Researcher (Postdoc) Hyperspectral Observables of Planetary Habitability
The University of Twente is committed to being an organization that maximizes diversity, talents, and capabilities in the labor market, both now and in the future. As part of our diversity and inclusiveness policy, we strongly encourage individuals with (work) disabilities to apply for this position.
Additionally, the University of Twente is committed to providing a working environment where everyone is valued, respected, and supported to progress. Our priority is to ensure that no one is disadvantaged based on their ethnicity, gender, culture, disability, LGBTQ+ identities, family and caring responsibilities, age, or religion. We encourage everyone who shares these values to apply.
The search for habitable environments on planets and moons in our solar system involves the remote detection of the typical surface expression of these environments. These expressions include surface compositions that indicate the presence of early and primitive bacterial life and their geological context, which are detectable using hyperspectral remote sensing methods. The detection of these biosignatures requires an understanding of how they are resolved by remote sensing instruments that operate at various scales.
This project strives to develop hyperspectral remote sensing observables, interpreted from lab experiments and terrestrial outcrops of primitive-life environments and their geological context, for the scale-dependent detection of similar habitats on other earth-like bodies in the solar system and beyond. The project is part of the Netherlands Planetary Science Network on Observables of Planetary Habitability. This network project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Netherlands Space Office and aims to foster multidisciplinary collaboration between planetary science research groups and researchers in the Netherlands. Other research projects within this network focus on interior and surface morphological indicators of planetary habitability.
Your activities include reviewing the literature on biosignatures and their geological context in terrestrial analogues, conducting a detailed multidisciplinary study of a terrestrial analogue, and developing a strategy for scale-dependent hyperspectral detection of biosignatures on other planets and moons. The work will include fieldwork to identify and map these biosignatures at the field scale and laboratory analysis with multiple instruments. Results will be disseminated through high-quality scientific publications and conference presentations. You will work with partners in the Netherlands Planetary Science Network and will be crucial in initiating collaborative research within the network.
Information and application
For more information regarding this position, you are welcome to contact Dr Frank van Ruitenbeek (email: f.j.a.vanruitenbeek@utwente.nl). You are also invited to visit our homepage.
For questions about working and living in the Netherlands please consult the official website of the Netherlands Government or the website of the Expat Center East Netherlands.
Please submit your application before 6 January 2025 including:
* A motivation letter (maximum 2 pages of A4), emphasizing your specific interest, qualifications and motivation to apply for this position
* Curriculum Vitae including your publications, projects, awards (if any), and working experience, including to references (one of them should preferably be a supervisor or your PhD thesis supervisor) who are willing to be contacted by us
* An academic transcript of BSc and MSc education, including grades
* Your PhD thesis or the latest draft in English (or alternatively, if your PhD thesis is not in English, a 5-page summary of your thesis in English).
Applications that do not have all requested information, will not be considered.
Interviews (online or onsite) will probably take place during the second half of January 2025. Preferred starting date of the position: 1 March/1 April 2025.
About the department
The Department of Applied Earth Sciences combines Earth scientific knowledge with dynamic modelling and advanced remote sensing to analyse Earth systems and processes in space and time. Our goal is to contribute to global challenges concerning future demands for Earth resources and to help reduce disaster risk and the impact of natural hazards on communities living in changing environments.
About the organisation
The Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) provides international postgraduate education, research and project services in the field of geo-information science and earth observation. Our mission is capacity development, where we apply, share and facilitate the effective use of geo-information and earth observation knowledge and tools for tackling global wicked problems. Our purpose is to enable our many partners around the world to track and trace the impact – and the shifting causes and frontiers – of today’s global challenges. Our vision is of a world in which researchers, educators, and students collaborate across disciplinary and geographic divides with governmental and non-governmental organisations, institutes, businesses, and local populations to surmount today’s complex global challenges and to contribute to sustainable, fair, and digital societies.
