NCEO Research Associate in Greenhouse Gases

The Carbon-Climate Science Team in the Earth Observation Science (EOS) group at University of Leicester is seeking to appoint a Research Associate based in the School of Physics and Astronomy. The EOS group has a strong foundation in leading space research, and specialises in identification, investigation, and development of new/advanced parameters for space measurements. The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Dr Robert Parker and will contribute fully to the large portfolio of research conducted by the team.

Your role will focus on the retrieval, evaluation and analysis of Greenhouse Gases from satellite data. In particular, you will be responsible for extending the successful University of Leicester GOSAT Proxy Methane retrieval algorithm to operate on the GOSAT-2 satellite, continuing this long timeseries of important climate observations. As part of this work, you will investigate the potential to improve methane retrievals over high-latitude Arctic locations and over the UK. You will also contribute satellite retrieval expertise to the new GEMINI-UK (Greenhouse gas Emission Monitoring network to Inform Net-zero Initiatives over the UK) observational network, aiming to better constrain the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Collaboration with national and international partners, will also be a key focus, including working on large international projects with leading climate scientists. The role includes opportunities to present results at local and international conferences and science meetings, write high-impact scientific publications as lead or co-author, contribute to the science of other studies being carried out in the Carbon-Climate Science Team, and supervise undergraduate project students.

The post holder will also be a member of the National Centre for Earth Observation. The National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) is a distributed centre with over 100 scientists from UK institutions, led by Professor John Remedios at the University of Leicester. With an annual income of over £8 million per year, half derived from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), it provides a national capability in Earth observation science and incorporates world-class capabilities in interpretive Earth observation to meet the needs of society through long-term core science and translation of knowledge and environmental data for government and business.

With a PhD in a relevant subject (or soon to obtain one), such as environmental science with ideally physics, maths or geography background, you will have experience working with relevant environmental datasets, with ideally research experience in satellite-based retrieval algorithms and/or greenhouse gas observations. You will have experience communicating research results at conferences, alongside a good or emerging publication record with significant contributions to co-authored papers.

You will be a self-starter with a flexible approach to work, as well as experience of collaborative, interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary research.

Full-time fixed term contract for 2 years with prospect to extend post if appropriate.

For further details, please contact Dr Robert Parker on [email protected].

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