The Section for Geography at IGN invites applicants for a PhD fellowship. The project is part of the research project “Europe-land”, which is financed by by the EU Horizon 2020 program.

Start date is expected to be 1 July 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The project

The position is embedded in the EU-funded project ‘Towards Sustainable Land-use Strategies in the Context of Climate Change and Biodiversity Challenges in Europe (EUROPE-LAND)’ with the specific aim to foster a wide understanding of the key motivations and drivers behind land-use related decisions in Europe.

The successful candidate will work closely with a core project team consisting of assoc. prof. Martin Rudbeck Jepsen, UCPH, prof. Daniel Müller and Dr. Zhanli Sun from IAMO, DE, and assoc. prof. Anton Stahl Olafsson, UCPH. The team will use the EU Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) to reveal agricultural land use behavior and combine the IACS with the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) to spatialize IACS.

The candidate will as a first task collect and harmonize available IACS/LPIS data from all EU member states to create a geodatabase of IACS data harmonized by crop/subsidy codes. Based on this dataset, the candidate will categorize the land-use behavior revealed by the IACS data at farm level into archetypical behavioral types and map those for the entire EU with self-organizing maps (a type of artificial neural network) (Levers et al. 2018). Finally, the candidate will work with partners at Bialystok Technical University to compile a geodatabase of wetlands in the EU and intersect this with the IACS database to identify agriculturally managed wetlands.

Interactions with other teams of the EU-project are expected, including smaller contributions to their work throughout the employment. The candidate should be willing to join 1-2 project workshops per year.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for candidates within the field(s) of land use/Land cover change, land system science, sustainable development of land use. Applicants can have a background from Geography, Geoinformatics, spatial data science, and should have professional experience working with GIS, IACS data, and knowledge of data processing using Python or R.

You should have good oral and written English skills. As criteria for the assessment of your qualifications, emphasis will also be put on previous publications and relevant work experience. As a substantial part of the work will be to collate IACS geodata with the principal aim of promoting sustainable land use in the EU, the candidate should be familiar with environmental impacts of intensive agriculture, and preferable also have some insight into the EU Common Agricultural Policy and related subsidy schemes.

Our group and research- and what do we offer?

You will be part of the research group ‘Land Use, Earth Observation, and Sustainability’ based at the Geography Section at the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen. We are located in Copenhagen. The group consists of approximately 8 professors at various career levels, and a large number of phd-fellows and post-doctoral researchers. Our focus is on land cover/land use change, and we apply quantitative methods, in particular remote sensing, and qualitative methods to map and understand where and why land change and what the implications are for sustainable development.

We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment.

Principal supervisor is Associate professor Martin Rudbeck Jepsen, Section for Geography, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, [email protected] , Direct Phone: +4535322465.

The PhD programme

Qualifications needed for the regular programme
To be eligible for the regular PhD programme, you must have completed a degree programme, equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (180 ECTS/3 FTE BSc + 120 ECTS/2 FTE MSc) related to the subject area of the project, e.g. geography or geoinformatics For information of eligibility of completed programmes, see General assessments for specific countries and Assessment database.

Terms of employment in the regular programme
Employment as PhD fellow is full time and for maximum 3 years.

Employment is conditional upon your successful enrolment as a PhD student at the PhD School at the Faculty of SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. The position is covered by the Protocol on Job Structure.

Responsibilities and tasks in the PhD programme

• Carry through an independent research project under supervision
• Complete PhD courses corresponding to approx. 30 ECTS / ½ FTE
• Participate in active research environments, including a stay at another research institution, preferably abroad
• Teaching and knowledge dissemination activities
• Write scientific papers aimed at high-impact journals
• Write and defend a PhD thesis on the basis of your project

We are looking for the following qualifications:

• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Relevant publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other relevant professional activities
• Curious mind-set with a strong interest in land use, spatial data analysis, utilisation of IACS databases
• Good language skills

Application and Assessment Procedure

Your application including all attachments must be in English and submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

Please include:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
2. Curriculum vitae including information about your education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
3. Original diplomas for Master of Science and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in another language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted.
4. Publication list (if possible)
5. Reference letters (if available)

Application deadline:

The deadline for applications is 5 March 2024, 23:59 GMT +1

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After deadline, a number of applicants will be selected for academic assessment by an unbiased expert assessor. You are notified, whether you will be passed for assessment.

The assessor will assess the qualifications and experience of the shortlisted applicants with respect to the above mentioned research area, techniques, skills and other requirements. The assessor will conclude whether each applicant is qualified and, if so, for which of the two models. The assessed applicants will have the opportunity to comment on their assessment. You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.

Interviews with selected candidates are expected to be held in week 15.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD study at the Faculty of SCIENCE is available at the PhD School’s website: https://www.science.ku.dk/phd/.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk