Resilience and Sustainability”.
Prof. Qiuming, in his keynote presentation entitled “Scientific Question Driven Foundation Models for Simulation and Prediction of Deep-Time Extreme Geological Events”, traced the evolution of AI and related technology applications in geosciences. He noted that in the early stages, Large Language Models (LLMs) accessed data from web and internet-based sources; but as far as applications for geosciences (or even other sciences including health, mathematics etc.) internet-based sources may not provide learning materials for AI models that sufficiently discriminate quality scientific materials from broad, general information intended for the public. Hence, the development of science-based foundation models requires greater collaboration between geo and data scientists from the earliest possible stages, for selecting the learning materials for AI models that can lead to the development of scientific foundation models.
Prof. Qiuming Cheng delivering his keynote address on the theme: “Advancing Geosciences for Resilience and Sustainability”.
DDE shall await the comments and recommendations of the DDE Steering Committee scheduled to meet in Tsukuba, Japan, on 30 October 2026 to begin implementation of the 5 initiatives included in its proposal. DDE intends to begin implementation of selected aspects of the five initiatives, for example setting up a DDE-CCOP Joint Technical Working Group (JTWG), in early 2027. DDE hopes that when it attends the 63rd annual session of CCOP, scheduled to be convened in November 2027, in Palawan, Philippines, it will be able to report satisfactory progress in the implementation of all five initiatives included in its proposal to the DDE Steering Committe.
Representatives of CCOP Member States, Cooperating Countries and Cooperating Organizations attending the 62nd annual session of CCOP in Tsukuba, Japan.