The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is Austria’s largest Research and Technology Organisation (RTO). We aim to transform scientific excellence into innovation with impact. Together with our partners, we develop technologies and solutions for a sustainable, resilient, and digitalized future, strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty. Our international teams combine cutting-edge research with strong implementation expertise to create measurable value for industry and society.

Our Center for Transport Technologies invites applications for a PhD thesis at our location in Vienna. Within the Competence Unit Transportation Infrastructure Technologies, our research team, specialising in structural health monitoring, structural dynamics, and bridge engineering, works closely with industrial partners. Our research covers the development of innovative measurement and monitoring methods, including fiber-optic sensing as well as video- and satellite-based technologies, through to measurement-based structural assessment and life cycle assessment. We focus on both newly constructed and existing infrastructure, including transportation infrastructure, civil engineering structures, and buildings.

The PhD project focuses on the development of novel applications for the use of earth observation data in transportation infrastructure monitoring. The research covers various modes of transport (incl. roads, railways, and waterways) as well as their associated engineering structures (bridges, retaining walls, noise barriers, and hydraulic structures). A wide range of remote sensing data may be used, including radar, optical, and thermal data, with a particular focus on the European Copernicus Sentinel satellite missions (e.g. Sentinel-1 to Sentinel-6). The project is embedded in several national and international research collaborations with Austrian and international partners in this field.

• You will conduct independent scientific research in the field of satellite-based transportation infrastructure monitoring, for example by developing innovative approaches for detecting deformations, damage, settlements, or condition changes in road, railway, or bridge infrastructure.
• Together with our experts, you will identify suitable satellite missions and remote sensing datasets such as SAR, InSAR, optical, or multispectral data and evaluate their suitability for specific monitoring applications.
• You will develop an innovative methodological approach for the use of remote sensing data in infrastructure monitoring, including data preparation, processing, time series analysis, accuracy assessment, and the potential integration with existing infrastructure or asset management data.
• You will implement the developed methodology within a pilot study and perform validation analyses as well as accuracy comparisons between different data sources and/or processing approaches.

• You will evaluate and validate different analytical methods with regard to their accuracy, robustness, and practical applicability, for example by comparing them with terrestrial reference data.
• You will present your research findings at scientific conferences and publish your results in national and international peer-reviewed journals as part of your doctoral research.
• You will gain experience in a highly interdisciplinary research field with applications spanning civil engineering, geoinformatics, aerospace, transportation engineering, data science, and asset management.
• You will expand your scientific and professional network while developing the expertise required for a future career in research, industry, or public infrastructure management.