Job opportunities

Postdoctoral researcher in the field of astrophysical transients and related time-domain science

(closed)

The Department of Physics at the University of Warwick seeks to appoint a Research Fellow to work in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group in the field of astrophysical transients and related time-domain science. The initial appointment will run until Sept 2024, with possibility for extension.

The fellow will work with Dr. Joe Lyman as part of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship “New frontiers in transient astrophysics: gravitational-wave multi-messenger events and exotic stellar explosions”. They will work on the study of extra-galactic transients, including rapid follow-up and characterisation of discoveries by the Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO; https://goto-observatory.org) project. The successful applicant will help create a network of automated GOTO follow-up with facilities, including membership of the NOT Transient Explorer collaboration (https://nte.nbi.ku.dk/).

Applicants must hold or be about to attain a PhD in astrophysics and have a proven/developing research track record. The ideal candidate will hold strong software development skills, and be capable of working effectively independently and as part of a team. Experience in observational astronomy and/or automated data analysis is strongly desired. Time will be available for independent research.

 

Full information: https://jobregister.aas.org/ad/84acc34a

Postdoctoral researcher in supernovae and related transients

(Closed)

Applications are invited for a 3-year postdoctoral researcher funded by the Academy of Finland to work with Dr. Rubina Kotak in the area of supernovae and related transients at the University of Turku (UTU).

The UTU transients team is a vibrant and productive research group within the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, and currently comprises 17 members with diverse expertise. UTU members lead key science projects in several large international consortia with access to guaranteed observing time e.g., the Son of X-Shooter instrument and the NOT Transient Explorer. Access to other facilities is guaranteed via national or institutional support e.g., European Southern Observatory, the Nordic Optical Telescope (co-owned by UTU), and the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO).

The successful applicant will be expected to support and participate in ongoing projects and lead new ones. Depending on the skills and interests of the applicant, this may include discovery and survey operations, acquisition and analysis of large multi-wavelength datasets, and/or modelling and interpretation of observations.

Full information: https://jobregister.aas.org/ad/01d6fb49

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

(Closed)

The Astronomy and Astrophysics group seeks to appoint a Research Fellow to work within the Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer project under supervision of Prof Danny Steeghs. You will contribute to the development, operations and science exploitation of the GOTO facility. GOTO is an autonomous robotic array of optical telescopes with a very wide field of view, permitting high cadence sky surveys and rapid response searches across substantial sky areas in response to gravitational wave detections and other exotic transients. It is deployed across two observing sites (La Palma & Australia), each hosting 16 unit telescopes.

The ideal candidate will be capable of working effectively both independently and as part of a research team. The candidate must hold, or be about to obtain, a doctoral degree in astrophysics or a related field. Experience in observational astronomy, automated data analysis, and familiarity with time-domain and multi-messenger astrophysics is strongly preferred, whilst expertise in instrumentation and control systems would be welcomed.

Applicants should submit a signed covering letter with a concise description of their research or technical accomplishments & interests, as well as a curriculum vitae, including a full publication list. They should provide the names of two academic referees.

Please direct informal inquiries to Prof Danny Steeghs (D.T.H.Steeghs@warwick.ac.uk).

Full information: https://jobregister.aas.org/ad/8bcba876

Research Fellow at Monash University

(Closed)

A Level A research–only academic is expected to contribute towards the research effort of the University and to develop their research expertise through the pursuit of defined projects relevant to the particular field of research.

The Research Fellow will join the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational–Wave Discovery (OzGrav) to carry out research in gravitational–wave astronomy. The position will collaborate with academics within the OzGrav faculty on electromagnetic observations, including searches for optical counterparts with GOTO (goto–observatory.org).
The Research Fellow will also collaborate with OzGrav members at other partner universities and publish papers in high–impact journals, present results at major conferences and collaboration meetings, and assist in the supervision of students.

Full information: https://careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/job/628239/research-fellow

PhD studentships

We are offering several funded PhD studentships in the area of astrophysical transients and time-domain astronomy, which are also open to international students. You can find more details of our research further down on this page, or follow these project links for project-specific information and to discuss them with the project supervisor:

Observations of new classes of explosive astrophysical phenomena (Coppejans)

Accretion and outflow physics of cataclysmic variable stars (Coppejans)

Observing explosive transients in their infancy with robotic telescope networks (Lyman)

Time-domain astrophysics with the Gravitational wave Optical Transient Observer (Steeghs)