The PhD research will focus on the development and demonstration of land cover validation at high resolutions in space (10x10m) and time (<year). The effort will capitalize on various efforts generating 10m resolution land cover maps, will look into understanding the differences and strengths of the existing maps that is important for both the map users and producers.

The work is mainly conducted at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Section Remote Sensing and Geoinformation) and the University of Potsdam under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Martin Herold. The research will be collaborative and involves partners from Wageningen University and the World Resources Institute. 

Your responsibilities:

• Engagement in deriving quality, independent, and dynamic global land cover and change reference databases
• Developed with regional partners worldwide and considering the uncertainties of the reference data itself
• Comparative analysis and validation of available land cover and change data at high resolution considering spatial, temporal and thematic accuracy aspects
• Help to derive targeted land cover information for their purposes based on accuracy analysis and the option to refine the global reference data samples with their own interpretations and data for improved land cover estimations demonstrated in different stakeholder-driven demonstrations

Your qualifications:

• MSc degree and related experiences in Remote Sensing, Agriculture, Forestry, Ecology, Environmental Science, Geography, Land Change Science or a related field
• strong English skills
• Knowledge about land cover/use monitoring, uncertainty analysis and technical skills to handle spatial data and remote sensing data
• Experiences and willingness to work with international partners and in different country settings