The Role
The Project: Terrain-AI
Terrain-AI (T-AI) is a collaborative research project coordinated by Maynooth University, and supported by Science Foundation Ireland’s Strategic Partnership Programme involving Teagasc, TCD, UCD, UL and DCU together with primary Industry partner Microsoft. T-AI’s core R&D activity revolves around improving our knowledge and understanding of Land Use activity - as this relates to Climate Change.
A critical component to the success of Terrain-AI is the development and implementation of a suite of machine learning and statistical-based approaches to improve our understand of the exchanges of energy, water and gases that occur between the land surface and the atmosphere. This exciting role will focus on the development and/or implementation of geo-spatial machine learning, employing a range of land cover and land use indices, meteorological data fields and other relevant datasets, to exploit the data sets being collected across the Terrain-AI centre. Outputs will be used to evaluate the models at landscape scale, and provide a means to inform other model outputs from the wider suite of techniques being employed. A key challenge for the various models being employed within Terrain-AI will be to bridge the scale gap between plot and landscape while also attempting to quantify the associated uncertainties – recognising that no single ‘optimal’ model or approach exists. This role will undertake an assessment of the uncertainties associated with the various modelling approaches, using a range of techniques (e.g. Bayesian, Deep Learning, etc), to develop probabilistic predictions including uncertainty estimates for desired quantities. The candidate will be working closely with Prof. Andrew Parnell, the PIs, Co-PIs and FIs together with other statistical and computational modelling colleagues at MU as well as collaborating institutions to develop an integrated modelling approach to land use Management