EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, is one of Europe’s most dynamic university campuses and ranks among the world’s top universities. With more than 6,500 employees, EPFL advances its core missions of education, research and innovation within an international community of over 18,500 people, including more than 14,000 students and 4,000 researchers from over 120 countries.

Within this stimulating and international research environment, the Communauté d’études pour l’aménagement du territoire (CEAT) at EPFL is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher in urban verticality, Earth Observation, environmental modelling and geospatial data science. The position is part of Vertical Africa (VERTICAF), an interdisciplinary research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

We are looking for a full time postdoctoral researcher at EPFL Lausanne.

Information

Contract duration: 48 months
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland (EPFL, CEAT), with fieldwork assignments in Kigali, Dakar and Luanda
Activity rate: 100 %
Start date: 02/2027
Scientific supervisor: Prof. Jérôme Chenal

Project context

Vertical Africa is a four-year interdisciplinary research project funded by the SNSF, bringing together EPFL (Prof. Jérôme Chenal), the University of Geneva (Prof. Armelle Choplin and Prof. Didier Péclard) and African academic and institutional partners in Kigali (Rwanda), Dakar (Senegal) and Luanda (Angola).

Against the backdrop of accelerating verticalisation in African cities, VERTICAF offers the first systematic and diachronic analysis of how cities are expanding not only horizontally but also vertically. The project combines urban studies, remote sensing, 3D modelling, environmental science, architecture, political science and participatory approaches to investigate the environmental, social and political implications of vertical urban development.

The project has three main ambitions: (1) developing methods to measure verticality and its impacts in data-scarce contexts, in Africa and elsewhere; (2) documenting, theoretically and empirically, the interactions between vertical growth, capitalism, governance, inequalities and everyday life; (3) co-designing more sustainable and inclusive models for the future of African cities.

The research is organised into four work packages. The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to measuring urban verticality and its environmental impacts (WP1), while providing scientific coordination for the geospatial, modelling and digital observatory components of the project (WP4).

Research Focus

How can verticalisation and its environmental consequences be measured, modelled and projected in data-scarce African cities, and how can these results be translated into an open and reproducible digital observatory supporting research, planning and participatory exploration of future urban scenarios?

The postdoctoral researcher will develop an integrated analytical framework connecting:

Verticalisation → 3D urban morphology → environmental processes → climate and flood impacts → future urban scenarios

The research will operate across city, neighbourhood and building scales and along urban transects covering historical central districts, incrementally verticalising neighbourhoods and newly developed peripheral urban centres.

Tasks and responsibilities

WP1 - Environmental indicators and remote sensing

• Develop and harmonise Earth Observation workflows using Sentinel-1/2, Landsat, MODIS, GHSL, Open Buildings 2.5D, OpenStreetMap, Copernicus and other available datasets to characterise urban morphology, verticalisation and land-surface change, including the reconstruction of temporal dynamics through multi-temporal imagery and change-detection approaches.
• Derive and analyse urban and environmental indicators related to verticalisation, including building height and density, built volume, vegetation and NDVI, imperviousness, albedo, Land Surface Temperature, climatic comfort, terrain and drainage characteristics, and flood hazard/exposure.
• Assess the environmental impacts of verticalisation, particularly urban heat and flood risk, by combining Earth Observation, meteorological, topographic, hydrological and land-cover data, and applying approaches such as the InVEST Urban Cooling Model and relevant flood-analysis methods. Coordinate field measurements and model validation along selected urban transects, including microclimate sensors, thermal observations, photogrammetric surveys and field validation, while establishing protocols for sensor calibration, spatial sampling, quality control and integration with Earth Observation data.
• Develop spatial, statistical and predictive models to investigate relationships between vertical urban form and environmental conditions, assess uncertainty and transferability across the three cities, and develop baseline-to-2030 and 2030–2050 scenarios of vertical development and associated environmental impacts.
• Contribute to short-term (2026 to 2030) and long-term (2030 to 2050) verticalisation forecasting models based on machine learning, and to their validation against official building height layers.

WP4 - Coordination of the digital observatory of urban verticalisation (DOUV)

• Coordinate the scientific and geospatial development of the DOUV, integrating data, indicators and models generated across VERTICAF.
• Work with the African institutional partners (Instituto Geográfico e Cadastral de Angola, GéoSénégal, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda) to ensure the long-term sustainability and the local appropriation of the DOUV.
• Integrate the data produced by WP1, WP2 and WP3 into the tool; programme the automatic ingestion of Sentinel-2 imagery and the recalibration of the forecasting models.
• Develop automated and reproducible geospatial workflows for integrating and updating Earth Observation and urban datasets across Dakar, Kigali and Luanda.
• Coordinate interactive 2D/3D visualisation and digital-twin tools to support analysis, scenario exploration and urban decision-making.
• Contribute to the co-organisation of the design fiction workshops in the three cities and to the restitution workshops held in year 4.
• Contribute to the production of the Vertical Talks video capsules and podcasts, together with the project team and the local partners.

Scientific production

• Publish at least 3 articles in peer-reviewed journals, alone or in collaboration with the project team.
• Present the results at international scientific conferences (ECAS, RC21, AAG) and contribute to the two planned special issues.
• Contribute to the supervision and the day-to-day scientific support of the PhD student working on WP1.

Required profile

Education and experience

• PhD in geography, urban planning, spatial data science, geomatics, environmental sciences or a related field, obtained (or close to completion) at the time of appointment.
• Solid experience in remote sensing and satellite image processing (Sentinel-2, MODIS, Landsat), GIS and spatial modelling.
• Proven publication record in peer-reviewed journals.
• Field experience in data-scarce contexts; experience in Sub-Saharan Africa is an asset.

Technical skills

• Proficiency in at least one programming language for geospatial analysis: Python (rasterio, geopandas, scikit-learn), R or Google Earth Engine.
• Experience with open-source tools (QGIS, GRASS GIS, GDAL) and spatial databases.
• Knowledge of urban heat island analysis and/or flood risk modelling is a major asset.
• Experience in the development or the coordination of a web-based geospatial platform is an asset.

Soft skills

• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment bridging engineering, social sciences and urban planning.
• Excellent scientific writing and communication skills.
• Ability to co-coordinate collective deliverables and to work in a network with international partners.
• Excellent command of English (the project’s main publication language) and of French. Knowledge of Portuguese or Kinyarwanda is an asset.
• Sensitivity to gender equity issues and to North-South research dynamics.

What we offer

• A salary based on the SNSF and EPFL scales for postdoctoral researchers.
• Integration into a dynamic interdisciplinary team carried by two leading institutions (EPFL and the University of Geneva) and three African partner universities.
• Fieldwork assignments in Kigali, Luanda and Dakar, and participation in the annual team meetings held in the case-study cities.
• Access to the computing infrastructure and to the resources of EPFL, including the Excellence in Africa Center (EXAF).
• A central role in a flagship deliverable of the project (the DOUV), with high visibility among academic and institutional partners.

Application

Applications (in English or French) must include:

• A cover letter (max. 2 pages) explaining the motivation for the VERTICAF project and the relevance of the applicant’s experience for WP1 and WP4;
• A detailed curriculum vitae including the list of publications;
• Two relevent academic publications or works (articles, book chapters, reports);
• Contact information for two academic references.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Questions regarding the position may be sent to: [email protected]
Please note that applications submitted by email will not be considered; all applications must be submitted through the online application portal.

epfl.ch/labs/ceat