Research Associate in Satellite Imaging for Sustainability, Wellbeing, and Prosperity

Newcastle University - School of Engineering

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Salary: £35,608 to £46,049 per annum.

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On: 23rd September 2025

Closes: 8th October 2025

Job Ref: 28612

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

The Role
This is an exciting opportunity to work within the new Imagery Smart Data Service (Imago: https://imago.ac.uk/), one of a family of data services funded by ESRC's Smart Data Research UK programme. Imago is led by the University of Liverpool and in partnership with Newcastle University. We aim to radically transform the usability, utility, and usage of satellite imagery in social science, public health and policy making. You will work with the team and collaborate with data, distribution and application partners to unlock the potential of satellite imagery to solve some of the most urgent challenges facing the UK - especially where prosperity, wellbeing and sustainability are concerned. You will develop data processing workflows and data products in diverse application areas such as green space, energy or air pollution.

You will work closely with project co-investigator Dr Maria Peppa, other academic co-investigators within Imago, and the service director (Professor Arribas-Bel, Liverpool University), as well as research software engineers and professional support staff, and will be part of the Modelling, Evidence and Policy research group at Newcastle University. The role will be based in the Civil and Geospatial Engineering Discipline in the School of Engineering. Civil and Geospatial Engineering covers research and teaching in Environmental, Future Mobility, Geospatial Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering and Water Engineering. You will have access to a range of Earth Observation and geospatial facilities, including drones, GNSS, and laser scanners as well as spectroradiometer, to support calibration and validation activities.

Further information on the School of Engineering can be found on https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/.

Further information surrounding geospatial research can be found on https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/research/civil-engineering/geospatial-engineering/.

This role is fixed-term for a period of 34 months.

For enquiries, please reach out to Maria-Valasia.Peppa@newcastle.ac.uk.

Key Accountabilities
The successful applicant will work closely with the entire Imago team and a range of key partners, including government, industry and the academic community and will contribute to:

• Acquisition of, and development of, processing workflows for satellite image and other geospatial data, including calibration and pre-processing where required.
• Undertaking research utilising satellite imagery (e.g. Sentinel, Landsat, and higher resolution commercial imagery) in substantive areas related to wellbeing, sustainability, and prosperity.
• Working with Research Software Engineers and Earth Observation experts to explore, develop and deploy machine learning and deep learning models applied to satellite imagery.
• Development of open data products for use by wider research and policy communities, as well as the Imago team.
• Contribution to the development of open-source software and educational materials.
• Development and writing of academic articles for publication in internationally renowned journals.
• Disseminating Imago results to technical and non-technical audiences.