New PDRA position in IDEAMAPS and UBDC, University of Glasgow

Riceviamo da Francesco Adamo e volentieri diffondiamo:

“We are advertising a new postdoc position to analyse urban slums in Africa by using AI and earth observation, particularly in Nigeria and Kenya. The project is funded by the Gate Foundation. Feel free to pass it over to anyone who will be interested in applying. The deadline is on 4th March and we have the initial contract of 18 months.

Here is the link: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DFX922/research-associate

We have an opportunity for a Research Associate to make a leading contribution to the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) by working on the IDEAMAPS data ecosystem project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The IDEAMAPS project will co-design and develop a participatory data-modelling ecosystem to produce deprived area maps routinely and accurately at scale across cities in lower-middle-income countries (LMIC) to support multiple local stakeholders in their decision-making.

As a Research Associate, you will work with stakeholders and our multidisciplinary team to develop methods and digital tools to combine artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of earth observation data with community mapping and engagement to improve how we define and understand areas of deprivation (“including so-called slums”) in cities. The project will integrate multiple public, official, and community-generated datasets to produce granular surface maps of deprived areas across the pilot cities of Kano and Lagos (Nigeria) and Nairobi (Kenya) in the first phase.

This is an opportunity to develop your leadership skills and work on cutting-edge research with significant societal impact, working closely with Professor João Porto de Albuquerque, Dr. Qunshan Zhao and the IDEMAPS network (in particular with Dr. Dana Thompson and Dr. Monika Kuffer from ITC/University of Twente).

The job requires expert knowledge in urban analytics, remote sensing and geospatial statistics, as well as substantiated knowledge of machine-learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods applied to Earth Observation geospatial data (e.g., satellite imagery, sensors, street view images), alongside an interest in doing participatory research to tackle social and spatial inequalities.

Informal enquiries about the role are welcomed, and should be addressed to Dr Qunshan Zhao (Qunshan.Zhao@glasgow.ac.uk) or  Professor Joao Porto de Albuquerque (Joao.Porto@glasgow.ac.uk).”