Internal Research Fellow

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Internal Research Fellow (PostDoc) in AI on board for Synthetic Aperture Radar Missions

Job Requisition ID: 20932

Date Posted: 7 October 2026

Closing Date: 4 November :59 CET/CEST

Publication Method: External Only

Type of Appointment : Internal Research Fellow

Directorate: Earth Observation Programmes

Reporting to the Head of the Explore Office in the ESA Φ-lab, you will work in close cooperation with other staff in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes and colleagues from the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality. There may also be collaboration with scientists and engineers in other divisions at ESA. You will be part of the ESA Φ-lab. Our mission is to accelerate the future of Earth observation via transformative innovation and commercialisation actions strengthening ESA Member States’ world-leading competitiveness. Our vision is to be the “EO innovation hub”, connecting EO with a growing ecosystem of disruptive and transformative innovation such as AI, ML, quantum computing, edge computing, metamaterials, photonics, etc. Many of the challenges posed by new technologies still need to be tackled at the scientific, application and capability level to deliver maximum value from satellite-derived EO assets for our climate, society, and economy. The Φ-lab will bring together early career and senior researchers from a variety of disciplines across EO and disruptive/transformative innovation to help develop innovative EO solutions.

We offer:

• a stimulating multinational, interdisciplinary and open work environment
• access to high-performance computing infrastructure and unparalleled EO and technology expertise
• a unique opportunity to work on innovative solutions to address global challenges
• freedom and focus to conduct creative research while making an impact in relation to ESA’s strategy
• a wide network of relationships and collaboration with top academia, industry and research centres
• the opportunity to contribute to the Φ-lab strategy and activities

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

Main objectives of the Research Fellowship

Cognitive cloud computing in space (3CS) is emerging as a key paradigm for future Earth observation systems, enabling coordinated, event-driven operations across heterogeneous space assets through onboard intelligence, distributed computing and inter-satellite communications. By supporting capabilities such as autonomous tip-and-cue, event-based mission replanning, adaptive multi-sensor tasking and distributed information fusion, 3CS aims to significantly improve the responsiveness and autonomy of future EO missions. In this context, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) represents a strategic sensing modality thanks to its all-weather, day-and-night imaging capabilities, providing reliable information to trigger and support coordinated observations in rapidly evolving scenarios such as disasters, maritime surveillance and security monitoring. Recent advances in cognitive SAR have demonstrated the potential of AI methods operating directly on raw or partially processed data for tasks such as learned focusing, adaptive compression and information extraction. However, significant challenges remain, including the computational complexity of SAR processing chains, the limited robustness of current AI approaches, and the difficulty of deploying intelligent processing under stringent onboard resource constraints. In addition, significant exploration is still required to explore novel cognitive SAR and novel mission concepts enabled by onboard SAR processing. This fellowship will address these challenges by developing AI-based methods for onboard SAR data processing operating close to the sensing level, enabling real-time information extraction, event detection, autonomous re-tasking, and cooperative multi-sensor operations for next-generation missions, including Copernicus Sentinel-1 Next Generation, thereby supporting the transition towards autonomous and coordinated EO systems.

Research topic of interests include:

• advanced onboard SAR data processing architectures: target applications include but are not limited to onboard SAR data focusing, and extraction of insight from SAR unfocused data
• cognitive SAR: novel mission concepts, applications and in-orbit data processing for cognitive SAR systems
• onboard SAR for 3CS systems: onboard SAR for tip-and-cue systems, in-orbit data fusion, etc.

Within your application, please provide a research proposal (no more than five pages) related to onboard AI for SAR missions:

• Descr