UM6P CEDOC- College of Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Science: Assessment of Carbon - Benguerir

Summary of the subject:  Like many other African countries, Morocco is facing the challenge of climate change which is expected to have significant impacts on its agricultural sector. Indeed, Morocco is already experiencing the impacts of climate change, including increased temperatures, decreased precipitation, and more frequent and severe droughts, the decrease in crop yields and increased in soil erosion associated with drought. One way to mitigate the impacts of climate change is through carbon sequestration in agricultural soil, which is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in natural or artificial sinks. Thus, carbon sequestration has the potential to not only mitigate climate change but also improve soil health and consequently increase agricultural productivity. In Morocco, carbon sequestration can be used as a crucial strategy for achieving sustainable development goals through various appropriate cropland management practices. This proposed research will aim to develop advanced models and estimation techniques to assess and optimize carbon sequestration in agricultural potential in Moroccan agriculture under different conditions (i.e., semi-arid and arid) using proximal and remote sensing and multi-sensors, GIS, geostatistical and advanced modelling approaches.

The selected PhD candidate will part of a multidisciplinary team, with experts in soil science agriculture, and remote sensing; and he/she will be in charge of (i) the evaluation and quantification of the current carbon sequestration potential of agricultural practices in arid and semi-arid regions of Morocco; (ii) the develop remote sensing techniques for monitoring key carbon sequestration indicators, such as vegetation biomass and soil organic carbon content; and (iii) the identification of efficient agricultural practices and systems that will have a high potential in increasing organic carbon in soils.

Responsibilities and Planned tasks: 

• A systematic review of existing knowledge in this area of research and identification of current research gaps.
• Conduct research activities and soil field work survey.
• Collect datasets that will be used to calibrate and evaluate machine learning models to estimate soil organic carbon using remote and proximal datasets and other geospatial covariates.
• Prepare and write technical reports both in French and English.
• Publish research findings in national and international conferences and in highly ranked peer-reviewed journals.

Required Skills for he position:  The candidate must have:

• Master's degree or equivalent degree (i.e., engineer) in Soil Science, Agronomy, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Remote Sensing, and/or a related discipline
• An appropriate scientific background allowing him/her to deal with research questions, being able to mobilize the main approaches available in the field.
• Sufficient scientific and methodological hindsight to understand the level of relevance of research approaches and to be able to combine them in an astute way in the analysis, definition, and resolution of project problems.
• A minimum experience (professional and/or research) allowing him/her to move forward quickly and efficiently in a bibliographic analysis on a given theme and in the writing of scientific journals and articles.
• Experience with machine learning regression modeling, GIS, remote sensing (RS) image analysis, image processing and analysis, proximal and RS for crop/soil mapping
• Ability to conduct spatial and temporal analysis and manage large databases.
• Experience working in a collaborative research environment and willingness to work within a multidisciplinary group.
• Ability to interact and communicate with farmers and local population is highly required.
• Good communication skills in both English and French.