NCEO Research Associate in Wetland Monitoring at University of Leicester

Location: Space Park – Leicester

Vacancy terms: Full time or job share considered, Fixed term until 31/12/2026

Salary details: Grade 7 £38,205 to £44,263 per annum

Hours per week: 37.5

Advert closes midnight on: 04 March 2024 

About the role

The Carbon-Climate Science Team in the Earth Observation Science (EOS) group at University of Leicester is seeking to appoint a Research Associate based in the School of Physics and Astronomy. The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Dr Robert Parker and will contribute fully to the large portfolio of research conducted by the team.

This role is fully supported by Dr Parker’s recently successful UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, where you will join his team in developing “The First Environmental Digital Twin Dedicated to Understanding Tropical Wetland Methane Emissions for Improved Predictions of Climate Change”. In particular, the successful candidate will bring together a range of Earth Observation data (including very high-resolution satellite imagery) and apply state-of-the-art machine learning methods in order to develop new wetland extent datasets. These data will be used to complement and test state-of-the-art hydrological modelling capabilities to better understand these complex tropical wetland areas.

The post holder will also be a member of the National Centre for Earth Observation. The National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) is a distributed centre with over 100 scientists from UK institutions, led by Professor John Remedios at the University of Leicester. With an annual income of over £8 million per year, half derived from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), it provides a national capability in Earth observation science and incorporates world-class capabilities in interpretive Earth observation to meet the needs of society through long-term core science and translation of knowledge and environmental data for government and business.

Thanks to support from the Future Leaders Fellowship and a substantial training budget, this position offers exceptional opportunities for enhanced career development. This is expected to include dedicated time as a Visiting Researcher at Project Partners (including UK Met Office, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and European Space Agency) alongside opportunities to present results at local and international conferences and science meetings, write high-impact scientific publications as lead or co-author, contribute to the science of other studies being carried out in the Earth Observation Science Group and throughout NCEO, and supervise undergraduate project students.

About you

With a PhD in a relevant subject (or soon to obtain one), such as environmental science with a physics, maths or geography background, you will have experience working with Earth Observation data, with ideally research experience in land surface and/or hydrological modelling. You will have experience with using machine-learning algorithms, with good Python knowledge and familiarity working with large environmental data sets. You will have experience communicating research results at conferences, alongside a good or emerging publication record with significant contributions to peer-reviewed papers and early evidence of working towards driving your own research. You will be a self-starter with a flexible approach to work, as well as experience of collaborative, interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary research.

Additional information

This position is expected to be a full-time, fixed term contract for 2 years with strong prospect to extend post if appropriate.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Dr Robert Parker on rjp23@le.ac.uk.

We anticipate that interview will be held during the week commencing 18th March 2024.