Open positions

We are currently accepting MSc and PhD students in Geomatics Engineering. Admission requires a supervisor who has agreed to take you on, so contact me before or alongside your formal application.

Email Ismael.Foroughi@ucalgary.ca with the subject line "Prospective Graduate Student: [Your Name]" and include:

• A brief introduction, not a generic cover letter. Tell me who you are, which problems in geodesy or geomatics interest you, and why this group fits what you want to do.
• Your current CV
• Unofficial or official transcripts
• English language test results, if you are an international applicant
• Names and contact details for two referees who know your academic or research work
• Any relevant publications or code you have written

Program and admission information:

Undergraduate research is a real part of this lab, not a formality. Recent summer students have worked on various topics such as one-step geoid determination, and the quantum gravity-aided positioning.

Email your CV and unofficial transcripts to Ismael.Foroughi@ucalgary.ca. Dr. Foroughi supports applications to the NSERC USRA and PURE programs, and holds funding for undergraduate research projects.

Geodesy is a small field, and a global one. Reference frames, gravity models, and height systems only work because scientists across many countries agree to build them together, and the results become public infrastructure that everyone stands on, whether or not they ever hear the word geodesy. A field like that should be built by people who reflect the world it measures.

That commitment shapes how this lab operates:

We welcome people who arrive by unusual routes. Strong work in this group has come from geomatics, physics, mathematics, and computer science. If you have the mathematical foundation and the curiosity, a non-standard background is an asset here, not an obstacle.

We work to lower the barriers that are specific to our field. Geodesy has long depended on expensive proprietary software and on datasets held inside national agencies, which quietly limits who can do the work. Our software is open for research and training, and we deliver training using participants' own national data, so that capability builds where it is needed rather than only where it is already concentrated.

We take international mobility seriously. Much of what we do involves conferences, field campaigns, and collaboration abroad, and the burden of visas, travel costs, caregiving responsibilities, and physical accessibility does not fall evenly. We plan around this rather than treating it as someone's private problem.

We are committed to removing barriers encountered by equity deserving groups, including women, Indigenous peoples, racialized minorities, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ2S+ people.