Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Spatial Mapping of Intertidal Mussel Beds and Coastal Ecology National Research Foundation South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity in South Africa

Exciting postdoctoral research fellowship at the National Research Foundation South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (NRF-SAIAB) in Makhanda/Grahamstown, South Africa.

The Coastal and Ocean Sciences Team (COST) is recruiting for a project on the spatial mapping of South African intertidal mussel beds. The fellowship is part of Operation IMBAsA: Imagining Blue Carbon Alternatives for Climate Action, with a strong focus on coastal ecology, blue carbon science, conservation, and climate adaptation.

The successful candidate will work on estimating mussel cover across selected South African rocky intertidal habitats by integrating traditional ecological surveys, drone/aerial photogrammetry, high-resolution imagery, 3D photogrammetric modelling, sentinel-2 satellite imagery, and historical mussel abundance data. The role also involves spatial and statistical analyses across mixed datasets and may include developing and validating machine learning classifiers for ecological mapping and monitoring.

Applicants should have expertise in coastal or marine ecology, remote sensing and GIS, spatial ecology, machine learning/deep learning applications in environmental science, and/or quantitative methods. Experience with QGIS, Pix4DMapper, R, or Python is advantageous. The advert also highlights strong analytical and quantitative skills, scientific writing and publication experience, the ability to work independently and within an interdisciplinary research team, and willingness to conduct fieldwork on rocky shores.

This is a postdoctoral research fellowship, initially for one year and renewable for a second year subject to performance and funding availability. The position is based at NRF-SAIAB in Makhanda, South Africa. The deadline for submission is 10 June 2026.

To apply, candidates should email a CV with names of two professional references, a copy of their doctorate certificate, and a letter of motivation to Prof. Francesca Porri at [email protected].