PDRA Monitoring of Plankton using AI Technology


Company:	Scottish Association for Marine Science
Salary:	£32,546 to £33,482 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Oban, PA37 1QA
Working pattern:	On-site
Job type:	Contract
Posting date:	22 Sept 2026
Closing date:	12 Oct 2026

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Summary

The candidate will be working on a an SEUPB Acclimatise project, a project supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) that seeks to study plankton-climate interactions in Irish shelf sea systems. SAMS currently operates two automated plankton counters (Imaging Flowcytobots - IFCBs) for the real time collection, enumeration and reporting of phytoplankton data. Within Acclimatise the lead partner (AFBI) is purchasing an IFCB for either or both of shore- and boat-based deployments.

The postholder will be based at SAMS but be responsible for supporting AFBI in the commissioning and operation of their IFCB.

SAMS has developed an AI based classifier to allow the taxonomic identification of collected phytoplankton images. The postholder will maintain and develop this classifier and the existing software systems for data collection transfer and storage and the web-based dashboard used for data dissemination.

The postholder will also contribute to the analysis of collected data and write up for project reports and scientific publication.

The successful candidate will be based at SAMS (although remote working may be possible) and will interact regularly with AFBI staff with periodic visits to Belfast and possible occasional seagoing.

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