Job description

Project: HERMES | BESPO STEREO IV
Research team: Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL) | Ghent University
Location: Ghent, Belgium
Starting date: April 2023–June 2023
Contract length: until June 2025
General context:
Large-scale agricultural and hydrological management requires data of terrestrial evaporation (E) and root-zone soil moisture (SM) with high spatial resolution and accuracy. However, neither E nor SM can be directly measured from satellites, and in situ measurements are sparse and insufficient for continuous monitoring over large regions. Consequently, retrieval models and process-based algorithms have been developed during the past decades to indirectly estimate these variables from satellite data, sometimes using in situ measurements, but just for calibration. The existing methods are still not optimized for high-resolution applications, sometimes do not have full continental coverage, or do not meet the required accuracy standards. HERMES will yield a first-of-its-kind, high-resolution, high accuracy, evaporation and root-zone soil moisture dataset across Europe and Africa. It will benefit from (a) the progress in high-resolution remote sensing heralded by the EU Copernicus program, the Sentinel constellation, and the Meteosat second generation sensors, and (b) novel advances in AI and visualization technologies applied to Earth Observation data. HERMES will also bridge towards actual stakeholder requirements in the fields of water and agricultural management.

Job profile

PhD in the domains of Physics, Environmental Sciences, Geography, Engineering or Computer Sciences
Background on Hydrology
Knowledge of numerical modelling and computer programming (preferably Python)
Excellent level of English, both oral and written
Creative, critical and analytical mindset; capable of working in groups
Candidates from outside Belgium are welcome and are expected to move to the country
Opportunity to spend stages in other leading international institutes that are part of the project consortium
Expected attendance to multiple international conferences and workshops
Opportunity to joining a young and motivating research environment
Wages in accordance with Flemish University indexes

How to apply

Please send a 1-paragraph motivation letter and professional CV in a single pdf to Diego.Miralles@UGent.be
Include contact information of two people that may be requested to send a reference if the application is shortlisted
Candidacies will be evaluated by an internal committee
The application procedure will remain open until the right candidate is found