Opportunities
Reasons to work with us
We aim to make the Department a welcoming and supportive environment for everyone. As well as helping you realise your potential and advance your career, we recognise and value the need to maintain a healthy work/life balance.
Equality, Diversity and Disability Support
Information about how the College strives to create a welcoming and equitable workplace https://www.imperial.ac.uk/equality/
Family friendly policies
Information about how the College promotes a family-friendly workplace
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/human-resources/benefits/supporting-you-and-your-family/
Health and Wellbeing
Information about how the College promotes mental and physical health and wellbeing
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/health-and-wellbeing/
People and Organisational Development / Post Doctoral and Fellows Development Centre
Information about how the College provides development activities
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/staff-development/
Juno Transparency and Opportunity Committee
The Committee aims to address the under representation of women and minorities in university physics, and to create a welcoming and inclusive environment in the Department.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/physics/about/juno/
Further information
Life in London - https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/living-in-london/
About Imperial https://www.imperial.ac.uk/about/
Job Opportunities
Positions will be advertised on this site and on College employment pages
Should you have any queries about the application process please contact the Astrophysics Group Administration office via astro@imperial.ac.uk.
Fellowship opportunities
Candidates wishing to select Imperial Astrophysics as their host institution are advised to contact a member of academic staff in their area of interest to discuss your application. You are encouraged to contact us early for initial discussions to maximise the support we can give you and also because this is a two way process and you need to assess if we’re the right fit for you.
To ensure submission of high quality, competitive proposals, the Department runs a competitive internal selection process with deadlines for Research Groups to submit their supported nominated candidates to the Department. The Astrophysics Group therefore in turn also has deadlines to consider and select our supported candidates into this process. Requests received after these dates will not be considered.
We strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds, especially those historically underrepresented in Physics. We are an IoP JUNO Practitioner and an Athena Silver SWAN Award winner reflecting our commitment to building a supportive, inclusive and highly motivated community. See our EDI webpage for more Information.
We want to make our application process as inclusive and accessible as possible so if you experience any barriers that we may have overlooked please tell us and we can make adjustments.
We also recognise the unequal impacts of the impact that COVID-19 related disruption might have had. Where disruptions have occurred applicants can highlight this within their application if they wish.
If you are approved to submit a formal application the Department will assist you throughout the application process. We set internal submission deadlines which are substantially earlier than the sponsor deadlines to allow for sufficient preparation and approval time, you will be advised of this and you can also see the deadlines on the application guidance webpage.
The Imperial Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre provides a host of ongoing support from preparing the application to mock interviews available to anyone who is applying through Imperial. You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this support in conjunction with that from your host Research Group. For more information applicants should read the guidance on their webpages and contact pfdc-support@imperial.ac.uk.
We’ve successfully supported many research fellowship applications. See Summary of started researcher fellowships in Summary of started researcher fellowships in Astrophysics from 1 August 2013
The common schemes we participate in are listed below. For a currently closed calls the last nomination deadline is given as an indication of when the next might be.
Imperial College Research Fellowships
Closed.
Physics will not be accepting applications to the 2023 ICRF competition (for fellowships starting in 2024)
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships
Closed.
Department quota – none.
Confirmation to the Department closed 1st September 2022
Royal Astronomical Society Fellowships
Closed.
Department quota – five.
Nominations closed 26th September 2022.
Nominations consist of CV, publications list and a one page outline
Royal Commission 1851 Research Fellowships
Closed.
Department quota - five.
Nominations to the Department closed 8th December 2022.
Nominations consist of CV, publications list and a one page outline.
Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships
Closed.
Department quota – none.
Nominations to the Department closed 1st September 2022. Nominations to the Department consist of your CV, publications list and a one-page outline
Royal Society Newton Fellowships
Closed.
Department quota – five
Group nomination deadline was 22nd February 2023. Nominations consist of your CV, publications list and a one-page outline.
Royal Society URF
Open.
Department quota – twelve
Please contact a member of staff in your area of interest. Group nomination deadline 30th June 2023
Nominations to the Department consisted of your CV, publication list and a Request for Support from Imperial Physics form-URF
STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships
Open.
Department quota – TBC (given by STFC, in 2022 it was 8)
Please contact a member of staff in your area of interest. Group nomination deadline 30th June 2023
Nominations to the Department consist of a CV using STFC’s Narrative CV template, publications list, and a Request for Support from Imperial Physics form- ERF
UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships
Open * Round 8 is only open to Imperial Physics academic/proleptic staff*
College deadline 17th April 2023
UKRI Stephen Hawking Fellowship
Always open.
Department quota - none.
Please contact a member of staff in your area of interest. Nomination paperwork is CV, publications list and brief research proposal
Calls close on 30th March 2023 on JES and will re-open on the new Funding Service in May 2023.
PhD studentships
Link to admissions page https://www.imperial.ac.uk/astrophysics/students-and-prospective-students/
UROP opportunities
We offer a small number of UROP projects per year in a variety of areas. These summer vacation placements will be funded (at a rate of £244/week).
Register your interest in a UROP placement in the group