Postdoctoral fellowship on wildfire behavior in the forests of Western Canada

Position summary

In the context of the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards (CIRTA), I am searching for a prospective postdoctoral fellow currently residing outside of Canada and without any institutional tie to Canada to present as a potential nominee for a CIRTA postdoc. Funding from CIRTA will be complemented with infrastructure funds from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Government of Alberta to design, purchase, and deploy a state-of-the art UAV-LiDAR based remote sensing platform. The postdoctoral fellow will be expected to lead this process of equipment acquisition and direct a series of field campaigns, aided by undergraduate and/or graduate student assistants.

Research Focus

Every year wildfires are major occurrence across Alberta and across Canada. Fires lead to the destruction of property, damage infrastructure and productive agricultural and forest lands, and threaten public health through impacts on air quality. Avoiding the worst impacts of wildfires requires better understanding of the three-dimensional characteristics of the forests, woodlands, and grasslands that carry fires. While traditional methods for measuring wildfire fuels are time consuming, destructive, and expensive, emerging technological developments such as Simultaneous Location and Mapping Light Ranging and Detection (SLAM-LiDAR) hold the promise of enabling faster, cheaper, more accurate, and more frequent monitoring of wildfire fuels. The postdoctoral fellow will have access to state-of-the-art ground-based and airborne Terrestrial Laser Scanning and SLAM-LiDAR equipment to develop new methods for wildfire fuel monitoring. The outcomes of this project will be methods and data that may be commercialized and employed in Alberta and beyond to mitigate the greatest impacts of wildfires.

The postdoctoral fellow will lead a project to develop and apply ground-based and airborne LiDAR, along with optical remote sensing, to measure and map the 3D structure of wildfire fuels. This field-based work will be complemented with landscape and regional scale wildfire modeling. The specific goals of the postdoc research are:

1. How can we characterize of wildfire fuels using terrestrial and airborne laser scanning, multispectral imagery, and field survey, assisted by AI-based image recognition for upscaling from the plot to the province?
2. How can we use this information on fuels to model fire behavior at present and under future scenarios of management and climate change?
3. How can we best disseminate the technologies we integrate and methods we develop to practitioners so that they can be widely applied for the benefit of Canadians?

For further details or to discuss your interest before applying, please email me.

Minimum qualifications

• A Ph.D. in ecology, geography, forestry, environmental science, or a related field.

• Fluency in English listening, reading, and writing.

• Ability to work independently, bring your own ideas to the project, and collaborate internationally.

Preferred qualifications

• Demonstrated research experience including peer-reviewed publications in your field of expertise.

• Skills in GIS, cartography, and statistcal analysis.

• Evidence of teamwork and horizontal leadership.

• Experience with airborne, spaceborne, and ground-based remote sensing techniques.

Location and start date

This position requires full-time, in-person presence at the University of Calgary main campus, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Secondments with project partners elsewhere in North America may be part of the work.

The starting date for this position will be during 2026 and will be subject to funding availability and arrangement with the selected candidate.

Funding and support

This position includes a competitive salary based on skills and experience that may be augmented with additional fellowships, and includes support for travel, conferences, and other research expenses. The successful candidate will receive initial funding for a period of 2 years, that may be renewed contingent on satisfactory progress and funding.

How to apply

Applicants should submit the following materials as a single PDF file at this link:

• A one-page statement describing your research interests and experience, and career goals.

• A short CV that includes a list of your relevant research skills and background.

• A link to download an example of your research work, e.g., journal article, book chapter, thesis, etc.

• Scans of your IELTS (Academic), TOEFL, or equivalent language test results, if English is not your mother tongue.

Informal inquiries by email in advance of applying are welcome.

Assessment criteria and other qualifications

Consideration will be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant’s experience and skills complement and strengthen ongoing research within the research group, and how they stand to contribute to its future development.

Review of applications will commence on 15 January 2026 and continue until the position is filled.

Please note that due to the high number of applications received only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.