 School of Earth & Environmental SciencesPhD studentship in Remote Sensing for Disaster Risk Reduction with free/low-cost tools and dataPrimary Supervisor: Dr Richard Teeuw, University of Portsmouth, UK,Secondary Supervisors: Dr Norman Kerle, ITC, NL; and Mr Nick McWilliam, MapAction, UK. Funding from the Leverhume Trust is available for full-time PhD research at the University of Portsmouth for a UK/EU student. Applicants should have a Master's degree in a relevant geoscience discipline. Preference will go to candidates with knowledge and experience of geo-informatics, particularly remote sensing. Disaster Risk Reduction requires a multi-disciplinary approach to assess muti-hazard, multi-vulnerability risk. The methodology being developed and tested in this research specifically involves the use of freely available data, free or open-source software and geo-browsers such as Google Earth - making it particularly useful to low-income countries, the regions that suffer most from natural disasters. Remote sensing, from aircraft or satellites, is a valuable tool for pre-disaster risk assessment: it provides a rapid means of mapping geohazards and the vulnerability of populations, from which the risk of disaster occurring can then be assessed - it also gives scientists access to difficult, sometimes dangerous, terrain. The commercially-available satellite imagery and image processing software used to produce maps of geohazards, vulnerability and disaster risk, is often beyond the budgets of users in low-income countries. However, freely available satellite imagery and image processing software can be downloaded from the Internet. This "free data/free software" approach to mapping geohazards, vulnerability and disaster risk is generally limited to regional, rather than detailed assessments, but an in-depth evaluation has never been made. This research project will examine the effectiveness of the free data/free software approach to mapping disaster risk and provide guidelines on best practice. Study areas in Sri Lanka, affected by the 2004 tsunami, will be examined in this research. Fieldwork experience in tropical and coastal environments would therefore be advantageous, as would experience of disaster relief operations. Candidates should send an application letter, full c.v. and 2 academic references, to: Dr. Richard Teeuw, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Portsmouth, PO1 3QL, UK. Applications should be received by July 1, 2010. Interviews will be held on July 28, with the studentship starting on 1 October 2010. For more information please email: sees.enquiries@port.ac.uk |
