9 PhD Scholarships in GIScience, Salzburg, Austria

9 Doctoral Positions in GIScience - Doctoral College, Salzburg, Austria

GIScience - Geographic Information Science

University of Salzburg, Austria

Doctoral College - DK-GIScience

Announcement of 9 Doctoral Positions

Geographic Information Science (GIScience) as an interdisciplinary field seeks to understand the nature of geographic phenomena and of geographic information. This doctoral college (DK for the German abbreviation used by the Austrian Science fund) advances formalized doctoral education and research training in GIScience at the University of Salzburg by integrating PhD students with focused research clusters. The DK seeks to conceptualize spatial principles and to explore scientific, educational, and policy-related uses of geographic information in order to analyze the complex relationships between individuals and society. It provides a framework for explicitly spatial scientific studies of physical and social phenomena. Three interconnected, interdisciplinary, research clusters have been defined. Representations and Data Models is focused on research into the conceptual modelling of space, spatial features and phenomena, and provides a spatial view of various categories of physical and abstract information objects in order to reveal the potential power of the 'spatial perspective'. Time and Process research will leverage the increasing availability of real-time sensor data, the importance of process-oriented modelling, and will address the need for temporal modelling beyond simple discrete time slices. Spatialization, Media and Society considers user perspectives and utilizes geospatial communication as a hypotheses generator for geospatial research: cognitive processes lead to mental maps which are highly relevant for actions, which in turn modify physical and societal spaces.
Concepts of spatial thinking and spatial theory are the lynchpin of this innovative cross-cutting field of research. The research clusters are logically linked, provide structure and direction for the research topics addressed, and define operational working groups for collaboration across PhD topics. Research clusters are critically important building blocks for workflows and information processing chains based on geospatially referenced information. Salzburg is an established hotspot for GIScience research and a well-known trademark in research and education, and combines University (Dept. of Geography and Geology) with non-university research (collaborating with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Salzburg Research and research studio iSPACE). The Centre for Geoinformatics Salzburg (Z_GIS) is a flagship institution dedicated to research and postgraduate education. Since 1994, more than 750 students have graduated from the successful MSc program UNIGIS GIScience, the basis of a strong alumni culture.
Supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the program offers 9 scholarships for doctoral researchers at the Paris Lodron University Salzburg
The positions are in accordance with the regulations of the FWF (www.fwf.ac.at) and the gross salary is 26.278.- Euro per year, regardless of age and family situation. Contracts will be awarded for three years with an extension option of several months under defined circum stances. It is foreseen to spend one semester at one of 22 pre-selected partner Universities worldwide. Candidates need to choose from the following list of 9 topics while providing a first choice and a second (alternative) choice. Detailed descriptions of the topics can be found at http://www.uni-salzburg.at/giscience.

PI / supervisor
- R/M-1 T. Blaschke: Incorporating LiDARscapes in an OBIA framework
- R/M-2 L. Schrott: Visualisation of landforms and geomorphic process domains using regional data sets – creating a digital geomorphological map of the European Alps
- R/M-3 R. Marschallinger: 3D modelling and simulation of sediment structures in overdeepened alpine basins and implications for hydro(geo)logical modelling
- R/M-4 F. Neubauer: 3D Structure of major fault zones and its application in engineering geology and geothermics
- T/P-1 J. Strobl: Spatial System Dynamics: Simulation for Decision Support
- T/P-2 A. Koch: Spatial Simulation of Urban Segregation Processes
- T/P-3 E. Beinat: Geo-spatial models for collective sensing
- S/M-3 S. Reich: Scalability and performance in near-real-time processing of geo-spatial data streams
- S/M-4 M. Leitner: Developing a research framework for criminal geographic profiling

Requirements include the excellent completion of a degree at the Masters level in Geoinformatics, Geomatics, Geography, Computer Science or any scientific/technical subject in a relevant field, and excellent English
language (both oral and writing) skills.

Important dates:
- First Application deadline: 20 April, 2011 (later applications may be considered for a second round of interviews if any positions remain open)
- Selection workshop (for pre‐selected applicants): end of May / early June, 2011
- Start of the program: Late September 2011, start of regular classes: 03 October.
Applicants have to submit the complete scholarship application as detailed at the website from 01 February. Successful candidates will then be invited to start their admission process at the University of Salzburg.
Further information will be forthcoming at http://www.uni-salzburg.at/giscience

For all inquiries, please contact giscience@sbg.ac.at