Phd Machine Learning for Monitoring of North Sea Habitat Characteristics Using Underwater Acoustics

**PhD Machine Learning for Monitoring of North Sea Habitat Characteristics Using Underwater Acoustics**:
**Job description**:
The spatial planning and use of the North Sea over the next 30 years will be fundamentally shaped by the ongoing shift away from fossil (oil and gas) to renewable (primarily wind) energy. In addition, the North Sea will be used for e.g. shipping and military and sand mining activities. At the same time the North Sea is a key eco system that provides habitat to different type of sea life. To secure the requirements for these different activities, while preserving good sea life habitat conditons requires informed spatial planning. Underwater acoustic imaging is a sensing technique that provides detailed (up to dm spatial resolution) information on sea floor characteristics. It provides not only water depth but also details on the compositon of the sea floor. As such, it could provide valuable input for sea floor characterization, that could be directly linked to different habitat types. A challenge however is that underwater acoustic data, allhough widely available, is not available in standard, comparable formats, which hampers the extraction of information in a standardized workflow: data for different areas and times has been acquired using different sensors, while the simultaneous use of data of acoustic measurement systems requires careful tuning.

The research is part of the No-Regrets project which stands for North Sea Renewable Energy: Gaining the Required Ecological Knowledge for the Transition, funded by the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO), and involving different Dutch research institues and stakeholder organizations. Two Delft faculties are involved. The current position is at the advertised faculty due to the group's long term expertise in acoustics and will be carried out in close cooperation between the two faculties and with TNO (The Hague). The project aims to support the North Sea energy transition in a way that is environmentally sustainable, societally equitable, and that safeguards economic viability.

Your duties:

- Definition of suitable sea floor habitat indicators in cooperation with project partners, and linking these indicators to acoustic and possibly other remote sensing data.
- Unification of available data sets using suitable stochastic and machine learning technqiues.
- Fusion of data from different systems data for example using common features extracted by e.g. Fourier, geostatistcs and machine learning.
- Estimation of seafloor habitat indicators from the fused and in situ-enriched dataset, with an emphasis on developing methods for robust change detection and long-term monitoring of habitat dynamics.
- Present your work at international conferences and publish your results in peer-reviewed journals, a GitHub repository and a PhD Thesis.

**Requirements**:
You also have:

- MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering, Applied Earth Sciences, Remote Sensing, Applied Physics, Computer Sciences, or related discipline.
- Affinity with geospatial data
- Excellent ability to think conceptually and quantitatively;
- Experience with big data processing, statistical analysis, machine learning and visualisation;
- Excellent programming skills, for example in Python or C++;
- Good ability to communicate in English, both orally and in writing;
- Good organisational skills and ability to work independently in a multidisciplinary team of researchers.

**TU Delft**:
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

Challenge. Change. Impact

**Faculty Aerospace Engineering**:

**Conditions of employment**

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to make your move as smooth as possible The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service, offers information on their website to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.

**Additional information**

**Application procedure**
- A Curriculum Vitae that includes (a) your educational record, (b) a list of publications (if any), and (c) work experience (if any).
- A first and concise indication of research questions and the m