PostDoc position – Seafloor Mapping & ML-Driven Habitat Analyses

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel is a foundation under public law jointly financed by the Federal Republic of Germany (90%) and the State of Schleswig-Holstein (10%). It is one of the internationally leading institutions in the field of marine research.

Through our research and our commitment to the transfer of knowledge and technology, we contribute significantly to the preservation of the function and protection of the ocean for future generations. We are thus looking for a marine geologist, sedimentologist, geophysicist or similar with a strong knowledge in seafloor mapping, optical seafloor investigations, habitat analyses and statistical analyses including different machine learning approaches.

Starting on February 1st 2025.

Job Description

The seafloor is a very large habitat on Earth and is studied with hydroacoustic, optical and direct sensor measurements from small (m to mm) to large (km to m) with point and spatially extensive data sets. Typically, ship-based MBES surveys are the basis for subsequent seafloor observations including AUV-based MBES/SSS surveys or optical investigations. Linked with detailed analyses of the acquired image data (e.g. detection, identification and quantification of fauna, mineral resources, or anthropogenic objects) the group tries to quantify e.g. the occurrence of Mn-nodules or megafauna distribution in deep sea areas or of anthropogenic objects in shallow waters as the Baltic and North Sea (e.g. munition objects, critical infrastructure). To continue this direction and to strengthen the long-term perspectives of the group, we are looking for an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who can support the PI of the group in evolving ongoing and starting new research directions, support the group with know-how and apply for additional funding to establish his own small research group. In general, you are very keen on linking seafloor geological settings with environmental conditions and biological fauna distribution for describing and analyzing marine geology, ecosystems and habitats from coastal areas down to the deep sea. We are looking for a young scientist eager to start his own research career as part of a well-established seafloor monitoring group.

Required qualifications, you have:

• a Master’s degree in a geoscience field and hold a PhD in marine geosciences (or similar) by the time of employment
• proven knowledge in statistics, geospatial analysis, and Machine Learning modeling through papers and presentations at international conferences
• acquired experience in international projects and joined research cruises in which you were partly responsible for your own work
• very good skills in GIS (ArcGIS and or QGIS) and scientific software as R for statistical analyses
• worked with MBES bathymetric and backscatter data and you are generally familiar with hydroacoustic mapping techniques as MBES, SSS, SBP and the relevant processing software packages as e.g. MB-Systems, QPS Qimera, or SonarWiz
• gained knowledge in working with AUV-based data, the problems with regards to inaccurate navigation and the resulting spatial shifts between different data layers
• work experience with underwater images through manual image annotation and photo mosaicking (e.g. using Agisoft Metashape) and have a general understanding of computer-based automated image classification and annotation
• very good English skills and some understanding of German; you are willing to improve your German competences (if needed)
• willingness and ability to join research cruises around the world for several weeks in a row

Advantageous qualifications, you have:

• experience in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods for model interpretation and analysis
• a good understanding of marine mineral resources, but are open to apply your skills to other future scientific questions and applications
• experience of working in a multidisciplinary research group and of supervising and guiding master students and/or research assistants (HiWi) to accomplish their tasks, projects and goals
• experience in scientific data management through publication of data in public repositories such as PANGEA or similar

GEOMAR is a workplace directly on the Kiel Fjord with many leisure and recreational opportunities, we offer:

• interesting science and access to large scale infrastructure at GEOMAR, as well as the opportunity to apply for ship time for studies all around the world
• an active, friendly and supportive working group with international members with expertise in geology, geochemistry, computer science, sea going technology and robotic applications with AUVs
• strong knowledge of national and international project application systems to support your own individual or project proposals
• good conditions for work-life balance: We offer, among other things, the possibility of mobile working and individual working time arrangements, vacation courses for the children of our employees, and good support in finding a place in a daycare center at the Kiel site
• support services for professional and personal life situations
• 30 vacation days + additional time off at Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve
• company pension plan and capital-forming benefits

This is an offer for a three-year position. The salary depends on qualification and could be up to the class 13 TVöD-Bund of the German tariff for public employees. This is a full-time position. The fixed-term contract shall comply with Section 2 Paragraph 1 of The Act of Academic Fixed-Term Contract (German WissZeitVG).

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel seeks to increase the proportion of female scientists and explicitly encourages qualified female academics to apply. GEOMAR is an equal opportunity employer and encourages scientists with disabilities to apply. Qualified disabled applicants will receive preference in the application process.

Please send your application for this post not later than 15^th October 2024 under the following link:

Online application

As soon as the selection procedure has finished, all your application data will be removed according to data protection regulation.

For further information regarding the position and research unit please contact Prof. Dr. Jens Greinert (jgreinert(at)geomar.de ).

We will answer all your questions if you send us an e-mail to bewerbung(at)geomar.de. In doing so, please refer to the keyword “DSM-Habitat”.

For further information on GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel or the Helmholtz Association, please visit www.geomar.de or www.helmholtz.de.

GEOMAR is committed to an objective and non-discriminatory personnel selection. Our job advertisements address all people. We expressly renounce the submission of application photos.