PhD: Spatial Land-Use Optimization for MATOPIBA

Sport Society; Utrecht; On-site; EUR 36,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

8% holiday pay

8.3% year-end bonus

Pension scheme

Flexible terms of employment

Job summary

Utrecht University’s Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning invites applications for a PhD position on Spatial Optimization of Land Use in Brazil. The project explores Pareto frontiers in MATOPIBA and informs policy with quantitative indicators and stakeholder perspectives.

The successful candidate will develop spatial optimization algorithms, conduct cross-disciplinary analyses, and publish scholarly articles and policy briefs.

Qualifications

• MSc in Geoinformatics, Computer Science, (Quantitative) Geography, (Spatial / Geographic) Data Science, Environmental Science, or related.
• Interest in the impacts of land use and spatial data handling.
• Programming in Python and/or R; English proficiency; ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.

Responsibilities

• Travel to Brazil to interact with stakeholders in MATOPIBA.
• Translate stakeholders’ preferences into quantifiable indicators (productive agriculture vs healthy biodiversity).
• Develop a spatial optimization algorithm to find land use configurations that optimize these indicators.
• Compute Pareto frontiers under different climate and socio-economic scenarios.
• Write academic articles and policy documents summarizing findings for sustainable land use futures.

Skills

Python

R

Spatial data handling

Education

MSc degree in Geoinformatics/related

Job description

Utrecht University’s Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning invites applications for a PhD position on Spatial Optimization of Land Use in Brazil. The project explores Pareto frontiers in MATOPIBA and informs policy with quantitative indicators and stakeholder perspectives.

The successful candidate will develop spatial optimization algorithms, conduct cross-disciplinary analyses, and publish scholarly articles and policy briefs.