Postdoctoral fellow in remote sensing, land use and scenario building

Information about the division and the research project
The Postdoc-position is placed at the Division of Environmental Systems Analysis (ESA) which conducts research in the field of innovation and sustainability studies and assessment of environmental impact of technologies. The division has around 35 staff members with diverse expertise, including engineering, natural and social scientists.

The time of the postdoc position (approx 1,5 years) will be shared between a specific research project (2/3 of the time) and contributing to the buildup of remote sensing and GIS-applications skills at the division (1/3 of the time).

The research project is based on work within a multi- and transdisciplinary research group that over the past decade has worked together in related projects in Burkina Faso. The aim of the current project is to i) quantify net primary production (NPP) assets of three key land components; crops, trees and grasses ii) develop a system to scale up NPP monitoring to the national level using freely available high-resolution satellite data and open source software, iii) build scenarios for future NPP supply and demand based on our NPP-review, population forecasts, climate scenarios and information from land users, and iv) interact with land users and policyholders in meeting arenas to evaluate scenarios, obstacles and ways forward.

The contributions to the remote sensing and GIS capacity buildup at ESA will aim for both a general introduction for interested users (“GIS-for-dummies”) and support to ongoing projects applying remote sensing and GIS-methods on more advanced levels. The intention is to make the approach more available for a wider group of ESA-researchers. We therefore foresee contributions to a short-course and to a seminar series where general questions regarding methods and techniques are covered. 

Major responsibilities
The post-doc tasks within the research project intends to drive the work with analysis and modeling of high-resolution and freely available satellite data, as well as the field data of biomass that we are now collecting in Burkina Faso.

As a post-doc, you will mainly work in the following areas:
• Analyze the seasonal plant dynamics of crops, trees and grasses in parklands with time series of satellite data (e.g., Sentinel-2), relate this to NPP, and use this knowledge in the development of an automated monitoring system.
• Analyze the satellite image products together with field data from our inventories to see at what level of certainty we can map and monitor NPP at national level.
• Keep in touch and collaborate with others in the research group as well as participate in the presentation of results and article writing.

The work on the division capacity buildup will focus on:
• The arrangement of a short introductory course at the division.
• The organising of a seminar series exploring possibilities for the application of GIS-methods in the research areas of the division.
• Assist in application writing for explorative research projects.

Qualifications
The research project tasks require a person with a PhD-degree in natural or social science in related fields with a great deal of interest in, and experience of handling as well as analyzing "big data", of which satellite time series is an example. This in turn requires good knowledge in coding with programming languages such as Python or JavaScript, or extensive experience of working with script-based programs such as R or MATLAB. The task is important for the entire project and thus requires continuous communication with other project members. For the tasks in the division GIS-capacity buildup a good overview of methods and software possibilities together with a pedagogical interest is required.

These tasks thus require basic knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) and management of geographical data. Openness for other research areas, perspectives and flexibility together with good communicative skills are important.

Merits
• Experiences of international and multidisciplinary research collaboration;
• Competence in development issues;
• Knowledge in agriculture and /or forestry;
• Language skills in French.

Great emphasis is placed on personal suitability.

Position summary
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to approximately 1,5 years.

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application deadline: 1 June, 2021
Read more and apply here

Information about the department
The Department of Technology Management and Economics broadly researches the interaction between technology development, industrial systems, society, people and the environment. Our research is linked to several of Chalmers' Areas of Advance and is embedded within Chalmers Initiative for Innovation and Sustainability Transitions and linked to the Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development (GMV). 

*** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***