As­so­ci­ate Pro­fessor, Re­mote Sens­ing of En­vir­on­ment

Updated: over 2 years ago
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 07 Oct 2021

The University of Helsinki (UH) is among the leading multidisciplinary research universities in the world. In addition to its 11 faculties, the University includes several independent institutes, some of which are jointly operated with other universities. Some 35,000 students are currently pursuing an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree at the University of Helsinki. Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is weather service and research organization under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. FMI employs 700 persons, half of them in research units focusing on climate, meteorological, marine and space research including Earth Observation applications.

The Faculty of Science at the University of Helsinki invites applications for an

Associate professorship (tenure track) in Remote Sensing of Environment.

University of Helsinki (UH) and Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) open a professorship in remote sensing of terrestrial environment. The 5 year-position is for associate professor level after which it will be evaluated and upgraded to full professorship level if successful. It will be located at FMI and at the Department of Geosciences and Geography of the Faculty of Science, in which the position is shared with Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research.

UH and FMI will offer the appointee a challenging career opportunity in top-level research and research-based teaching, possibilities for international collaboration, and prerequisites to grow into full professorship. In recent World university rankings, the remote sensing research of UH have been ranked between 15th to 45th positions, in 2021, it is 42nd.

Remote sensing is practised within the Faculty of Science in various disciplines from geography to Earth sciences and computer sciences, but the teaching is concentrated within the Geography Master Programme. Faculty of Science of UH manages a Tropical Taita Research Station in Kenya and possesses airborne and handheld hyperspectral and laser sensors and environmental sensing devices. FMI manages boreal and sub-arctic research stations in Finland including a major remote sensing reference infrastructure in Sodankylä. University of Helsinki recently started its Africa programme and made strategic partnership with University of Nairobi in Kenya.

The focus of the position is in remote sensing of land surface, and in particular impact of land use, land cover and its changes to ecosystem services, carbon and water cycle, and their feedbacks to land cover especially in Africa utilizing the UH infrastructure. In addition, the successful candidate should be able to carry out research also in boreal and arctic environments utilizing the FMI infrastructure. Previous background in remote sensing, Earth Observation and environmental research is essential.

The successful applicant is expected to develop a research group at UH and FMI. The selected candidate is expected to utilize and expand the current remote sensing and environmental sensing infrastructure of the UH and FMI. We also expect him/her to establish strong research links with research programmes in Biogeosciences and Atmospheric Sciences, within the Faculty of Science of UH and FMI, and external research institutes.

To be successful in the position, the candidate must have a demonstrated ability to conduct fundamental research at an internationally high level. In addition, the appointee must take advantage of national and international research funding opportunities. The successful candidate should lead cutting edge research projects both at UH and FMI, take part in research-based remote sensing teaching, and supervise students in Bachelor, Master and PhD programs of UH and FMI.

According to the Regulations of the University of Helsinki, an associate professor must hold a doctoral degree and ability for independent scientific work as well as teaching skills required by the position. Candidate’s doctorate degree should be relevant to a discipline for this position, and has expertise in satellite and airborne remote sensing applying modern technologies such as laser scanning and hyperspectral sensing and in leading field work. Furthermore, the successful candidate is expected to have competence for scientific career proven by scientific publications, teaching, supervision of students and collaboration skills with national and international scientific and stakeholder communities.

The language requirement is fluency English.

When assessing the qualifications of each candidate, attention will be paid to scientific publications and other research results of scientific value, the ability to lead field work in international context and environments, teaching skills and training, the ability to produce teaching materials, as well as participation in doctoral education. Furthermore, attention will be paid to the applicant’s activities within the international research community, success in obtaining research funding, and research work especially in Africa.

Applications must have the following enclosures as a one single pdf file (in English):

  • an academic portfolio after approved guidelines by the Faculty (as set out at https://www.helsinki.fi/en/faculty-of-science/faculty/join-us/academic-p... )
  • a list of those publications and other relevant documents on competence and merits that the applicant wishes to be taken into account in the selection process.
  • Research plan highlighting the topics described earlier.
  • On the Faculty’s request, the applicant should prepare to submit up to 10 publications of his/her choice to be sent to assessors after the application period. The publications shall be submitted through the University of Helsinki Recruitment System upon request of the Faculty.

    Please submit your application using the University of Helsinki Recruitment System via the link “Apply for the position”. Applicants who are employees of the University of Helsinki are requested to leave their application by signing to https://msap.helsinki.fi .

    The dead line for applications is 7 October, 2021.

    More information:

    Head of Department Annakaisa Korja, + 358 2941, 51606, [email protected]
    Professor Petri Pellikka, +358 50 4154701, [email protected]
    Professor Jouni Pulliainen, +358 50 5895821, [email protected]

    Due date

    07.10.2021 23:59 EEST



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