Research Associate CarbonARA

£47,379 per annum including London Weighting Allowance
Fixed term contract until 31 July 2028

About Us

The postholder will work on the Carbon Amazon Rainforest Activity (CarbonARA) project, researching processes and signatures of the Brazilian Amazon related to GHG emissions and take-up. The project is funded by the European Space Agency and led by the Earth Observation and Wildfire Research Group at King's College London (), part of the NERC National Centre for Earth Observation (). The Group is located within King's Department of Geography, part of the School of Global Affairs, and comprises a mix of research and technical staff with backgrounds in Physics, Computer Science, Physical Geography, Engineering and other scientific and technical subjects. The postholder will also join the Leverhulme Wildfire Centre at King's ().

About the role

We wish to recruit a project scientist at King's who will strengthen the existing CarbonARA team working on this international, multi-year remote sensing and in situ measurement and research effort funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI). The aim of CarbonARA is to collect and analyse new data to improve understanding of greenhouse gas emissions and take-up and related environmental processes across a vitally important region of the Amazon: .

Research is happening across CarbonARA's focus areas:

1. Landscape Scale (non-Fire) GHG Fluxes;
2. Vegetation Processes and Carbon Storage;
3. Landscape Fire Magnitude, Emissions and Impact.
4. Satellite Product Calibration and Validation

The postholder will focus their effort on one or more of these areas, depending on skills and experience, but will have opportunities to contribute across all. Data collection has started in 2025 with a field and airborne remote sensing/in situ measurement campaign and will continue for the next few years. The postholder will assist with future data collection, analysis and interpretation - and in the use of the already collected datasets - ultimately delivering scientific outputs in the form of project report contributions, presentations and peer-reviewed publications in the CarbonARA focus areas. They will report to the CarbonARA PI, Professor Martin Wooster, and will collaborate closely across the project with the UK team and with overseas partners in Europe and Brazil. A willingness to travel to Brazil on fieldwork and for other project activities is essential to the role.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until July 2028 with the possibility of extension subject to funding availability and satisfactory performance.

We wish to appoint a candidate who can start as soon as possible, and no later than September 2026. Please confirm your availability to meet this requirement in your personal statement.

Research staff at King's are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers , applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. PhD qualified in relevant subject area or have submitted their PhD thesis by the time the post is taken-up (appointed on G5 grade until thesis award).
2. Experienced in coding for environmental research and in collection and/or use of one or more CarbonARA data types.
3. Research experience in a field highly relevant to one or more of the CarbonARA focus areas, ideally bringing new skills and experience to the project team at King's.
4. Ability to communicate clearly orally and in writing -delivering high quality progress reports and peer-reviewed publications.
5. Ability to problem-solve, manage and combine large datasets to address scientific questions.
6. Pro-active nature, demonstrating drive and enthusiasm to deliver high quality work and outputs, with ability to progress on tasks alone as necessary but ultimately as part of a collaborative team.
7. Willingness to travel and contribute to CarbonARA field work in Brazil, and preparatory activities in the UK where needed, including airborne research activities as necessary.

Desirable criteria

1. Understanding of thermal and optical remote sensing of vegetation and use of this technique to deliver scientific returns.
2. Experience in overseas fieldwork, and in working with technical equipment and technical staff.
3. Skills/experience in tropical forest or carbon/GHG flux science.
4. Experience in airborne remote sensing data analysis.
5. Ability to speak Portuguese would be desirable but not necessary.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

Closing date: 8 June 2026