Postdoctoral fellow in remote sensing of vegetation dynamics and structure - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Subject description
The position is for a postdoctoral researcher to work for 24 months within the projects CGLOPS-LSP and FORECO, aiming to (a) develop land surface phenology (LSP) from Sentinel-3 data for Copernicus Global Land Operations (CGLOPS) and (b) develop likelihood functions for forest disturbances based on airborne LiDAR data and Landsat disturbance records. The postdoc will also participate in other related projects at the department.

CGLOPS-LSP is a project financed by EU/JRC in which Lund university is commissioned to develop routines for land surface phenology from Sentinel-3 data at global level. The methodology will follow established routines developed for Copernicus High-Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (HR-VPP) and will include modification of the methodology for the use of lower-resolution Sentinel-3 data and calibration against existing datasets. The researcher will also be involved in analysis of both high- and low resolution phenology datasets with respect to their relationship to known drivers of vegetation phenology.

FORECO is an ERA-Net project in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich and the University of Ljubljana, which focuses on improved understanding of forest disturbance risk across Europe. The methodology will involve processing airborne LiDAR data for case study sites and using statistical and/or machine learning approaches to identify links between forest structure and disturbance.

Work duties

The main duty of the position is to conduct research.

Important tasks are:

• Carry out calibration of Sentinel-3 phenology time-series data against high-resolution datasets, as specified in the CGLOPS-LSP methodology. The results of the calibration will guide the processing of global LSP datasets as carried out in the TIMESAT software package.
• Involvement in research to validate and improve the general understanding of remotely sensed phenology datasets at different resolution, and to study their use in global and regional environmental assessment and modeling.
• Processing of airborne LiDAR data using established routines to derive canopy height and related metrics.
• Develop disturbance risk algorithms based on these LiDAR metrics and existing disturbance observations.
• Contribute to project meetings and deliverable reports. Lead and/or contribute to writing manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

The work is carried out together with a team of remote sensing expertise within the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, and in close collaboration with researchers from the company VITO and at the Technical University of Munich. 

Qualification requirements
The appointment requires that the applicant has a PhD, or an international degree deemed equivalent to a PhD, within the subject of the position at the time of employment decision. The degree should not be older then three years. 

Applicants must have:

•  Basic university education in technical or natural science with a large component of geomatics (GIS, remote sensing, computer analysis)
•  PhD with specialization in remote sensing of vegetation
•  Very good oral and written proficiency in English.

Assessment criteria and other qualifications
The assessment of the applicants will primarily be based on their research qualifications and potential as researcher. Particular emphasis will be placed on research skills within the subject.

For the appointment, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• Optical remote sensing, preferably oriented towards time-series analysis and analysis of vegetation structure
• Experience of applications of remotely sensed data in ecology / plant science
• Computer programming
• Data analysis (statistics, numerical analysis, machine learning, time series analysis etc.)

Additional assessment criteria:

• Published in international journals
• Other documented communication skills

Consideration will also be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant’s experience and skills complement and strengthen ongoing research within the department, and how they stand to contribute to its future development.

Terms of employment
This is a full-time, postdoctoral position of 24 months. The employment is regulated according to “Avtal om tidsbegränsad anställning som postdoktor”, mellan arbetsmarknadens parter daterat 2008-09-04 (Arbetsgivarverket, OFR:s, Saco-S och SEKO).

Instructions on how to apply

Applications shall be written in English and be compiled into a PDF-file containing:

• Résumé/CV, including a list of publications,
• A description of research experience, including how the applicant matches each of the specified criteria in the list above.
• Contact information of at least two references,
• Copy of the doctoral degree certificate, and other certificates/grades that you wish to be considered.