Studentship opportunities (M and PhD's) at CSIR

The following job/studenthip opportunities were recently sent to me. If you are interested in research based opportunities, please read the below:

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is a leading scientific and technology research organisation, implementing projects throughout Africa and improving the quality of people’s lives.

MSc (Ref: 301694) or PhD (Ref: 301695) Studentships (two positions)

About the job:

The ICT for Earth Observation research group (ICT4EO) at the CSIR's Meraka Institute conducts research and development in earth observation (EO) information and communications technologies. We collaborate and undertake joint projects with international and local organisations, universities and research institutions. We contribute to national science and technology strategies, CSIR flagship projects and technology demonstrators in the domain of EO sciences and information technologies.

ICT4EO has two Studentship positions for Master's or doctoral research in the fields of machine learning, middleware, geoinformatics, web-centric computing, high performance computing and open standards. Research shall contribute to the projects undertaken by the group or focus on the following topics:

• Geo-spatio temporal data structures and geo-computation;
• ICT environments for EO research and knowledge management; and
• Geo-spatio temporal information visualisation.

Applicants will be required to complete assessment questionnaires. Successful candidates will be contracted for a period of at least one year in the case of a Master’s studentship and three years in the case of a doctoral studentship. During this time, they will be required to develop software and contribute to the technical outputs of projects in the research group.

Key responsibilities:

• Acquire a deep understanding of the EO domain, including concepts of Sensor Web Enablement and Geoinformatics.
• Generate technical knowledge that contributes to the outputs of the research group.
• Fulfil all the requirements for a Master’s or doctoral degree.
• Participate in group activities and contribute to the generation of technical documents and software outputs.

 Qualifications:

• Master’s studentship: A four-year Bachelor’s degree or an Honours degree with a major in computer science or geoinformatics.
• Doctoral studentship: A Master’s degree in a computer science or geoinformatics topic.

 Recommended:

• Familiarity with open-source, programming libraries and operating systems.
• Capabilities in web-centric software development.

Should you meet the above requirements, kindly apply via https://candidate.csir.co.za and select the position reference number 301694 for the Master's and 301695 for the doctoral studentship. If you are a first time applicant, you will be required to register before you can submit your application. If you are a returning applicant, please log onto the application system using your user name and password.

Closing date: 28 September 2012

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY. Should you experience any problems in submitting your application, please contact the CSIR Recruitment Centre at Recruitmentqueries@csir.co.za. Please do not submit your application to this mailbox. The CSIR gives preference to candidates who meet the job requirements and who will add to the cultural and gender diversity of the organisation. By applying for this position at the CSIR, the applicant understands, consents and agrees that the CSIR may solicit a credit and criminal report from a registered credit bureau and/or SAPS (in relation to positions that require trust and honesty and/or entail the handling of cash or finances) and may also verify the applicant’s educational qualifications and employment history. The CSIR reserves the right not to appoint if a suitable candidate is not identified.

Cover letter samples

One of our readers, Samantha, posted this link below on "cover letters" which you might find helpful when composing a cover letter.

http://coverlettersamples.net/category/email-cover-letters

Thanks Samantha!

Cover letter and CV tips as published in the PositionIT

We recently published a second article regarding "Improving your Geospatial Employment Prospects in the August issue of the Position IT magazine.

Here follows the intro:
"This article is the second in a series of articles planned in which we are trying to assist newly qualified as well as experienced geospatial professionals in successfully finding and applying for new employment opportunities. The pointers given in these articles can unfortunately not guarantee a successful application, but it can definitely increase your chances of being invited for an interview and ultimately securing your dream job.

In the first article, published in the Position IT July 2012 issue, we briefly touched on what geospatial career opportunities could be available in the various industries and sectors. Now that readers have a better idea on where to find possible opportunities, we need to focus on what is being ‘communicated’ to the potential employer or recruiter in your cover letter and CV. In other words, what are the do’s and the don’ts?  Good communication skills by way of a well thought out cover letter or email and an excellent CV can assist you greatly in selling your full potential to a recruiter or potential employer. The submission of a cover letter and CV is usually the first step in applying for a new position. In many ways it is also the first interview and unfortunately the area where many applicants just don’t get it ‘right’ and therefore miss the opportunity to potentially get invited to an interview............................................"

If you want to read further, get a paper copy of the August 2012 issue of the PositionIT magazine or read it on-line at - http://z.positionit.eepublishers.co.za/index.aspx?issue=issue27&page=07

Latest version of the South African Journal of Geomatics

Volume 1, Number 2 of the South African Journal of Geomatics was recently published via http://www.sajg.org.za/index.php/sajg/index.

This addition contains the following articles:

1) Gully Features Extraction using Remote Sensing Techniques

By Ndifelani Mararakanye, Nthaduleni Nethengwe

2) Tertiary education institutions in Africa: Cloudy with a chance of GISc education in some countries

By Serena Coetzee, Sanet Eksteen

3) Semi-automated segment generation for geographic novelty detection using edge and area metrics

By Christoff Fourie, Adriaan Van Niekerk, Ladislav Mucina

4) A Comparison of Close-Range Photogrammetry to Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Heritage Documentation

By Heinz Ruther, Julian Lloyd Smit, Donatius Kamamba