Description
Dr. Francisco Javier Samper Calvete is seeking researchers who hold a PhD (with no more than 8 years of full-time equivalent research experience) and are interested in pursuing a research project in the framework of the Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026.
Research Group Summary
The AQUATERRA Group of the University of A Coruña has developed for almost 30 years a set of computer codes to fulfill research needs in the field of numerical simulation of water flow processes, heat transfer, solute transport, chemical reactions and microbiological processes in a radioactive waste repository of high activity radioactive waste in deep geological formations (HLW, VISUAL-CORE, CORE2DV5, INVERSE-CORE2D).
Numerical models for water flow and solute transport coupled with chemical reactions and microbiological processes in porous and fractured media have been applied in aquifer and real cases, as well as in laboratory and in situ experiments in underground laboratories and groundwater flow and solute transport through aquifers in porous media.
The group has also developed lumped and semi-distributed hydrological codes for computing daily water balances in the upper-most soil layer, the unsaturated zone and the aquifer. These codes include VISUAL-BALAN and GIS-BALAN. These codes allow the calculation of the water resources in a basin in historical conditions and also for future climatic conditions. These codes allow the evaluation of the effects of climate change on the water resources at the end of the 21st century.
Main Lines of Research
- Development and application of hydrological water balance models for the study of water resources and the assessment of climate change impacts.
- Development and application of numerical models for flow and solute/pollutant transport in porous and fractured media, with applications to inorganic, persistent organic, and radioactive pollutants.
- Precision agriculture: Evaluation of environmental best practices.
- Sediment transport by overland flow at the hydrological basin scale.
- Impact of wildfires on soil.
- Waste valorization, with special reference to the characterization and use of biochar and compost as soil amendments.
- Characterization of soil properties using spectroscopy and machine learning.
- Application of advanced mathematical methods (geostatistics, fractals, and multifractals) to characterize soil properties and their spatiotemporal variability.
- Use of geophysical methods (Electrical Resistivity Tomography and Apparent Electrical Conductivity) in soil and the unsaturated zone.
- Water quality and soil quality.
Potential Research Topics
- Hydrological water balance models, numerical models for flow and solute/pollutant transport in porous and fractured media.
- Soil Sciences: Sediment transport, impact of wildfires on soil, use of biochar and compost as soil amendments, characterization of soil properties using spectroscopy and machine learning. Characterizing soil properties and their spatiotemporal variability with geostatistics, fractals, and multifractals. Geophysical methods for soils and unsaturated zone.
- Precision agriculture: Evaluation of environmental best practices.
Facilities, equipment & support from the group members
The research group AQUATERRA has almost 30 researchers. This proposal would be submitted by the subgroup focused on water, hydrology, hydrogeology and numerical flow and reactive transport models. This subgroup includes a full professor, a professor, an assistant professor, two postdocts and 3 PhD students.
AQUATERRA has more than 15 up-to-date computers, including desktops, laptops and 5 powerful servers. Furthermore, the group has the expertise to perform hundreds of model simulations runs by using the super-computers of the Galician Super-computing Center (CESGA). The group has licensed software for GIS (geographic information system) tools (ArcGIS Pro®). In addition, the group has developed a wide range of computer codes for: 1) Hydrological water balance (VISUAL-BALAN and GIS-BALAN), interactive user-friendy groundwater flow and reactive solute transport (VISUAL-CORE), 2D groundwater flow and reactive solute transport (CORE2D V5), 2D inverse groundwater flow and reactive solute transport (INVERSE-CORE2D),2D groundwater flow, reactive solute transport and microbial processes (BIO- CORE2D), 2D non-isothermal water flow and reactive solute transport in deformable media (INVERSE-FADES-CORE2D) and fully 3D groundwater flow and reactive solute transport (CORE3D).
AQUATERRA has equipments for groundwater level monitoring, and 2 stainless steel RBC flumes for measuring flowrates in small water ways. A portable pH, electrical conductivity, temperature and suspended solids meters are available for in situ measurement on water samples. For monitoring in situ parameters, the group has a complete weather station (Sencrop®), a leaf soil moisture sensor (Sencrop®), and 12 probes for soil moisture and temperature at different soil depths (Sentek®). The group has also portable devices for in situ measurements of the content of chlorophyll (CL-01 Chlorophyll Meter from Hansatech Instruments®) and SPAD index (SPAD-502Plus from Konica-Minolta®) in leaves.
Besides, AQUATERRA has a priority access to the certified laboratories of SAI (Research Support Service) of the UDC for water sample chemical analyses.
Requirements
Skills in numerical methods and software are a essential asset
Expressions of Interest
Interested candidates should contact Dr. Francisco Javier Samper (j.samper@udc.es) as soon as possible. Emails should include a CV and a brief motivation letter.
