PhD Fellowship in Remote Sensing

We invite applications for a doctoral scholarship in the field of remote sensing, focused on the monitoring of plant stress through the use of thermal infrared and hyperspectral observations from SmallSat and UAV platforms. This project is the result of a collaboration between the Earth Observation and Ecosystem Modeling Lab (Prof. François Jonard) at the University of Liège (ULiège) and the Center for Earth & Climate Research (Prof. Kristof Van Oost) at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain).

Context

In the context of climate change and pressure on the fundamental resources of water and soil, it is particularly important to understand vegetation responses to environmental factors and their evolution. Satellite remote sensing data are particularly well suited for monitoring the health of our ecosystems from local to regional scales. The high spatiotemporal observations provided by the new constellations of small satellites should drastically improve our ability to derive crucial information on ecosystem health. For this, several techniques are particularly promising: thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing, hyperspectral remote sensing, and remote sensing of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). Despite the richness of these signals, the complexity of their interpretation currently limits their use for the management of natural ecosystems.

The objective of the PhD project is to develop advanced remote sensing techniques for monitoring plant water stress, particularly from SmallSat and UAV observations. The PhD candidate will develop a method for the integration of the remote sensing data into a vegetation model through coupling with a radiative transfer model, which should allow for improved characterization of stress within natural ecosystems and their resilience mechanisms to changing environmental conditions.

The research will be conducted in the framework of a larger project, Win4Space, funded by the Win4Excellence program of Wallonia. This program is designed to support promising research and stimulate strong collaborations between universities in cutting-edge research. The Win4Space project (www.space4relaunch.be/) aims to exploit the potential of New Space to meet the societal challenge of managing the human footprint on the environment by providing intelligent management and monitoring of human activity through constellations of SmallSat.

Required qualifications and skills

We welcome applications from early career scientists having a MSc. degree in bioengineering, civil engineering, geomatics, physical geography, hydrology, or related scientific disciplines. We are seeking for a highly motivated PhD student with outstanding written and oral communication skills in English (knowledge of French is a plus). The  ideal candidate should be adept at fieldwork and collaborating with fellow members of the Win4Space team. Additionally, we are looking for someone who is deeply passionate about cutting-edge instruments, satellite and UAV technologies, and possesses expertise in the fields of remote sensing, Artificial Intelligence, (eco)hydrology and plant physiology.

The Institution

The candidate will be hosted at the Earth Observation and Ecosystem Modelling Laboratory of ULiège (www.eosystm.uliege.be) on the Sart Tilman campus, Liège, Belgium. Additional information regarding ULiège can be found at http://www.uliege.be. The candidate will work under the supervision of Prof. François Jonard and Prof. Kristof Van Oost.

Interested?

The application should be sent in one PDF including a motivation letter, a curriculum vitae (mentioning your study grades), and two referees' names and contact details. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. Applications should be sent to Francois.Jonard@uliege.be (and indicating ‘PhD Fellowship Remote Sensing - Stress’ as the subject).