5 PhD Positions in Precision Agriculture, Ghent University, Belgium (2017)

Addressing food security issues in the light of the rapid population growth is an increasingly important global challenge. More food will have to be produced in the next 50 years than has been over the past 10,000 years (2008 UN sustainable development forum). One way to achieve this is by managing farm resources site specifically using advanced technologies in precision agriculture. Precision agriculture technologies play an important role in addressing the conflict between producing more whilst operating within a sustainable framework.

Fully funded 5 PhD scholarships in Precision Agriculture are available in Precision Soil and Crop Engineering Group (SiTeMan), within the Department of Soil Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering in Ghent University (UGent) in Belgium. We are looking for top MSc students, to work as PhD candidates under a recently funded project by the Flemish Scientific Research (FWO) under the Odysseus I call for proposal 2016, with a total budget of €3.5 M: Towards Establishing a Centre of Site-specific Technology for Soil and Crop Management. The aim of the project is to establish a research platform combining cutting-edge soil and crop sensors, modelling and system control technology for managing farm resources (seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, water, and manure) site-specifically, with the final goal of establishing a precision agriculture centre in Flanders.

Profile of the candidate

The candidate should fulfil the following requirements:

- Have or will soon have a MSc degree in Agriculture Engineering, Biosystems Engineering, Agronomy, Mechatronics Engineering or Mechanical Engineering.
- Should have knowledge in the use of basic engineering software and modelling languages, such as, MATLAB Toolbox, LabVIEW, DaisyLab, AutoCAD, or C++…..
- Desirable to have knowledge in sensing technologies, modelling and control theory.
- Good contextual understanding of agricultural systems, precision agriculture and the ability to work in the field with agriculture machinery.
- The candidate should have a high level of proficiency in English sufficient to communicate effectively with colleagues and write papers and reports.
- Good practical problem solver / Ability to find appropriate solutions to academic and technical problems.
- Ability to work as a member of a team within a dynamic research group.

Further details:
http://academicpositions.eu