Research
PhD programme
Joint doctoral appointments with our university partners.
Terravek co-supervises doctoral candidates jointly with partner universities. The candidate is registered at the university, employed by Terravek or the university depending on the arrangement, and has two supervisors — one academic, one from Terravek Labs.
How it works
- Four years, full time. Terravek funds the position and provides data, compute and, where relevant, instrument access.
- The candidate publishes. Publication is not conditional on commercial convenience, and this is written into the agreement rather than assumed.
- Intellectual property arrangements are agreed with the university before the position is advertised, not negotiated afterwards.
- Candidates spend at least one day a week in a Terravek office and are treated as staff for the purposes of training, equipment and internal seminars.
Current partner institutions
| Institution | Since | Field | Terravek supervisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delft Institute of Applied Geomatics (DIAG) | 2007 | Geodesy, geomatics, machine learning | Merijn Vroegh, Dr. Aleksander Novak |
| Institut Occitan des Sciences Spatiales (IOSS) | 2016 | Optical physics, ground segment | Élodie Marchand, Dr. Philippe Garnier |
| Hanseatic University of Applied Sciences, Bremen | 2016 | Photonics, optical engineering | Dr. Bettina Reuss |
| Baltic Technical University, Tallinn | 2014 | Software engineering, security | Kaarel Mägi |
Current and recent topics
- Uncertainty quantification for multi-sensor change detection (DIAG, 2024–)
- Atmospheric correction over inland water (DIAG, joint appointment held by Dr. Nikhil Rao)
- Diffractive optics for compact hyperspectral instruments (Hanseatic, 2023–)
- Pass scheduling optimisation for multi-satellite ground stations (IOSS, 2025–)
Applying
Positions are advertised through the partner university and listed on our vacancies page when open. Speculative enquiries — with a research proposal rather than a CV alone — are welcome at labs@terravek.com.
MSc thesis placements are a separate, shorter programme: MSc thesis placements 2026/27.