PhD Position in Environmental Remote Sensing for Forest Resilience under Climate Change at TU Dresden Technische Universität Dresden in Germany

PhD opportunity in Environmental Remote Sensing at Technische Universität Dresden

The Environmental Remote Sensing group at TU Dresden is recruiting a PhD candidate for a project on forest resilience under climate change. The research focuses on Scots pine forests and investigates how trees respond to drought stress and mistletoe infestation using drone, airborne, and satellite remote sensing, combined with machine learning and field observations.

The position is part of a collaborative project funded by the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation and is hosted at the Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, TU Dresden. The work aims to understand forest health from the individual tree scale to the landscape scale, including mapping stress and infestation dynamics and developing methods to upscale results across spatial scales.

Research keywords: environmental remote sensing, geospatial data science, forest ecosystems, climate change, Scots pine, drought stress, mistletoe infestation, UAV/drone imagery, satellite data, machine learning, forest health.

Eligibility highlights: applicants should hold a relevant scientific university degree in environmental informatics, remote sensing, geoinformatics, geography, geoecology, landscape ecology, forestry, or a comparable field. The post requires experience with automated processing of multispectral satellite or UAV data, experience in forestry or ecological topics, programming skills (e.g. Python or R), and good knowledge of data analysis algorithms and machine learning. A German Class B driving licence is required; first experience in scientific publishing is desirable.

Funding and duration: 48 months, 65% TV-L E13, with the opportunity for own academic qualification (typically a doctorate).

Application deadline: 14 August 2026. Start date: 1 October 2026.

How to apply: Send a complete application with CV, a short statement of qualifications and research interests, and qualification documents. Apply preferably via the TU Dresden SecureMail portal as a single PDF to [email protected]. Postal applications are also accepted at TU Dresden, Institut für Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung, Herrn Prof. Dr. Forkel, Dresden.