Job description

Job summary

Applications are invited for a three-year Research Associate position within the Astrophysics Group in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London. We are seeking candidates with expertise in astronomical data analysis to play a key role in the search for the most distant quasars with data from the Euclid space telescope, scheduled for launch in mid-2023. 

Duties and responsibilities

This position is supported by the Group’s STFC Consolidated Grant working with Dr Daniel Mortlock, who leads this work within the Euclid Consortium. The successful applicant will be involved in developing selection methods and pipelines, testing on simulations, and then in applying these to the Euclid data in the lead up to the first Euclid public data release (DR1).  It is expected they would make significant contributions to the high-impact DR1 papers that will represent the frontier in this research area.

The Astrophysics Group has a strong programme in extra-Galactic astronomy and astrophysics, as well as Cosmology, exoplanet studies and stellar physics. The research in the Group spans observations, numerical simulations and theory, with a particular emphasis on advanced data analysis techniques and Bayesian methods at the Imperial Centre for Inference and Cosmology (ICIC).  As a member of the Group you would be part of a lively research community with regular opportunities to present and discuss your work with experts in all these fields.

Funding is available for travel, visitors and computing in line with STFC funded projects.

Essential requirements

You must hold a PhD (or equivalent) in Physics or Astronomy 

You must also be able to demonstrate the following essential criteria:

• Relevant research experience in astronomical data analysis
• Experience in giving talks at internationally recognised conferences and workshops
• Experience in carrying out research of high standard, independently and in a team, evidenced by high-quality research publications

In addition, knowledge and experience in one or more of the following areas would be desirable:

• Relevant research experience in rare object searches
• Relevant experience in the development of astronomical pipelines
• Relevant research observational or data analysis experience in astronomical spectroscopy
• Relevant research experience in the analysis of astronomical populations

Further information

This is a full time up to three year position available immediately.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £38,194 - £41,388 per annum.

More information about the Department of Physics and the Astrophysics Group can be found on our webpages.

The Department of Physics is 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 strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds, especially those historically underrepresented in Physics.

For further details about the position please contact Dr Daniel Mortlock, d.mortlock@imperial.ac.uk

Should you have any queries about the application process please contact Louise Hayward, Section Administrator, (l.hayward@imperial.ac.uk)

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level.

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/ 

We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender reassignment, sex, or sexual orientation. We are an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Disability Confident Leader and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

Documents

• Job description- NAT01310.pdf