Postdoctoral researcher on Land-Use / Land-Cover change and remote sensing of vegetation (R2)

Organisation / Company Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) Research Field Computer science » Other Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Country Spain Application Deadline 13 Jun 2025 - 00 : 00 (UTC) Type of Contract To be defined Job Status Negotiable Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Reference : 372_25_ES_CVC_R2

Job title : Postdoctoral researcher on Land-Use / Land-Cover change and remote sensing of vegetation (R2)

About BSC

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.

If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.

Context And Mission

We are looking for an enthusiastic and talented researcher to analyze historical variability in vegetation and land use change, and produce novel high-resolution datasets of land-use / land-cover and vegetation characteristics in the historical period and future projections. The successful candidate will be responsible for the creation and assessment of time-varying land surface boundary conditions to be used in several climate model applications, with the aim of providing more accurate surface boundary conditions for climate projections and seasonal-to-decadal forecasting.

The offered position will primarily contribute to the Horizon Europe projects TerraDT ( ) and CONCERTO ( ). The TerraDT project aims to include novel processes into the cutting-edge Digital Twins of the Earth System, such as time-varying land cover and LAI (Leaf Area Index) and interactive aerosols with interactive dust emissions. The CONCERTO project aims to advance the understanding and modeling of carbon cycle processes within Earth System Models such as EC-Earth4.

The candidate will be responsible for the development and assessment of time-varying, high resolution (1 km) Land Use (LU) and Land Cover (LC) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) datasets. The analysis will leverage satellite-based data products and historical land-use data to reconstruct and extend land dynamics back to 1850 using land-use change modelling, spatial analysis and / or machine learning methodologies, as well as in the future using the newly developed Land-Use change scenarios for CMIP7. An independent verification of the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) products will be done using regional products based on high-resolution satellite imagery before 1993.

This position will be hosted in the Climate Variability and Change (CVC) Group within BSC's Earth Science Department. The CVC Group undertakes fundamental research to (1) understand climate variability and change, including for climate extremes, (2) investigate global biogeochemical dynamics, and the effectiveness and impacts of carbon removal technologies to mitigate climate change, (3) develop new Earth System modeling capabilities, and (4) improve our ability to forecast the climate variations from one month to multiple decades into the future, both at global and regional scales.

The candidate will also have the opportunity to participate in other research activities within the CVC group. In particular, contributions are anticipated to the evaluation of the climate modelling experiments (including centennial-scale projections and seasonal-to-decadal scale climate forecasts) conducted by the CVC group using the EC-Earth Earth System Model which simulates the Global Carbon Cycle at timescales ranging from multi-annual to centennial. This will entail analyzing the contributions of vegetation and land-use change to the global carbon cycle in the projections and near-time predictions made by the CVC group.

Key Duties

Create and assess the time-varying Land Use, Land Cover and LAI datasets

Collaborate with colleagues and external partners in the integration of these datasets in the Digital Twin models in the TerraDT project and Earth System Models in the CONCERTO project

Lead the preparation of scientific publications, and present the research at scientific workshops and conferences

Analyze the contributions of vegetation and land-use change to the global carbon cycle in the climate projections and near-time climate predictions

The candidate will work closely with scientists within the Climate Variability and Change Group and other groups of the Earth Sciences Department, and with international project partners

Requirements

Education

PhD in spatial modelling, land-use change, geography, or a related discipline

Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

Demonstrated experience in the analysis of geo-spatial and remote sensing data and / or Land-use change models

Proven ability to prepare and submit manuscripts to peer-reviewed scientific journals

Programming skills : scripting (e.g. bash, Python, R), open-source spatial data analysis and visualization software (e.g. GeoPandas, r-spatial, QGis)

Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

Interest and capacity in participating in the writing of research and computing proposals

Experience with vegetation model and / or climate model data

Knowledge of version control systems (git, svn, …)

Competences

Fluency in spoken and written English

Highly collaborative spirit and ability to work independently as part of a large, strongly-coordinated team and to continuously share both knowledge and tools

Conditions

The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department

We offer a full-time contract (37.5h / week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures

Duration : Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration

Holidays : 23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement

Salary : we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona

Starting date : Sept 1 or earlier

Applications procedure and process

All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain :

A cover / motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process

The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases :

Curriculum Analysis : Evaluation of previous experience and / or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points

Interview phase : The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

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