Research Associate in Glaciology

Job description:

The School of Geography and Planning is inviting applications for a Research Associate in Glaciology (36 month role) to join AdaptAIR, a major six-year European Research Council-funded project. This project is a collaboration between the University of Sheffield, King’s College London, the University of Guelph, and IIT Delhi. AdaptAIR investigates the emerging use of Artificial Ice Reservoirs (AIRs) across the Indian Himalaya. These frozen water bodies—engineered bodies of ice created by releasing groundwater into the winter air—act as seasonal water stores. As glacier-fed water supplies decline, rural Himalayan communities are becoming increasingly reliant on AIRs to support agriculture, livelihoods, and wellbeing. Yet their long-term climatic feasibility, environmental implications, and social impacts remain poorly understood.

AdaptAIR brings together physical scientists and social scientists to build the first integrated evidence base for AIR installation and governance. This interdisciplinary approach recognises that effective and equitable water solutions emerge when scientific, cultural, and community perspectives are considered together. With the support of project PI, Dr Jeremy Ely, and the wider AdaptAIR team, you will play a key role in producing the glaciological foundation for this work.

In this post, you will quantify patterns of glacier change across the study region using both field-based measurements and remote sensing methods. You will assemble remote sensing data into a unified geodatabase, reconstruct glacier extent and volume over the past ~250 years, and apply photogrammetric techniques to derive mass-balance estimates from archival satellite imagery. You will also help develop field plans, and, should you wish, participate in Himalayan field campaigns to deploy monitoring equipment. These datasets will be central to climate and hydrological modelling undertaken across the wider project and will support a more detailed understanding of glacier processes in this rapidly changing region.

Because AdaptAIR is a co-designed, interdisciplinary research programme, the focus of the work may evolve over time in response to insights from partner institutions, community stakeholders, and social science findings—such as perceptions of climate change, local water practices, and the cultural significance of particular landscapes. You will therefore join a dynamic research environment where perspectives are shared openly and where collaboration is encouraged and valued. Specifically, you will work with a researcher at King’s College who will examine archival material to reconstruct glacier extent.

You will have opportunities to engage with various other projects and will disseminate project results to a range of audiences, including via scientific publications, conference presentations, and public outreach activities. You will benefit from dedicated project funding to support your training and skills-development needs, specialist computing requirements, and conference and collaboration travel. You will also benefit from mentoring and support for publication writing and conference paper development within the project, including a dedicated writing retreat for early career researchers.

As a member of the School of Geography and Planning’s highly esteemed ‘Ice and ClimatE Research at Sheffield’ (ICERS) research cluster you will be part of an active and supportive research community with interdisciplinary expertise across terrestrial and planetary glaciology, geomorphology, remote sensing, and climate science. To learn more about the School of Geography and Planning at Sheffield, please visit: https://sheffield.ac.uk/geography-planning

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