Soil Water Monitoring with Nuclear Sensors | PhD position 4 yr.
Company: CSIC - Spanish National Research Council
Institution: EEAD – Experimental Station Aula Dei
Location: Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
Workplace type: On-site
Employment type: Full-time
Job description
The position is fully funded through the JAE-PRE 2025 programme and provides a four-year full-time predoctoral contract.
We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to join the Soil and Water Erosion and Evaluation Research Group (EESA) at the Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD-CSIC) in Zaragoza, Spain.
The position is available immediately, and the successful candidate is expected to join the research group as soon as possible and no later than 15 December 2026.

The PhD project
Soil water content is a key variable for understanding the functioning of agricultural systems and improving water resource management, particularly in Mediterranean regions characterised by high climatic variability and increasing pressure on available water resources.




This PhD project aims to apply and validate new methodologies for estimating soil water content at the agricultural plot scale by integrating proximal nuclear sensors and advanced data-analysis techniques.
The research will combine two innovative, non-invasive technologies:
· Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensors (CRNS)
· Proximal Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy (PGRS)
The successful candidate will participate in:
· Experimental field campaigns in Mediterranean agroforestry systems
· Operation and calibration of CRNS and PGRS instrumentation
· Soil sampling and characterisation
· GIS, remote sensing and spatial analysis
· Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of soil water content
· Data analysis using R and/or Python
· Machine-learning approaches for integrating information from different sources and scales

Research environment
The PhD will be carried out within the Soil and Water Erosion and Evaluation Research Group (EESA) at EEAD-CSIC, with access to CRNS and PGR

📌 PhD Position (Zaragoza)
🏢 CSIC
📍 Zaragoza