Open Position PhD Position in the Gamma-ray Group

About IFAE

The Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) is a public consortium of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, Spain) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB, a public university) whose main objective is to carry out research and to contribute to the development of high energy physics from a theoretical, experimental and technological point of view. IFAE has the status of a “University Institute" attached to the UAB and its premises are within the campus of the University.

About Gamma-ray group

The Barcelona Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE) announces the opening of a PhD position of maximum 4 years in the gamma ray group. IFAE is a world-renowned centre for its fundamental research in Particle Physics, Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology, and offers an international, dynamic and competitive environment for the training of young researchers.

The gamma-ray astrophysics group at IFAE has led the design, construction, technical operation, and scientific activity of the latest generations of ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT). The group is one of the founding members of the Collaboration operating the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) Telescopes, for which it provided several key hardware, software, and data management resources. It is also leading the construction and commissioning of the Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) of the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO). IFAE’s gamma-ray group has been consistently involved in the development of reconstruction and analysis software for IACTS, and a contributor - in synergy with the Port D’informaciò Cientifica (PIC), to the processing and management of both MAGIC and LSTs data. The group members are also recognised experts in the analysis of the gamma-ray emission of different astrophysical source classes, with a focus on interpreting these results alongside multi-wavelength observations from other instruments.

Recently, IFAE has joined the newly funded Astrophysics Centre for Multimessenger Studies in Europe (ACME), whose purpose is to create “expertise centres” to facilitate the access both to multimessenger (MM) data and to the tools for their analysis and interpretation. Within the context of ACME, IFAE aims not only at providing access to more than two decades of MAGIC archival observations, but also to develop tools for their interpretation, such as agnpy, a software modelling the non-thermal emission of active galaxies.

The evaluation criteria and their weighting for the submitted applications will be the following:

The process of evaluation and selection guarantees the principles of competition, publicity and transparency. The recruitment of fellows consists in an open selection and the evaluation of candidates will be carried out according to the criteria of the call:

• Criteria 1: Academic and / or scientific-technical trajectory of the candidate (up to 50 points):
  • 1.1 Scientific-technical contributions (up to 45 points): The academic record and other curricular merits of the candidate. Sub criterion
  • 1.2 Mobility and internationalization (up to 5 points): The relevance and impact on the candidate’s research career stays in national and international centers and / or in the industrial sector.
• Criteria 2: Adequacy of the candidate to the research activities to be carried out (up to 50 points).

Offered contract:

The successful candidate will be involved in the development of the agnpy software, with a focus on implementation of new features for MM studies and on interoperability with open-source data analysis tools, such as Gammapy. Within the group, the successful candidate will also participate in the early scientific exploitation of the first LSTs stereoscopic observations. The successful candidate will enjoy a predoctoral contract through the ACME project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101131928 Full time contract (40 hours/week). Internship Contract (1 year maximum) + then Predoctoral Contract; It will last approximately 4 years maximum. The position will correspond to “Research Technician” and later to “Predoctoral Researcher (R1)” within the professional categories of IFAE. Salary will be commensurate with experience and qualifications within the corresponding category range The selected candidate is expected to join IFAE as soon as possible.

Application and Selection process:

Candidates must be enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program at a Spanish university, for the 2024/2025 academic year, or hold a degree that allows admission to the official doctoral programme on the date the contract is formalized.

Interested candidates should submit the application to blanch@ifae.es and rrhh@ifae.es with the reference 2024/54_GAMMA-RAY_PhDStudent

All candidatures submitted before 08/12/2024 will be considered. The position will stay open until filled. The application should include a CV, University and master scores, a letter of motivation and two reference letters.

Sending CVs to the above address implies consent to the IFAE’s legal warning on data privacy. You may contact Dr. Oscar Blanch (blanch@ifae.es ) for any questions related to this job opening.

IFAE is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace and social integration of people with a disability. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates. People from groups that are typically underrepresented in the labour market in general and in Science and Engineering in particular, such as women, minorities, or people with a disability, are particularly encouraged to apply. In compliance with article 121 of the Spanish Public Sector Legal Regime Act, staff with a pre-existing relationship with the Consortium administration (Generalitat de Catalunya and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) will have priority in the awarding of the position.

Funding Statement