The posting
About KGAI4Ag:
Advancing Knowledge-guided AI to Develop Agricultural Digital Twins for Singapore’s Climate Resilience (KGAI4Ag) is a research program of the Illinois Advanced Research Center at Singapore (Illinois ARCS), a research institute funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under the CREATE program.KGAI4Ag sits within the Southeast Asian Innovation Alliance for a Global Model of Future Agri-Food Systems (SIGMA), a U.S.–Singapore academic research alliance co-led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) to enhance food security, sustain the environment and build resilient communities across Southeast Asia.
KGAI4Ag is developing first-of-its-kind digital twins for ASEAN agroecosystems by advancing knowledge-guided AI (KGAI), which integrates scientific principles with machine learning. The program is organized around three research thrusts:(1) Characterizing Physical Reality, which combines low-cost IoT field sensors, cameras and satellite remote sensing into analysis-ready datasets; (2)Developing Digital Twins, which couples dynamic 4D plant models with biogeochemical modelling through KGAI-based data assimilation at the field scale, and upscales these to the regional scale through a Bridge Model framework; and (3)Decision-Making, which turns digital twin outputs into AI-driven decision support for farm management, food trade, and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of agricultural carbon outcomes. Field work currently focuses on rice systems in Vietnam and cacao agroforestry in Indonesia.
About This Role:
KGAI4Ag seeks a Research Scientist to develop and use AI surrogate models that scale field-level crop digital twins to the regional level under Thrust 2 (Developing Digital Twins). The successful candidate will drive the program’s Bridge Model framework, which extends high-fidelity simulations across thousands of heterogeneous farm sites while substantially reducing computational cost, producing regional estimates of yield and greenhouse gas emissions across Southeast Asia.
Key Responsibilities:
• Lead research on AI surrogates and model-data fusion for regional agroecosystems.
• Develop the Bridge Model framework to upscale field-level digital twin outputs across thousands of heterogeneous farm sites.
• Combine process-based models with spatiotemporal machine learning and geospatial data to represent regional variability in soils, climate and management.
• Build scalable modelling workflows on HPC to produce regional yield and greenhouse gas estimates, with quantified uncertainty.
• Work with the remote sensing, field-level digital twin and decision-making teams to ensure regional outputs are consistent and usable.
• Publish in leading journals and present at conferences and project meetings.
• Collaborate across US–Singapore teams at UIUC, NUS and partner institutions, and mentor students and junior researchers.
Qualifications and Experience:
Required:
• PhD in Earth/environmental science, hydrology, ecosystem modelling, computer science or a related field.
• Extensive experience combining process-based environmental or Earth system modelling with machine learning, such as AI surrogates or spatiotemporal ML.
• Strong programming skills in Python and PyTorch.
• Excellent communication and scientific writing skills in English, the working language of the US–Singapore team, publications and reports.
Preferred:
• Experience with agroecosystem or crop models and model-data fusion / data assimilation.
• Experience running large modelling workflows on high-performance computing systems.
• Experience with geospatial analysis and regional-scale datasets.
• Familiarity with agricultural systems in Southeast Asia.
• Willing to participate in online meetings outside of regular working hours to ensure timely communication and continuity of business, in view of the strategic and affiliated relationship between the Illinois ARCS and the UIUC, as well as the time zone differences between the two locations.
Application Process:
Interested candidates should submit their resume/CV together with a cover letter outlining their qualifications and relevant experience for the position to Gabriel Tan ([email protected])with the subject line “KGAI4Ag Research Scientist (Geospatial AI and Regional Agroecosystem Modelling) – Singapore”. Please also include the transcripts of undergraduate studies, the names and contact details of three professional referees.
Applications will be considered until the corresponding position has been filled. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.



