Opportunity for International Research Fellow in Deep Reasoning for Earth Observation

Deadline: August 31, 2026 at 23:59 CET

The ESA Φ-lab CIN is now opening applications for visionary researchers and innovators in Transformative Technologies to strengthen ESA Φ-lab’s ongoing and future projects in Earth Observation (EO). Find out more and apply now.

Main Information

🖊️ Position Title: International Research Fellow in Deep Reasoning for Earth Observation

🎓 For: PhD students or postdoctoral researchers in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.

🌏 Nationality: this position is reserved for individuals of Indian nationality.

📍Location: ESA Φ-lab, ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. (relocation is mandatory - ESA will support visa processes)

📅 Starting: The position is available to start in September 2026 and will last for 12-18 months.

Introduction and Context

This opportunity is in the context of the European Space Agency (ESA) Φ-lab Collaborative Innovation Network (CIN), an initiative to foster collaborations among Earth Observation and Transformative Technologies experts. The CIN was created with the aim of attracting high-level researchers, distinguished advisors and key leaders in the above-mentioned fields to the ESA Φ-lab at the ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN), Frascati, Italy.

ESA Φ-lab is the division of ESA with the mission to accelerate the future of EO by means of transformational innovation, i.e., innovations with the potential to create or transform industries via new technologies, thereby strengthening the global competitiveness of the European EO industrial and research sectors.

Pi School, which operates in the field of AI and research innovation and has numerous academic contacts through its staff, is responsible for supporting ESA Φ-lab in this mission by creating, managing, coordinating, animating the ESA Φ-lab CIN.

Purpose and Scope of Work

As an international research fellow within the Φ-lab, you will divide your time between research focused on deep reasoning, the support of the Φ-lab’s industrial and internal activities and mentoring of members of our research network, if applicable.

This fellowship aims to explore the application of deep reasoning techniques to Earth Observation (EO) data to tackle pressing global challenges and advance earth and climate sciences.

Deep reasoning refers to a model's capacity to go beyond basic pattern recognition toward multi-step inference and holistic interpretation of complex inputs. This concept can be interpreted in a number of ways including:

• Architectures leveraging relational representations and structured reasoning
• Grounding models in physical principles
• Novel training paradigms that aim to capture a form of “understanding of the world” (e.g. JEPA-like approaches)
• Agentic reasoning frameworks
• LLM chain-of-thought reasoning frameworks
• Other emerging approaches

The proposed approach should propose a dedicated mechanism that makes a model perform multi-step, logical and structured thinking, when processing EO data. The developed methods should aim to provide a building block for EO-powered decision-making.

Who are we looking for?

You should have recently completed (within the past five years), or be close to completing of a PhD in a relevant field such as data science, AI, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Earth System Science, Climate etc.. with a thesis subject relevant to the description of the tasks outlined above.

We are also looking for someone with:

• Sound knowledge of some of following themes of interest: EO, AI, ML, Agentic AI, explainability, physics-informed machine learning, JEPA or JEPA-like architectures.
• The ability to think outside the box and explore new avenues, with natural curiosity and a passion for new subjects and research areas;
• Experience with one or more general purpose programming languages, for example Python, and general purpose deep learning frameworks, such as Tensorflow or PyTorch;
• The interest and ability to share knowledge with other ESA organizational units. You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multi-cultural environment, both independently and as part of a team.

The working language is English. A good knowledge is required.

Key Responsibilities:

• Assist in the conceptualization of the methodology, considering the requirements outlined by the Earth system science use cases.
• Gather and preprocess relevant data from EO or other sources.
• Implement and run models and training on HPC infrastructure.
• Design, implement, run and interpret evaluations with special attention to relevance to Earth system science research communities.
• Contribute to joint publications with leading academic and industrial partners.

Requirements:

• The applicant must have Indian nationality.
• Ongoing (finishing around the start of the fellowship) or completed (less than 5 years) PhD in Computer Science, AI, or related discipline.
• Strong experience with Python and machine learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Huggingface, Weights & Biases).
• Ideally: experience with any of the themes cited in the purpose/scope of work
• Interest in Earth Observation, Earth system science and scientific research.

Opportunities:

• Collaborate with top-tier organizations and leading researchers in AI, EO and Earth system science.
• Contribute to high-impact publications and innovative projects.
• Work in a dynamic, interdisciplinary research environment.

Type of Engagement

You will:

• Undertake advanced research activities exploring and expanding the use of disruptive and transformative innovation to develop new frameworks and solutions. Research may cover a wide range of innovative topics:
• Explore innovative methodologies and technologies.
• The development of novel methods, of new technology implementations, (e.g. ML models), of high-level products.
• Contribute to the development and curation of open data sets and tools enabling the community to develop its own AI for applications and research.
• Support the definition and implementation of rapid prototyping activities, research sprints and open challenges of innovative EO solutions addressing upcoming lab activities and wider strategy.
• Engage with the innovation ecosystem to promote the uptake of new techniques and capture the latest developments in EO and disruptive/transformative innovation.
• Publish the research project outcomes in high-impact journals.
• Drive collaboration within the Φ-lab community and ESA internal teams to promote the uptake of these new techniques and solutions.
• Contribute to the Φ-lab strategy, activities, and outreach on disruptive technologies for EO
• Maintain a continuous dialogue with the scientific community, including major international programmes and initiatives in the field.
• Support the Φ-lab’s daily activities and research network of ESA Graduate Trainees, Interns, and Visiting Researchers, as applicable.

How to apply?

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application, including a detailed CV and a research proposal (maximum 4 pages, including bibliography) addressing the following points:

• Technology: How does the method you are proposing tackle deep reasoning for EO? What is meant by ‘reasoning’ in the context of the proposed approach and how is it implemented?
• Domain of Application: What is/are the proposed domain(s) of application?
• Impact: What could be the potential impact of your research proposal on addressing global challenges? How does it help decision-makers make more informed decisions?

This opportunity represents a unique opportunity to contribute to ESA Φ-lab and, more broadly, to ESA’s pioneering projects, influencing the future of space technology. We look forward to welcoming esteemed researchers who are eager to collaborate on transformative space initiatives.

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