Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at the Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Agroecology programme. The position is available from 1 November 2026 or later.
Research area and project description:The Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark, is offering a PhD position in remote sensing for climate-smart agriculture, starting 1 November 2026. The position is available for a 3-year period.
Food security, climate change, and loss of biodiversity represent three of today's major environmental sustainability challenges. Finding solutions to these challenges requires studies that extend across multiple spatial and temporal scales. The Pioneer Center Land-CRAFT was established in June 2022 to undertake fundamental and applied research that addresses these issues. Land-CRAFT brings together experts on climate impact research and process-based modelling of biogeochemistry, agronomy, biology, and geography from Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen, as well as international partners. Field experiments, digital technologies—including modelling and remote sensing—as well as interactions with stakeholders, are key components of Land-CRAFT.
Climate-smart agriculture aims to provide innovative solutions to improve crop production, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen agroecosystem resilience to climate extremes. Timely, high-resolution information on agroecosystem dynamics is critical for unlocking the complex interactions among crops, management activities, and environmental factors.
This project aims to develop novel remote sensing algorithms and a knowledge-guided machine learning framework to monitor crop nitrogen, agroecosystem productivity, and greenhouse gas fluxes for climate-smart agriculture. The remote sensing-derived information will be used to inform climate-smart agriculture practices and policies for Danish and EU wheat cropping systems. In this project, the PhD student will work on the following tasks.
(1) To develop novel remote sensing algorithms to integrate soil-vegetation radiative transfer models and deep learning into knowledge-guided machine learning, to quantify crop productivity, nitrogen status, and yield from satellite remote sensing at the regional or global scale. The candidate will leverage a diverse suite of remote sensing modalities (hyperspectral, solar-induced fluorescence, multispectral, thermal infrared, passive and active microwave) across multiple scales.
(2) To assess the potential impacts of climate change and management practices on crop productivity, yield, nutrient use efficiency, and soil carbon sequestration. The candidate will develop remote sensing products to understand spatial and temporal patterns of nutrient and carbon fluxes.
(3) To collaborate with stakeholders, including farmers, policymakers, and researchers, for field data collection and research dissemination. The candidate will work alongside a vibrant team of scientists dedicated to building scalable solutions for sustainable agriculture and net-zero transitions.
This PhD position offers an opportunity to collaborate interdisciplinary with other scientists on cutting-edge research in remote sensing and machine learning for climate-smart agriculture, to enhance agroecosystem productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Qualifications and specific competences:Aarhus Universitet is searching for a highly motivated candidate who has an MSc degree in geoinformatics, remote sensing, agriculture, environmental sciences, data sciences, geography, ecology, or closely related fields.
Demonstrated oral and written communication skills in English are required. The applicant must be able to present results at international conferences and publish in international peer-reviewed journals. The applicant should be enthusiastic about working in an international and interdisciplinary academic environment. Applications from women and people from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged. Furthermore, Aarhus Universitet will prefer candidates with some of the following qualifications:
- Advanced Programming & Big Data: Strong programming skills (preferably in Python) and experience handling large-scale, multi-source remote sensing datasets and cloud-computing platforms.
- Rich experience in satellite remote sensing for crop nitrogen and yield predictions. Good scientific and technical writing skills.
- Strong skills in programming (preferably in Python), large-scale remote sensing data processing, radiative transfer modelling, and deep learning. Direct experience or strong background in deep learning or knowledge-guided machine learning.
- An ability to communicate effectively in English, and contribute to dissemination, teaching, and reporting research outcomes in high-impact scientific journals.
- An ability and interest to collaborate across disciplines.
- Collaborative and interpersonal skills and a positive contribution to the social working environment.
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Ole Worms Allé 3, Aarhus 8000, Denmark.
Contacts:Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:
- Associate Professor Sheng Wang, swan@agro.au.dk (main supervisor)
- Professor Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, klaus.butterbach-bahl@agro.au.dk (co-supervisor)
For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see Aarhus Universitet's application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:
How to apply:Please follow this link to submit your application.
The application deadline is 3 August 2026, 23:59 CEST.
Preferred starting date is 1 November 2026.
Please note:
- Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after the deadline will not be taken into account.
- The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
- Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee will only evaluate the most relevant applications.
Aarhus Universitet's ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all, and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve, and develop. Aarhus Universitet views equality and diversity as assets, and Aarhus Universitet welcomes all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with the applicable collective agreement.
