Job Information
Organisation/Company: Aix-Marseille Université
Research Field: Environmental science » Earth science; Geography » Other; Computer science » Modelling tools; Geosciences » Other; Technology » Remote sensing; Other
Researcher Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2)
Positions: Postdoc Positions
Application Deadline: 10 Nov 2026 - 17:00 (Europe/Paris)
Country: France
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Full-time
Offer Starting Date: 1 Jan 2027
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
Project Description
Hazardous heat is an accelerating threat to human health and economic well-being in West Africa. In Ghana, exposure to hazardous heat is already associated with increased mortality, adverse birth outcomes, and reduced labor productivity. Yet we lack a fine-grained understanding of how hazardous heat varies across space and time, where exposure is greatest, which environmental conditions make heat most hazardous, and how much climate change is driving changes in hazardous heat.
The Heat Extremes & Risk Observatory – Ghana (HERO-GH) project will address these knowledge gaps through a combination of high-resolution meteorological observations, atmospheric modeling, remote sensing, and climate-change attribution. The project will investigate how temperature, humidity, and other meteorological conditions interact with land cover to shape hazardous heat exposure across Ghana and examine how these relationships may change under future climate conditions.
HERO-GH is conducted in partnership with the Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) in Ghana, a leading institution for policy-relevant health research in West Africa.
The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to the monitoring, analysis, and modeling of hazardous heat across Ghana. Depending on the candidate's expertise and interests, the researcher may contribute to one or more of three interconnected work packages:
WP1 – Monitoring hazardous heat: HERO-GH will deploy a network of meteorological sensors across Ghana, including indoor and outdoor monitoring in households, shops, fields, schools, and health clinics. Measurements will characterize the spatial and temporal variability of temperature, humidity, and commonly used heat stress metrics. Observations will also be used to evaluate widely used climate reanalysis and weather forecast products.
WP2 – Land cover, land use, and hazardous heat: Using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) models together with high-resolution land-cover and land-use data, modeling experiments will assess how different land-cover and land-use regimes may reduce or amplify hazardous heat under present and future climates. The work will consider diverse environments across Ghana, including urban, peri-urban, agricultural, and rural settings.
WP3 – Climate-change attribution: The project will develop methods to attribute extreme hazardous heat events in Ghana to anthropogenic climate change. Extreme events will be identified using hourly climate data and analyzed using factual and counterfactual WRF simulations to estimate the influence of anthropogenic climate change on the likelihood and intensity of hazardous heat events.
Position and Responsibilities
We are seeking a highly-qualified postdoctoral researcher for a two-year position, with the possibility of extending the appointment by an additional year (subject to available funding), to contribute to HERO-GH.
The successful candidate will contribute to the development and implementation of HERO-GH research, with responsibilities tailored to their expertise. Activities may include:
- Deployment of in-situ meteorological sensors in Ghana
- Analysis of high-resolution meteorological, climate, and remote-sensing datasets;
- Analysis of spatial and temporal variability in hazardous heat exposure;
- Regional and/or high-resolution atmospheric modeling using WRF;
- Investigation of land-cover and land-use effects on hazardous heat;
- Evaluation of climate reanalysis and weather forecast products;
- Analysis of present and future hazardous heat exposure;
- Development of methods for climate-change attribution of extreme heat events;
- Epidemiological analysis related to heat exposure and health
- Preparation of peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference presentations, and policy engagement
- Collaboration with researchers and public-health scientists in Ghana and France.
The researcher will have the opportunity to work at the intersection of climate science, atmospheric modeling, environmental health, climate adaptation, and policy, with applications to heat early-warning systems and climate-risk assessment in West Africa.
Research environment
The position is based at Faculté des Sciences Médicales et Paramédicales, Campus Timone, Aix-Marseille University (AMU) in Marseille, France. The researcher will join an interdisciplinary research environment focused on climate, environment, and human health and will collaborate closely with researchers and public-health partners at the Kintampo Health Research Centre in Ghana.
HERO-GH will produce peer-reviewed scientific publications and international conference presentations while contributing to capacity building in climate and health research in West Africa. The project will also host an international conference on heat and health focused on West Africa and the Mediterranean.
The position offers an opportunity to develop research on hazardous heat, climate change, and human exposure using observational data, atmospheric modeling, and innovative climate-risk methods, with direct relevance to climate adaptation and public-health planning in Ghana and across West Africa.
This position is based at the research unit SESSTIM (Health Economic and Social Sciences and Medical Information Processing) at the Timone Faculty of Medical and Paramedical Sciences, Marseille, France. SESSTIM works to produce excellent, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in social sciences and public health that can lead to changes in the various fields of predictive, personalized, pre-emptive and participatory medicine. SESSTIM researchers develop, or are associated with, research projects that attempt to provide answers to current challenges facing society and its populations, and contribute to methodological developments and advances. The candidate will work at SESSTIM in the multidisciplinary "Quantitative Methods and Medical Information Processing (QuanTIM) team, comprising researchers in epidemiology and public health, statisticians, biostatisticians, computer scientists and data scientists.
Application Details
Interested candidates are requested to submit, via email, the following, by 11 November 2026 at 05:00PM CET:
- CV, which may include website link, Github or portfolio, if available.
- Letter of motivation, maximum 2 pages, detailing interest in specific project and envisaged contributions.
Where to apply
E-mail: [contact details available in the full listing]
Requirements
We are seeking a highly motivated researcher with a PhD in climate science, atmospheric science, geography, environmental science, environmental health, or a related field.
Candidates should have expertise in several of the following areas:
- Climate variability and change;
- Extreme heat and/or heat exposure;
- Temperature and humidity interactions;
- Atmospheric or regional climate modeling;
- WRF or other atmospheric models;
- Analysis of high-resolution meteorological or climate datasets;
- Remote sensing and/or land-cover and land-use analysis;
- Spatial and statistical analysis and/or mathematical modeling
- Python programming language
- Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) and computationally intensive climate or environmental datasets
Experience with heat stress metrics, WRF, ERA5/ERA5-Land, high-resolution land-surface data, local and/or regional climate modeling, and/or climate-change attribution is desirable.
Experience working across disciplines or with environmental health applications is also desirable, but not required.
The candidate should demonstrate the ability to work independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary and international research environment. Strong scientific writing and communication skills in English are required.
Specific Requirements
- Research experience in extreme heat, heat exposure, and/or heat stress
- Proficiency in Python or a similar scientific programming language
- Strong experience with general or regional circulation models (GCMs/RCMs), WRF, and/or climate reanalysis data
- Experience with high-performance computing (HPC), or cloud-based computationally intensive climate and environmental datasets
- Professional English Fluency
Languages: English
Level: Excellent
Benefits
€2,616.35/month (Gross amount), depending upon qualification and expertise.
Eligibility criteria
PhD in climate science, atmospheric science, geography, environmental science, environmental health, or a related field.
Selection process
Finalists will be contacted for an interview at the start of November, in order to ideally notify a successful candidate by 14 November.
The position start date is 1 January 2027.
Work Location(s)
Number of offers available: 1
Company/Institute: Aix-Marseille Université
Country: France
Postal Code: 13005
Street: 27 Bd Jean Moulin
