Research Fellow in Precision Soil Mapping - Cranfield University
Agrifood has been a key strategic theme at Cranfield University for over 40 years. This has been recognised in the establishment of the Cranfield Soil and Agrifood Institute. We have internationally-recognised expertise across both domestic and international food supply chains, from primary food production and inputs through to point of sale and waste reduction/utilisation. Cranfield is the national centre for research in soils within England and Wales, responsible for the ‘Land Information System’ (LandIS), housing the National Soil map and property data, as well as the World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue (WOSSAC).
Description
Addressing matters of food security in the light of the rapid population growth is an increasingly important global challenge. More food will have to be produced in the next 50 years than has been over the past 10,000 years (2008 UN sustainable development forum). One way to achieve this is by managing farm resources using advanced technologies in precision agriculture. Precision agriculture technologies play an important role in addressing the conflict between producing more whilst operating within a sustainable framework. Therefore, the focus of this project is improving the productivity and sustainability of the arable areas of England, Wales and Scotland by developing a suite of new ‘precision soil maps’, using a combination of satellite multispectral imagery and existing soil mapping data.
We are looking for an exceptional Researcher to support an InnovateUK/NERC funded post, working on the “Precision Soil Mapping” project, seeking to improve the productivity and sustainability of the arable areas of England, Wales and Scotland by developing precision soil maps.
You will work closely with the project team and partners to manipulate and process soil brightness imagery collected and derived from multispectral satellite data. The research will involve the implementation of advanced data fusion and geostatistical methods to produce thematic soil maps (e.g. precision soil maps) using soil brightness imagery, employing ‘data fusion’ techniques to join this together with soil datasets from Cranfield University and the James Hutton Institute.
The project will see partner AgSpace upgrading their software tools to accommodate the new precision soil maps. Lastly, an exploitation plan will be developed in this applied project, to approach potential adopters of the proposed maps, with the intention to commercialise the results as soon as possible.
Nr of positions available : 1
Research Fields
Geosciences - Geology
Career Stage
Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)
Research Profiles
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Description
Addressing matters of food security in the light of the rapid population growth is an increasingly important global challenge. More food will have to be produced in the next 50 years than has been over the past 10,000 years (2008 UN sustainable development forum). One way to achieve this is by managing farm resources using advanced technologies in precision agriculture. Precision agriculture technologies play an important role in addressing the conflict between producing more whilst operating within a sustainable framework. Therefore, the focus of this project is improving the productivity and sustainability of the arable areas of England, Wales and Scotland by developing a suite of new ‘precision soil maps’, using a combination of satellite multispectral imagery and existing soil mapping data.
We are looking for an exceptional Researcher to support an InnovateUK/NERC funded post, working on the “Precision Soil Mapping” project, seeking to improve the productivity and sustainability of the arable areas of England, Wales and Scotland by developing precision soil maps.
You will work closely with the project team and partners to manipulate and process soil brightness imagery collected and derived from multispectral satellite data. The research will involve the implementation of advanced data fusion and geostatistical methods to produce thematic soil maps (e.g. precision soil maps) using soil brightness imagery, employing ‘data fusion’ techniques to join this together with soil datasets from Cranfield University and the James Hutton Institute.
The project will see partner AgSpace upgrading their software tools to accommodate the new precision soil maps. Lastly, an exploitation plan will be developed in this applied project, to approach potential adopters of the proposed maps, with the intention to commercialise the results as soon as possible.
Nr of positions available : 1
Research Fields
Geosciences - Geology
Career Stage
Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)
Research Profiles
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Application Deadline: 17/08/2016
Application website: http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/
Application website: http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/