Research Technician in Remote Sensing

Location: Highfield Campus

Fixed Term: For 18 months

Interview Date: W/C 22nd January

We are recruiting a research technician in remote sensing to support research activities across a number of externally funded projects funded by the UK Research and Innovation and the European Space Agency. These are: 

(a) FruitSense: Leveraging Earth Observation (EO) data to Enhance Tree Crop production and their resilience in a changing climate in Australia, 

(b) UK Earth Observation Climate Information Service (EOCIS) which brings together UK expertise in Earth Observation to create and make available high quality, trustworthy climate information based on measurements of Earth’s environments from space; and

(c) EO4Cerealstress: Evaluate the synergistic use of multi-source Earth Observation (EO) and in-situ data to understand the effects of multiple stressors and their cumulative effects on crops. 

Key research activities will focus on developing novel techniques to derive vegetation biophysical variables from airborne and satellite sensor and develop further application of such products current and upcoming satellite sensors and undertake research on validation of these variables.

You will be based at the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Southampton and work closely with members of Southampton Geospatial. You will join a growing team of ten researchers exploring new methods and techniques to utilise space-based information for environmental monitoring. The team works closely with the European Space agency’s Sentinel programme and the UK’s Earth Observation from climate information (EOCIS) programme. You will have access to state-of-the art spectroscopy laboratory and high performance computing facility to undertake your research. 

The specific work to be undertaken involves:

• Analyse different type of remotely sensed datasets, including pre-processing, retrieval of vegetation monitoring variables. 
• Develop image analysis methods, preferably in a cloud-processing environment, to utilise these products in various applications such as estimating primary productivity, identification of crop stress and mapping crop types or as required by specific project.
• Participating in field data collection campaigns organised within the project.
• Contributing to the writing of project documentation.
• Carry out administrative tasks associated with specified research funding, for example risk assessment of research activities, organisation of project meetings and documentation.

You will have an undergraduate or Master’s degree in Geography, Remote Sensing, or related fields, with strong image processing skills, experience using standard remote sensing software (e.g. ENVI, SNAP), and previous experience analysing satellite data is essential for the role. Knowledge and experience in analysing Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 images and conducting fieldwork for collecting vegetation biophysical variables would be an advantage. You would expected to have a good knowledge of programming and experience of using cloud based data processing infrastructure.

The post is tenable from 1st February 2024 or soon after.

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Jadu Dash J.Dash@soton.ac.uk.

The University of Southampton, one of the UK’s top 10 research-intensive universities, is in the top 1% of world Universities. The School of Geography and Environmental Science’s research collaborations are truly international, spanning 78 countries. In REF2021, our School was ranked joint third nationally in geography and environmental studies on grade point average (a measure of overall research quality). The School is committed to fostering a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion. 

Working at the University of Southampton:

Check out the staff benefits and why you should join us at The University of Southampton!

Further details:

• Job Description and Person Specification

Advert information