Postdoc in UAV/Drones for Real-Time Data Processing in Agriculture

As a researcher with a PhD, do you want to apply your passion for agricultural robotics as a Postdoctoral Researcher to contribute to a more sustainable world? Do you want to join an ambitious and young team that will build an adaptable aerial-ground robotic system for farm management?

The Postdoctoral Researcher will work within the context of the 2-years H2020 project FLEXIGROBOTS (Twitter, LinkedIn)and contribute towards the development of an autonomous fleet of UAVs that will collaboratively look for diseases in the grapevines from a wide vineyard in Spain. You will work with UAVs/Drones, edge computing and machine/deep learning, in collaboration with international and national knowledge institutes and companies.

Your work will be conducted mainly at Information Technology Group, in the Social Artificial Intelligent Drones (SAID) Lab at Wageningen University (NL). You will also engage in field tests of the developed technology and develop algorithms for (near) real-time processing of UAVs/drones data in an agricultural field.

We seek a motivated candidate who has:

• a PhD in Robotics, Remote sensing, Computer Science, or Engineering;
• expertise in UAV/Drones;
• expertise processing multispectral and LIDAR data;
• excellent programming skills in Python and/or Matlab;
• experience in national and international research projects;
• good oral and writing communication skills in English.

Furthermore, it is a plus when you have also:

• experience with DJI SDK;
• experience with ROS;
• knowledge of embedded systems;
• experience in agricultural robotics;
• a PhD obtained in the last 3 years.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between €2.836,- and €4.474,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10).

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the "Best University" in the Netherlands for the 16th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees. Applicants from abroad moving to the Netherlands may qualify for a special tax relief, known as the 30% ruling. Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.
Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling, and other issues.

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University and Research is "To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life". Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With its roughly 30 branches, 6.800 employees and 12.900 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen's unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.

These are the points our employees list as good reasons to come work at WUR: read the 5 reasons to come work at WUR

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.