We are currently seeking a PhD Candidate to join our Efficient Use of Water in Agriculture Program team located in Lleida, offering a great opportunity to work in a dynamic and collaborative environment within our organization.

We invite applications from motivated candidates with passion and a strong interest in conducting research and innovation activities on crop modeling, remote sensing, and computer vision to predict crop yields under climate change and water scarcity scenarios (YIELD4CAST project).

This PhD project will focus on applying innovative technologies to predict yield in woody crops such as vineyards and apple orchards. The research will leverage the use of mechanistic crop models, remote sensing, sensors and computer vision. Remote sensing imagery will be acquired from both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and satellite platforms, and surface energy balance models will be used to obtain evapotranspiration (ET); computer vision and machine learning techniques will also be used to identify and count fruits.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Collect and analyze data from diverse sources, including plant- and soil-based sensors, images, 3D point clouds, remote sensing, environmental variables, physiological measurements, and management records.
• Conduct fieldwork to measure physiological and biophysical variables in vineyards.
• Gain experience with crop models, with the main objective to predict yield.
• Implement computer vision techniques to identify and count fruits (e.g., vine bunches, apples)
• Process high- and low-resolution imagery and model crop evapotranspiration (ET) using the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) approach.
• Contribute to the development and validation of methodologies for yield estimation and forecasting.
• Write and publish scientific manuscripts to contribute to the PhD thesis.
• Participate in dissemination and communication activities, including presentations at scientific conferences, stakeholder events, and collaborative workshops.
  

Required qualifications and experience

• Candidates must hold both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in one of the following fields:
  
  • Agricultural Science, Forestry Engineering, Environmental Sciences or related fields. In this case, candidates must demonstrate motivation to learn about new technologies and programming.
  • Bioinformatics, Biosystems engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Vision or related fields. In this case, candidates must demonstrate motivation to learn about physiology and agronomy.
    
• Willingness to conduct agronomic and field work.
  
• Driver’s license
• Strong teamwork skills, ability to adapt to multidisciplinary environments and a focus on professional growth and development.

Desirable requirements

• Previous experience in crop modelling would be an advantage
  
• Programming skills – preferably in Python
  
• Experience or knowledge in crop physiology and soil-plant-atmosphere relations applied to woody crops.
  
• Experience or knowledge on the use of crop models and remote sensing, particularly on the use of surface energy balance models to estimate ET
  
• Competence with machine learning, computer vision and/or statistical analysis
  
• Experience in field work
  
• Proficiency in English
  
• Catalan and Spanish are valued.
  

Advantages of joining our team:

• Supervisor/s: Joaquim Bellverd Rios and Jordi Gené Mola
• Terms of appointment: 4 years
• Contract: The financial remuneration for the PhD Candidate contract will be €1,363.10/gross per month (19,083.40./gross per annum) and for the first and second years. For this third year, it will be €1,460.46/gross per month (€20,446.44/gross per annum) and for the fourth year it will be €1,825.58/gross per month (€25,558.12/gross per annum) which will be subject to the corresponding withholdings, pursuant to prevailing regulations, and to the collective employment agreement of IRTA. IRTA will also pay the fees of the doctoral school when receiving the enrolment. (1)
• 37.5 hour workweek, with Friday afternoons off
• Intensive work schedule from 15/06 to 15/09
• 22 vacation days
• 3 days of family & work conciliation
• 45 hours of personal days
• Flexible Schedule for a good work-life balance.
• Continuous training and professional growth opportunities.

Please know that if you are the chosen candidate and you are from a country which does not belong to the UE, IRTA’s People Department will support you to get the residence and working permits.

Instructions to Apply

If you wish to be considered for this position and believe you meet the requirements, please send your CV and motivation letter.

Equal treatment and opportunities are guaranteed for all candidates in the selection process, avoiding any stereotypes, attitudes, or obstacles based on gender, origin, age, ideology, or other potentially discriminatory conditions. Furthermore, commitments to the inclusion of vulnerable groups are considered, with priority given in the first round to disabled candidates.

Timings in the Recruitment Process

25 natural days: Publication and diffusion of the job advertisement on IRTA’s website and/or social media.

5 following working days: Distribution of the pre-selected CVs to the Recruitment Committee for their evaluation.

20 following working days: Interview and/or tests to the most suitable candidates based on the job position.

Start of contract: 4th trimestre of 2025

⁽¹⁾ The financial remuneration of the PhD Candidate contract may not be less than 56% of the salary established for the category of Research Collaborator F of the Collective Agreement of the IRTA during the first two years, 60% in the third year and 75% in the fourth.

El contrato es parte de la ayuda PID2024-156495OR-C31, financiado por MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 y por el FSE+