Research Associate (Socially Responsible Earth Observation)
Location: Oxford Road campus, Manchester, UK
Contract: Fixed term, up to 24 months, 35 hours/week
Salary: £37,694 to £42,254 per annum depending on experience
Start: Early 2027, with some flexibility
Closing date: 8 November 2026 (midnight)
Join the IrrEO project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2025–2029), which is developing satellite-based irrigation mapping tools for governments and development actors in Sub-Saharan Africa. Earth Observation enables agricultural mapping at ever larger scales and finer resolutions, but it also carries social risks, from imperfect representations driving poor decisions to marginalised people being made visible in ways that could harm them.
Your role
- Lead the development of guidance for the socially responsible development and use of EO-based agricultural mapping in small-scale farming systems
- Catalogue existing scholarship and frameworks on the ethical and equitable use of EO in agricultural mapping
- Carry out document-based and qualitative interview research on the risks to farmers and farming communities in different socio-political and agricultural contexts
- Devise and share strategies for socially responsible EO-based agricultural monitoring with the IrrEO partners
Environment
You will work with PI Prof. Tim Foster (Department of Civil Engineering and Management) and Co-I Dr. Rose Pritchard (Global Development Institute), alongside the Just Earth Observation for Conservation (JEOC) project. The role involves collaboration with partners in Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia and engagement with the World Bank and the Gates Foundation.
Benefits
- Generous employer pension contribution
- 29 days annual leave plus bank holidays and Christmas closure
- Ride to work and EV car schemes
