DURHAM UNIVERSITY: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Geography

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the field of quantitative geomorphology who will work on cascading landslide and flood hazards in the Garhwal Himalaya, India. The research project “Dynamic Risks for Cascading Himalayan Hazards” is funded by NERC and the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences and involves UK researchers at Edinburgh, Durham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Bristol, and York; and Indian researchers at IIT Kanpur, Doon, OP Jindal Global, Sikkim, NGRI, and NCESS. The project aims to co-produce, with stakeholders, the first quantitative understanding of the dynamic risk associated with landslide mechanisms that generate unstable sediment storage (or “sediment bombs”) within mountain systems, the processes that trigger downstream sediment release in hyperconcentrated flows, and the impact that this has on subsequent flood inundation down the river network.

The successful applicant will be expected to quantify sediment flux to rivers from both shallow and deep landslides using remote sensing imagery, automated landslide detection algorithms, and empirical modelling. They will compare the locations and volumes of landslide sediment flux to sediment bombs mapped within the river network. They will be expected to use machine learning classification of fluvial systems to generate a time-series of sediment erosion and deposition from optical satellite imagery. These data will be an essential component of the wider project which aims to explore how landslide-derived sediment and sediment bomb accumulation and release modifies flood inundation and therefore dynamic risk for the Alaknanda catchment. The successful applicant will work closely with Dr. David Milledge at Newcastle University on landslide sediment flux quantification. They will also be expected to participate in wider team meetings and workshops which will be held both in the UK and in India.