Hybrid AI Research Associate: Forest Inventory

Dunhillmedical; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 41,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Generous pension scheme

Flexible annual leave and benefits

Development and wellbeing

Job summary

University of Sheffield is inviting applications for a Research Associate in Computer Vision and Environmental Modelling. The role sits in the NextGen-FI project, blending computer vision, remote sensing and geospatial analysis to map tree species and monitor forests using UAV data.

Based in the PRISMA Computer Vision lab, the post offers access to HPC and GPUs. A PhD is required; collaboration with partners and dissemination of results are expected.

Qualifications

• PhD in computer science, remote sensing, ecology or related discipline.
• Research experience in developing machine learning and/or deep learning methods.
• Programming experience in Python and use of relevant ML frameworks.
• Experience with image, remote sensing or spatial data.
• Experience applying ML to real-world datasets and interpreting results.
• Evidence of research outputs such as peer‑reviewed publications.
• Ability to communicate research findings effectively in writing and speech.
• Ability to work independently and in a multidisciplinary team with stakeholders.
• Desirable: UAV/RPAS or GIS software such as QGIS.
• Knowledge of open-set recognition, long-tailed learning, uncertainty-aware learning, incremental learning or foundation models.

Responsibilities

• Undertake research within Work Packages 2, 3 and 4 of the NextGen-FI project, contributing to AI-enabled forest inventory and monitoring.
• Develop and evaluate ML and DL methods for tree species mapping using UAV-based imagery, including foundation models and multimodal learning.
• Investigate open-set and open-world recognition to handle unseen species.
• Develop uncertainty-aware and incremental learning approaches to improve robustness.
• Process and analyse UAV and geospatial data; validate algorithms on real-world datasets.
• Contribute to software tools, including a QGIS forest monitoring plugin and geospatial workflows.
• Collaborate with academic and stakeholder partners; disseminate findings via reports, publications, conferences.
• Carry out other duties commensurate with the grade.

Education

PhD in computer science, remote sensing, ecology or related discipline

Tools

QGIS

Job description

University of Sheffield is inviting applications for a Research Associate in Computer Vision and Environmental Modelling. The role sits in the NextGen-FI project, blending computer vision, remote sensing and geospatial analysis to map tree species and monitor forests using UAV data.

Based in the PRISMA Computer Vision lab, the post offers access to HPC and GPUs. A PhD is required; collaboration with partners and dissemination of results are expected.