PhD position in cartography, heritage management and moutain

Organisation/Company Università degli Studi di Brescia Research Field Geosciences » Hydrology Computer science Geography » Cartography Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Country Italy Final date to receive applications 17 Jan 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Sep 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Horizon Europe – COFUND Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number  Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Cartographic Heritage to model the impact of land changes on the hydrological and river systems in Europe

The main goal of this proposal is to develop strong research and analysis skills of a PhD student, including the ability to collect, generate, manage and analyse ancient cartography and spatial data, to use and develop hydrologic models, to perform and to critically discuss results. Through this project, we will provide young scientists with the opportunity to develop research skills in a stimulating interdisciplinary environment.

PhD candidates will acquire specialized technical skills relevant to historical European cartography and hydrology, guided by experts also on the technical themes, and through advanced digital techniques. More specifically, the research will deal with the assessment of land use and land cover transformations over a long period (first half of the XIX century until present) with reference to some selected case studies placed in Italy and Romania.

Ancient maps developed by the military service of the Habsburg Empire will be exploited to classify the land use-land cover featuring Europe in the early XIX century. Current and recent landscapes will be acquired by using the CORINE project, that monitors the present landcover transformations in Europe. This analysis is expected to reveal important information about the evolution of the cultural landscapes, agricultural and forestry practices in mountain and rural areas.

The digitization of ancient maps unveils effects of the complex interaction between humans, nature and climate. In particular, the analysis will be the base to develop hydrologic analyses aimed at investigating the change in water balance (evapotranspiration, water demand and availability) in the selected case studies.

This PhD position is part of the Cultural Heritage Outreach in Rom Ance Languages (CHORAL) programme, a Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska Curie programme co-funded by the European Union. This prestigious programme is linked to UNITA's Cultural Heritage Hub, an international research network within the Alliance, which structures its research ecosystem facing cultural related challenges.

CHORAL aims to train high-quality international researchers and to nurture the development of interdisciplinary, international and inter-sectoral research that addresses any aspect of cultural heritage. While rooted in cultural heritage,
the programme spans a wide range of scientific domains
, including architecture, anthropology, arts and culture, computer science, history, literature, linguistics, management, and more.

Selected candidates will be enrolled in PhD programmes under joint supervision, awarding a double degree and requiring international mobility
.

This offer is part of the MSCA-COFUND CHORAL programme, which will finance 14 positions out of 20 positions offered.

At the close of the call, the candidate must be a doctoral candidate
, i.e not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the deadline of the call, but in possession of a Master’s Degree enabling to do a PhD in Social Science, Arts, Architecture and Humanities applied to Cultural Heritage. Any candidate in possession of the required diploma can apply regardless of the year of obtainion of the diploma.

A Master of Science in Architectural Engineering, or Geomatics, or Civil engineering or Environmental engineering or equivalent is requested. Knowledge of English at level B2 is required. Reading and understanding of German is an added value. Skills in managing GIS systems, cartography are needed.…