Participant Insights and Reviews
Firsthand accounts from 2025-26 attendees who have enhanced their expertise through our Advanced GPR Workshop, highlighting practical applications and learning outcomes:
- The workshop structure, the selection of datasets, the progression from simple to more complex, and even handling noisy datasets from various projects — all of it showed years of thought and dedication. Your explanations didn’t just tell us what to do; they helped us understand why, and that’s rare. Working across such a diverse range of sites — cemeteries, caves, Roman temples, prehistoric landscapes — and seeing how you approach each one with curiosity and depth made a real difference in how I think about GPR data.
- Whenever there were issues with our software, or processing workflows, you and Mohamed were always there with calm, practical solutions. The small-group sessions created a space where asking questions and working through problems was easy.
- The mix of participants from all over the world, the variety of software and methods, and the honest discussions about interpretation all added up to something I haven’t experienced in any other training.
- I came in following processing steps I didn’t fully understand, but seemed to be the “way it is done”. I am leaving with a much deeper understanding of the physics behind the data and the confidence to make better decisions at every stage of my work and to derive my own steps based on a knowledge of what each does, and how it should or should not be applied.
- It has not only made me a better scholar and transformed the way I approach GPR projects, but it’s expanded my horizons beyond the North American archaeological world in a refreshing, insightful, and necessary way.
- I appreciated the global focus of the workshop as well; working with datasets from diverse locations with diverse histories allowed us to really focus on thinking about what each processing step does to the data.
- From a European perspective, I really have no place where I could gain this kind of knowledge.
- I had the opportunity to work with datasets from different contexts, which was both challenging and very educational. It was also valuable to analyze data from different systems, which gave me a better understanding of how such data can look and how to approach it.
- It has allowed me to understand the underlying processes instead of just clicking through tools in a specific program and following basic instructions.
- A strong point was the collaboration and group work, which was very good and worked well. The small group sessions and regular meetings supported the discussion and exchange of ideas, and I think this was one of the strongest aspects of the workshop.
- The pace was good, although at times it felt quite intense.
- It showed that there is no single “correct” way of working with geophysical data and that interpretation often depends on context and experience.
- I have now become more conscious of decisions in processing when it comes to data processing (e.g., bandpass filtering, migration, using a “cheat sheet” table of frequencies and wavelength). Before I only followed basic instructions and didn’t know why I was doing them.
- I must highlight the strong engagement of the instructors! They invested a lot of time in explaining even basic concepts, helping us correct mistakes, and showing simple ways to deal with complex problems — this was very valuable!
- This workshop really pushed me to understand the math and physics behind geophysics. I’ve never been good at math or physics, so I’ve always avoided it, but I feel like I have a much better understanding of both and of the equipment I use on a regular basis.
- The weekly projects were great! One of the things I was most excited about was getting to work with data sets I normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to. Starting with easier data sets and progressing helped to build each week on what we had learned/discussed.
- I’ve loved being able to participate in this workshop and work with all these wonderful people and data sets from all over the world!
- There are many things you taught us that I really wish I had known when I first started doing GPR because it would have changed how I collected and interpreted data on many projects.
- Like many others, I came to GPR from an archaeology background and have no geophysics education. Any “formal” training that I consisted of a day or two provided by the GPR manufacturer and was mostly geared towards data collection. I was therefore guilty of an overreliance of the amplitude maps. Now I have learned how to integrate those images with profiles. The one big take home for me is appreciating “Snell’s Law” and thinking of what the waves are doing in the ground to produce the results that we see. This has opened an enormous interpretive avenue for me.
- It could have gone a bit slower, particularly at the beginning, as I feel I was a bit behind everyone else in understanding basic physics. The course was very inclusive; I found both Larry and Mohammed were very encouraging. It was quite intimidating at first to speak up, but I felt my group and I found this easier as we got to know each other. I also want to add that I loved the weekly brain teasers.
- The workshop has fundamentally changed the way I will approach GPR analysis.
- It has been a genuinely valuable experience. I’ve grown both personally and academically in geophysics, especially through hands-on work and applying different techniques. One of the most helpful parts was also learning from my teammates, hearing different perspectives and approaches made a big difference in how I understand and solve complex GPR problems.
- I also liked how the projects started simple and gradually became more challenging. It built confidence at the beginning and then pushed us to develop further.
- I had many questions in mind about GPR, and you and Mohammed addressed all of them. Many of which I had been wondering about even before the workshop began. It was also an amazing opportunity to work and interact with people from all around the world, sharing our experiences and learning from one another. The workshop gave me a completely new perspective on how GPR works, which I truly value.
- This workshop invited participants to stop and really look at what the data was trying to tell us. To aid this deeper understanding many new techniques were presented, these really pushed the boundaries of what I thought GPR could do.
- Of great benefit was the chance to see other processing software in use and connect with those that use it. Meeting a world-wide cohort of GPR users was invaluable.
- I will certainly be looking at some of my old datasets differently and considering new approaches for the future. I have a couple of manuscripts in preparation that will now have to include some interesting new approaches based on what I learned here.
- Most of the workshops I have attended only showed how to do the field collection and basically process the data, with nothing about analysis. I always left those other workshops wanting more. So, I would say I have learned a great deal from the lessons and the other attendees and realized that there is still more to learn.
- The GPR Advanced Interpretation Workshop offered by Larry and Mohammed is hands down the most comprehensive and in-depth ground penetrating radar training I have ever participated in. Over the course of four months, the workshops introduced post-processing techniques that progressively increased in complexity, challenging participants to develop skills in post-processing diverse datasets from global case studies and reporting their results to our larger ground penetrating radar community. Throughout this time, I have learned GPR best practices, 2D and 3D GPR analyses, the integration of diverse geophysical methods, and the strengths and limitations of various GPR software packages. These skills have increased my geophysical capacity, improving my projects at every stage, from data collection to post-processing and reporting.
- I loved the variety of case studies! I appreciated your decision to start with the easy case studies and slowly added more techniques.
Attending this workshop transformed my approach to archaeological mapping, providing invaluable techniques and knowledge.
Dr. Emily Harper
Geoarchaeologist and Researcher
The workshop’s in-depth sessions and expert guidance significantly improved our team’s proficiency with ground-penetrating radar.
Mr. Samuel Lee
Environmental Geophysicist