Job Description

The Agriculture, Water and Climate Research Group and Manchester Environmental Research Institute (MERI), led by Dr Tim Foster, are seeking to appoint a talented and enthusiastic Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to play a key role in delivering an exciting new investment project (IrrEO) that will satellite-based irrigation mapping tools for governments and development actors in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).


Expanding irrigation is critical for climate adaptation and improving food security in SSA. Yet, the ability to design and implement sustainable and cost-effective irrigation investments remains constrained by a lack of data on the current extent of irrigation and how irrigated areas have responded to past investments. The IrrEO project seeks to address this major knowledge gap by leveraging advances in Earth Observation (EO) and data science techniques to develop EO mapping tools and capacity that empower governments, financing and development actors with information to target, monitor, and assess irrigation investments.


As part of the IrrEO project, the PDRA will lead the development and validation of national-scale irrigated area and agricultural mapping algorithms in two of the project's three case study countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya). The PDRA's work will combine extensive groundtruth data collected by local field teams, Earth Observation imagery (SPOT, Sentinel-1 and -2, Landsat), and machine and deep learning techniques to quantify historic dynamics of small-scale irrigated agriculture and develop an interactive irrigation mapping toolbox for government and end users. Leveraging mapping data generated by this research, the PDRA will then collaborate with social science specialists at UoM and in-country research partners to target in-depth field investigations of irrigation hotspots to deepen understanding of the drivers and socio-economic outcomes of (un)successful small-scale irrigation initiatives.


The PDRA will be an integral member of the IrrEO project team, working closely with Principal Investigator Dr. Tim Foster (Department of Civil Engineering and Management), Co-Investigators Dr. Polyanna da Conceicao Bispo (Department of Geography) and Dr. Rose Pritchard (Global Development Institute), as well as two other PDRAs (remote sensing and social science) and a dedicated project manager, all based at the University of Manchester. The role also involves close collaboration with academic and non-academic partners in the project's case study countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and Ethiopia) and active engagement with UK and international partners including Airbus, the World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


The IrrEO project is funded by a four-year (2025-2029) investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Due to the nature of the funding, this post is available for a fixed term of up to 36 months in the first instance. We are looking for a candidate to start in either late 2025 or early 2026, with some flexibility over the exact start date.


What you will get in return:

Fantastic market leading Pension scheme Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays Additional paid closure over the Christmas period Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers

As an equal opportunities employer we support an inclusive working environment and welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.


Our University is positive about flexible working you can find out more here


Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.

Please be aware that due to the number of applications we are unfortunately not able to provide individual feedback on your application.

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.


Any CV's submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.


Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:


Name: Dr Tim Foster, Reader in Water-Food Security and Director of Manchester Environmental Research Institute (MERI)


Email: timothy.foster@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:

Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support:

https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Please see the link below for the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria.