PhD Studentship: Monitoring Crop Dynamics Using InSAR Loop Closure Time Series. NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2026 Entry

About the Partnership

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrows leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

For eligible successful applicants, the studentships comprises:

• An stipend for 3.5 years (currently 20,780 p.a. for 2026/27) in line with UK Research and Innovation rates
• Payment of university tuition fees
• The budget for project costs is 9,000 which can be used for computer, lab, and fieldwork costs necessary for you to conduct your research.
• There is also a conference budget of 2,000 and individual Training Budget of 1,000 for specialist training

Project Aims and Methods

This project will explore how Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) loop closure, derived from the summation of phases in three closed multilooked interferograms, can be used to monitor crop conditions. Building on our European Space Agency (ESA)-funded project to correct InSAR phase bias, we will investigate: (1) whether loop closure-derived time series can reveal phenological changes in crops, (2) how different radar polarisations (e.g. VV, VH, cross-pol) affect sensitivity to crop growth and condition, and (3) how to disentangle the effects of soil moisture variations from vegetation dynamics in the loop closure signal. The approach will be compared with more traditional methods for crop monitoring based on InSAR coherence, backscatter, and polarimetric SAR data.

The Doctoral Researcher will influence the direction of application areas and algorithm development, receiving direct training in InSAR processing, geospatial data science, and agricultural remote sensing. Co-supervision and CASE partner involvement (SatSense Ltd) will provide high-quality technical mentorship and industry context and ensures both academic rigour and real-world relevance, strengthening the projects innovation and impact. Access to EO platforms, field validation campaigns, and industrial mentorship will further enhance the students technical and professional development.

CASE Partner

SatSense will provide access to their proprietary InSAR-derived geospatial datasets, expert technical mentorship, and support in integrating loop closure metrics into agricultural monitoring tools. The doctoral researcher will undertake a 3-month internship at SatSense, receiving training in operational processing systems, industry-standard EO analytics, and product validation workflows.

Useful recruitment links:

For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via: y.maghsoudi-mehrani@exeter.ac.uk

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