CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarship - Hyperspectral Algorithms for Improved Inland Water Quality Monitoring

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The Opportunity

• Are you passionate about a career in research?
• Want to access CSIRO's world-class facilities and staff?
• Apply for a CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarship now!

CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarships provide enhanced opportunities in science and engineering for outstanding graduates enrolling in a PhD at Australian tertiary institutions. Collaborating with us to complete your PhD degree will give your research the edge. We offer you access to our leading scientists, engineers and mentors, the opportunity to take your research to the next level in our first-class facilities and first-hand experience in an environment where our innovative research really is changing the world for the better.

A CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarship is a supplementary award, which adds to the student’s support from a principal scholarship awarded by another body, e.g. RTP scholarship.  In all respects recipients of awards will be regarded as students of the University at which they are registered, and all rules relating to degree candidature and the primary award will apply. In particular, recipients will undertake research at CSIRO as a student of the university concerned and will not be employees of CSIRO.

CSIRO Environment conducts research that is dedicated to addressing the challenges and opportunities of the environmental sector, now and into the future. From oceans to coasts to land to atmosphere to climate, we aim to deliver solutions that support the resilient and sustainable management of our natural resources fundamental to Australia's development and prosperity.

The Aquatic Remote Sensing Team uses in-situ and satellite Earth Observation data across a wide range of spatial, spectral and temporal scales, to answer larger questions concerning physical processes driving sediment loads, eutrophication, primary production, marine and atmospheric pollution, carbon fluxes as well as water quality and benthic habitat dynamics.

The team’s core expertise couples field optical and bio-geochemical observations with radiative transfer models to develop robust physics-based inversion algorithms for water quality and benthic habitat mapping in optically deep and shallow aquatic environments, ranging from open ocean to complex coastal and inland waters. The team currently has a diverse portfolio of projects ranging from coastal water quality monitoring, the detection of harmful algal blooms and marine oil spills to a range of calibration and validation (Cal/Val) activities of new ocean colour sensors including citizen science.

We are making a significant contribution to the AquaWatch Australia Mission which aims to develop a water quality monitoring and forecasting system for Australia based on in situ sensing and satellite observations. Hyperspectral observations will play a significant part in the Mission at both water surface and satellite scales and lend themselves to resolving the spectral detail needed to retrieve water quality parameters.

Project Title:  Hyperspectral algorithms for improved inland water quality monitoring.

Project Details: 

Accurate estimates of chlorophyll a and other algal pigments are required to validate, train and parameterise data driven and deterministic models for reliable prediction of future algal bloom events and potential species. We are increasingly able to monitor at high spectral resolution from space (e.g. EMIT, Prisma), drones (imaging spectrometers) and in situ devices (e.g. HydraSpectra ). We are interested to hear from students who are using data from a range of sources (including radiative transfer modelling), implementing physics based and data driven approaches to algorithms, and validating results using acquisitions of new data (drone, Hydraspectra, satellite). The student may also be exploring the translation of results to multispectral satellite data.

Contact:  For more information on the research project please contact Tim Malthus on 07 3833 5583 or email tim.malthus@csiro.au

Location: Brisbane, QLD or Canberra, ACT (preferred).

Scholarship: Top-Up Scholarship of $10,000 per annum, plus a learning and development budget of $5,000 over the term of the studentship

Tenure: 3 years

Reference: 94279

Eligibility:

To be eligible to apply you must have (or expect to gain):

• first or upper second-class honours or equivalent in a relevant research area;
• admission to an Australian University as a PhD student;
• hold an appropriate visa to study in Australia (if international)*
• be no further than one year (FTE) into a PhD on commencing at CSIRO
• hold a primary scholarship; for example, a Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship or other primary scholarship of similar value
• not be in receipt of any other Top-Up Scholarship
• a university supervisor who is willing and able to supervise you; and
• be available to commence with CSIRO no later than 30 June 2024.

* International applicants must be residing in Australia and have the appropriate immigration approvals to allow them to take up the scholarship. 

Applications will be assessed on:

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How to apply:

You will be required to:

If you experience difficulties applying online call 1300 984 220 and someone will be able to assist you. Outside business hours please email: careers.online@csiro.au .

Applications Close

1 November 2023, 11:00pm AEDT