Job Offers | ICCUB

The ICCUB is an interdisciplinary centre with more than 70 long term scientists, 20 engineers and 80 postdoctoral researchers (55% international) and PhD students (30%international) offering an international and multicultural environment. The ICCUB also hosts a vibrant fundamental research program in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics, with a strong technology unit supporting our participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics.

As part of the University of Barcelona, it is a recipient of the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) Award, which recognises, among other achievements, respect for equal opportunities and the capacity to attract talent in a positive working environment that promotes the pursuit of successful research careers. The ICCUB respects the principles of open, transparent, merit-based selection.

The ICCUB is located in Barcelona, considered the 8th World's Best Cities 2021: one with near-perfect weather year-round, miles and miles of beaches, iconic parks, striking architecture and colourful neighbourhoods that march to their own beat—artistic, sophisticated, bohemian. Moreover, it is a pole of attraction for the technology sector, a top choice to establish a company in this sector, and it hosts some of the world's major technological events, such as the Mobile World Congress and the Smart City Expo. In addition, Barcelona and its metropolitan area is a leading destination on the map of global technological ecosystems and has infrastructures such as science parks, universities and the 22@ district.

Deadline: 11/02/2022 CLOSED

PREDOCS-UB

The call for the recruitment program for predoctoral researchers at the University of Barcelona (PREDOCS-UB), 2021 will be open from January 17 until February 11, 2022. ...

The call for the recruitment program for predoctoral researchers at the University of Barcelona (PREDOCS-UB), 2021 will be open from January 17 until February 11, 2022.

The aim of this call is to select trainee predoctoral research staff and regulate the procedure for the renewal of these grants, with the aim of promoting research in UB departments and training qualified predoctoral staff in university research and teaching. This University of Barcelona (UB) programme joins other public calls for application for the purpose of strengthening and increasing the prevalence of predoctoral staff at the UB.

Employment conditions

A maximum of a four year contract, subject to an annual assessment. Please read this document for more details.

The gross salary compensation will be 1.188,49€ per month in the first two years, 1.273,38€ per month in the third year and 1.591,73€ per month in the fourth year (these amounts have been calculated in December 2021, and they can change according to the Law). For more information, please refer to this document.

Requirements

Applicants must meet the following requirements prior to the deadline:

The candidate must be enrolled or accepted on a doctoral programme of the UB. Another possibility is that they will be able to be enrolled on the doctoral programme at the time of signing the contract.
Not in possession of a doctoral degree, and they have not defended a doctoral thesis
An average grade of 6.5 or above in the academic transcript, between the bachelor's degree and master's degree
Applicant must be supported by a researcher at the UB, who will be the thesis supervisor.
The thesis supervisor must fulfil the following requirements:
- has an ORCID identifier entered into the GREC CV
- be part of a Catalan research group (SGR) and a competitive ongoing research project

Application Procedure

1. Those interested must fill in the application, attach the corresponding documentation and confirm the submission of the form, which can be accessed through the following website.

In addition, the form published on the Banco Santander platform must be filled in: http://app.becas-santander.com/program/becas-santander-investigacion-convocatoria-predocsub-2021 Students who have applied for the grant but have not completed the Banco Santander form will be excluded from the call. Likewise, those who only fill in the application through Banco Santander will be excluded.

Deadline

Please submit your applications by February 11th 2022. Remember that you must submit your application to Banco Santander's website and the UB's website.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is a research institute of the University of Barcelona. It is an interdisciplinary centre dedicated to fundamental research in the fields of cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics. In addition, the institute has a strong technology program through its participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the Institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

You will be encouraged to contribute and interact with other researchers in the vibrant and international research environment as well as to participate in our outreach initiatives, more information at serviAstro and serviParticules.

As part of the University of Barcelona, the ICCUB is a recipient of the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) Award, which recognises, among other achievements, respect for equal opportunities and the capacity to attract talent in a positive working environment that promotes the pursuit of successful research careers. The ICCUB respects the principles of open, transparent, merit-based selection. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

PREDOCS-UB website

Deadline: 31/01/2022 CLOSED

Firmware or software engineer

The person hired will join the Technological Unit of the Institute of Cosmos Science of the University of Barcelona. ...

The person hired will join the Technological Unit of the Institute of Cosmos Science of the University of Barcelona. We are currently looking for a highly motivated candidate that will work in the development of firmware and software for high-energy physics, astrophysics and medical imaging projects. The candidate will develop systems for validating, controlling and acquiring data from ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) designed by the UB. This position requires skills in FPGA design techniques, low-level programming in C++ and also knowledge in Python programming. The candidate must be capable of working on several projects simultaneously.

The position is for one year, renewable upon mutual agreement and availability of funds for one more year.

Requirements:

The candidate must hold a Bachelor or Master's in Electronics or Telecommunications, applicants with a Doctorate will also be considered.

Essencials:

C++ and Phyton
VHDL or Verilog
TCL scripting language
OS: Linux and Windows
Bus protocols: GPIB, SPI & I2C
Fluent in English

Following knowledge will be a plus:

Sockets & Threads
Development of GUI panels
Laboratory instrumentation control via SCPI commands
Experience in control and data acquisition systems
Intel Quartus design tool
PCB design
Writing technical documentation
Reporting progress and issues

Application process:

Applicants must email Dr. Joan Mauricio (jmauricio@fqa.ub.edu) with the Curriculum Vitae (CV) in free format and a motivation letter.

Review of applications will begin March 15th and will continue until the position is filled. The eligibility period will be extended under special circumstances such as maternity or paternity, among others.

Selection process:

The selection process, according to the number of applicants, will consist of curricular pre-selection and a candidate interview.

a) Curriculum vitae of the applicant. It is important to provide detail concerning tasks, technologies and tools used in previous jobs. Up to 60 points.
b) Candidate interview. In this interview, the candidate has to demonstrate problem-solving skills and technical skills, up to 40 points.
The applicant must score at least 80 points to pass the assessment.

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

The ICCUB is an interdisciplinary center with more than 60 long term scientists, 20 engineers and 80 postdoctoral researchers and PhD students offering an international and multicultural environment. The ICCUB also hosts a vibrant fundamental research program in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics, with a strong technology unit supporting our participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics.

Deadline: 27/01/2022 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowships at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

The doctoral fellowship programme INPhINIT ”la Caixa” is devoted to attracting talented Early-Stage Researchers—of any nationality—who wish to pursue doctoral studies in Spanish or Portuguese territory. Sponsored by ”la Caixa” Foundation, it is aimed at supporting the best scientific talent and fostering innovative and high-quality research in Spain and Portugal by recruiting outstanding international students and offering them an attractive and competitive environment for conducting research of excellence.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona is a research centre accredited with the Spanish Seal of Excellence María de Maeztu in 2020, the perfect place to carry out your PhD project through an INPhINIT Incoming fellowship. The Institute is offering ten different projects:

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

Three annual payments of €34,800 each to the institution to cover the Fellow’s contract, who will receive a gross annual income of €27.724,67. This amount might vary if there are modifications in the legal framework.
€3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.
The ”la Caixa” Foundation will award a prize of €7,500, which will be paid to the fellows who deposit their thesis within 6 months after the third year of their fellowship has ended.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

This programme includes aspects such as technology transfer, entrepreneurship, commercialisation of innovation, intellectual property, leadership, creativity, communication skills, teamwork, personal development, planning, assertiveness and networking.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

Requirements

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree or be in a position to apply for one.

Studies pursued: Applicants must hold a higher education degree that makes them eligible to enrol in a doctoral programme before starting at their host institutions.

The host university will verify, upon starting the admission process to the doctoral programme, that the studies taken up by the selected candidates make them eligible to enrol in an official doctoral programme in accordance with the regulations in force in Spain or Portugal. Should they be found not eligible after verification, the fellowship will be withdrawn.

Under no circumstances may candidates have previously enrolled in the same doctoral studies for which they are applying for the fellowship.

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.
Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

For more information on the candidates requirements, please refer to this document.

Application Procedure

All applications must be submitted online through the following link in English. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline

Please submit your applications by January 27th 2022.

Selection process

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are reviewed to check the accomplishment of the eligibility criteria published in the rules for participation
Pre-selection: each of the eligible application is assessed remotely for at least two evaluators with relevant experience in the same discipline.
Personal interviews: preselected candidates are invited to a personal interview before a multidisciplinary committee.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Application assessment section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Contact: fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org

Funding:This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No713673.

The co-funded part of the programme runs from 01/10/2016 to 30/09/2021 and finances the researchers recruited under Call 2017 and 2018.

Deadline: 17/12/2021 CLOSED

FPU Fellowships

The aim of the call is to award PhD fellowships, which will allow the applicant to hold the title of Doctor at its completion and the acquisition of university teaching skills in any area of scientific knowledge. ...

We are seeking highly talented and motivated students to apply for a FPU (Ministerio de Universidades) PhD grant.

Requirements

Requirements for the applicant:
- Candidates must not hold a PhD.
- Candidates must have enroled to a Doctoral Program at the deadline or, certify you hold a Master degree or an enrolment to a Master the course 2021-2022.
- End date of the Bachelor (240 ECTS) later than January 1st, 2018 or January 1st, 2017 when the Bachelor is of 180 ECTS. This limit can be extended in certain circumstances.
- Bachelor minimum average grade of 7,12
- Master minimum average grade of 8,33
- In the case of degrees obtained in foreign university systems, you must issue a Declaration of Average Grades (more information afterwards).
Requirements for the thesis supervisor:
- The thesis supervisor must hold a PhD and have a contractual relation along the grant with the University.
- The thesis supervisor can support one application per call.

Application procedure

There are two phases:

First phase:
- You must submit the application online. More information once the call will open.
Second phase:
- Applicant's CV
- CV of the thesis supervisor
- Report of the research group of the last five years
- Report of the research project

Check this guide for the application submission.

Check this guide to generate the Declaration of Equivalence of Average Grades by students who studied abroad.

Employment conditions

The duration of the contract is between one and four years.

The gross salary compensation will be 11888,49€ per month in the first two years, 1.273,38€ per month in the third year and 1.591,73€ per month in the fourth year.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

Deadline: 14/12/2021 CLOSED

NEWSPACE_PDG: Desenvolupament arquitectura operativa de la Plataforma Dades Geoespacials NEWSPACE, per a la generació productes i serveis

Les necessàries polítiques i mesures d’adaptació o mitigació dels efectes del canvi climàtic sobre el territori i, en especial, les afectacions de caire socioeconòmic que comporten són absolutament necessàries, però a la vegada precisen de mètriques o indicadors multidisciplinars que en permetin el seguiment, mesura i avaluació amb integritat.
Es fa per tant necessari proveir-se, o ampliar i millorar les existents, amb eines més efectives i complementaries en la identificació i monitorització de forma repetitiva, estable i amb integritat de l’estat, canvis, vulnerabilitat i afectacions sobre el territori com a eina de suport a la decisió.
Existeix un espai o “finestra” d’oportunitat d’innovació i potencial generació de productes i serveis en el nou escenari que plantegen els petits satèl·lits i en especial en el marc de l’estratègia NEWSPACE Catalunya. Els petits satèl·lits, encara més quan es despleguen com a constel·lació, són un “nou” vector de sensors d’observació de la Terra, i per tant exposat, com qualsevol altre enfocament de captació de dades, a avantatges i desavantatges:

• Els costos més baixos permeten que les arquitectures de constel·lació siguin més viables i comporten potencials millors temps de revisita
• Nous actors de la comunitat d’observació de la Terra poden desenvolupar noves capacitats i actius a la frontera estratègica de l’espai, amb riscos menors que grans missions subjectes a grans agències
• Es pot demostrar amb menys riscos la viabilitat de noves visions tecnològiques i / o demostradors científics.

El projecte d’investigació que es proposa per realitzar un doctorat industrial pretén el desenvolupament d’una arquitectura de processament de grans volums de dades geoespacials , que anomenarem Plataforma de Dades Geoespacial o PDG- que generi fluxos computacionals operacionals, dimensionats, optimitzats i controlats que permetin a partir de la ingesta i catalogació de grans volums de dades provinents de la fusió de les dades del segment espai dins l’estratègia Catalunya NewSpace amb dades del programa satèl.lit europeu en Observació de la Terra COPERNICUS i pròpies de l’Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya, generar productes i serveis de valor afegit de la forma més industrialitzada i automàtica possible

La titulació requerida és una Enginyeria de Telecomunicacions o Informàtica, Màster en visió per computador, Físiques o Matemàtiques.

Es valorarà el coneixement de llenguatges de programació com Python, C o C++ i Matlab, de llibreries de processament d'imatges i d'anàlisi de processos estadístics i estocàstics multidimensional.

Les sol·licituds s'han d'enviar per correu a doctorats.industrials.sur@gencat.cat adjuntant aquest formulari.

Més informació aquí

Contacte: Javier Castañeda (jcastañeda@fqa.ub.edu)

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

Deadline: 01/12/2021 CLOSED

Postoctoral Fellowship with the Hadron and Nuclear Theory Group

The Hadron and Nuclear Theory group of the University of Barcelona invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow. ...

The Hadron and Nuclear Theory group of the University of Barcelona invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Job description:

The appointed researcher will be ascribed to the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics (FQA) and also to the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB), a María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence. Overall, the FQA and ICCUB host about 180 staff working in all aspects of cosmological sciences, leading to a vibrant fundamental research program in cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear and particle physics.

The University of Barcelona Hadron and Nuclear Theory group has broad interests, including hadron theory, lattice QCD, quark-gluon plasma physics, nuclear structure, neutron stars and tests of fundamental symmetries using hadrons and nuclei. Senior group members include Mario Centelles, Volodymir Magas, Vincent Mathieu, Javier Menéndez, Assumpta Parreño, Àngels Ramos and Arnau Rios. A more detailed description of the group can be found at the HadNucAtUB web page.

Candidates must hold a PhD in physics at the starting date of the contract. They are expected to have a competitive research record in hadronic and/or nuclear theory, and a strong commitment to pursue cutting-edge research in collaboration with members of the group.

Employment conditions:

The position is offered for two years, and it is expected to begin no later than September 1^st 2022, although earlier starting dates may also be considered.

Gross annual salary includes social security and public healthcare benefits, covering spouse and children.

Application procedure and deadline:

Applicants should provide a curriculum vitae, including list of publications and presentations, and a letter of motivation including research interests. They should also arrange for two or three letters of recommendation.

The application deadline is December 1st.

Applications, including the official application form (please download here), should be sent electronically to the General Affairs Office of the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry of the University of Barcelona through the following email address: oag.fiq@ub.edu

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to Esther Pallarés (secretaria@icc.ub.edu)

For inquiries about the scientific aspects, please contact:

Assumpta Parreño (assum@fqa.ub.edu) or
Javier Menéndez (menendez@fqa.ub.edu)

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

Contract funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

Deadline: 30/11/2021 CLOSED

Postdoctoral positions in String Theory, Gravitation and Cosmology

Postdoctoral positions funded by the String Theory, Gravitation and Cosmology group at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICC), University of Barcelona, are now open. ...

Postdoctoral positions funded by the String Theory, Gravitation and Cosmology group at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICC), University of Barcelona, are now open.

Faculty members at our group include Jorge Casalderrey-Solana, Roberto Emparan, Bartomeu Fiol, Jaume Garriga, Cristiano Germani, David Mateos, Alessio Notari and Enric Verdaguer.

For information about research at the ICC please visit http://icc.ub.edu

Appointments will begin in the Fall of 2022 for a period of 2+1 years, with the third year subject to performance and funding availability. The deadline for applications is November 30th 2021.

The University of Barcelona is part of a group of European institutes with a centralized system of postdoctoral applications. Candidates should apply through the following website, choosing Barcelona as one of their preferred institutes: https://itf.fys.kuleuven.be/postdoc-application/

Interested candidates are also encouraged to apply to other ICC postdoctoral positions in related areas at http://icc.ub.edu/job/offers

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

The ICCUB is an interdisciplinary center with more than 60 long term scientists, 20 engineers and 80 postdoctoral researchers (55% international) and PhD students (30%international) offering an international and multicultural environment. The ICCUB also hosts a vibrant fundamental research program in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics, with a strong technology unit supporting our participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Deadline: 18/11/2021 CLOSED

Postdoc position in theoretical star formation

The Star Formation group of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow. Job description: ...

The Star Formation group of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Job description:

The successful applicant will work under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Padoan, and is expected to carry out tasks under Padoan’s current grant from the Spanish Ministry of Research and Innovation. Such tasks include the development, analysis and interpretation of numerical simulations of the interstellar medium, the comparison of numerical simulations with observational data, the preparation of supercomputing proposals, the preparation of ALMA proposals, and the development of physics modules for an astrophysics code.

Candidates must hold a PhD in physics at the starting date of the contract. They are expected to have a competitive research record in star formation and advanced knowledge in Python and Fortran as well as experience in data analysis, numerical and observational data simulation.

Employment conditions:

The position is offered for one year with the possibility of extension to one addition year depending on funding and performance.

Gross annual salary includes social security and public healthcare benefits, covering spouse and children.

Application procedure and deadline:

Applicants should provide a curriculum vitae, and a letter of motivation including research interests.

The application deadline is November 18th.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to Esther Pallarés (secretaria@icc.ub.edu)

For inquiries about the scientific aspects, please contact:

Paolo Padoan (ppadoan@icc.ub.edu)

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

Contract funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

Deadline: 15/11/2021 CLOSED

Data scientist position in the Gaia Team

We are looking for a researcher with a math/data scientist background to work in the Gaia team of the Institut de Ciències del Cosmos de la Universitat de Barcelona in research on the formation and dynamics of our Galaxy. The project will use data from the Gaia satellite from the European Space Agency and simulations of galaxy evolution. The position consists of searching and designing novel methodologies to analyse data in multidimensional spaces, implement them and perform part of the analysis.

The position is for 6-8 months, with flexible working hours and possibility of part time. The contract corresponds to the established groups of working conditions at the University of Barcelona, with a minimum of 1900 gross salary per month for full time employment, depending on the candidate education level. The contract is expected to start between January and March of 2022. The selection process will stay open until a suitable candidate is found.

The employed candidate will join the Gaia group, which is a multidisciplinary team with about 20 people, including physicist, engineers and mathematicians, working on the development of the Gaia mission and scientific analysis of the data.

Requirements:

The candidate should have preferentially background in math, physics or data science. We will value experience in data analysis, and skills in python, cloud computing and machine learning. We will also value innovation capacity and interest for astrophysics and space.

Contact:

Teresa Antoja: tantoja@fqa.ub.edu

Lola Balaguer: lbalaguer@fqa.ub.edu

Deadline: 11/11/2021 CLOSED

PhD grant on " Beyond the Standard Model: New Particle and Dark Matter"

The Unit of Excellence Maria de Maeztu recognition was awarded to the ICCUB for the second time by the Spanish Government in 2020, as a center with a highly competitive strategic research ...

The Unit of Excellence Maria de Maeztu recognition was awarded to the ICCUB for the second time by the Spanish Government in 2020, as a center with a highly competitive strategic research programmes in the frontiers of knowledge. Thanks to this recognition, we have the opportunity to offer a PhD grant funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033:

- Beyond the Standard Model: New Particle and Dark Matter, PI Eugeni Graugés, Reference CEX2019-000918-M-21-2

Description:

The present data analysis from the LHCb experiment shows tensions between Standard Model (SM) predictions and measurements on several observables. A possible explanation is that those tensions are signs of contributions of new particles not foreseen in the SM, whose mass might be well beyond the reach of LHC center-of-mass energy for direct production, but nevertheless we can observe its effects on precision measurements. The PhD thesis funded by this grant will explore this possibility by increasing the data sample, and thus increase the present measurement precision, by using LHC RUN3 data, and disentangle the nature of the present data/SM-prediction tensions. If new particle contributions were to be found in the LHCb experiment data analysis, those could be clear candidates to take the role of Dark Matter (DM).

Requirements:

Who can apply?

Applicants may be all those who are enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program for the 2021/2022 academic year, at the time of the application submission. Applicants may also be all those people who, at the time of the application submission, not being enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program, will be on the date the contract is formalized, in accordance with article 18.

Applications must be submitted online through this link of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación from October 28 until November 11, 2021 at 2:00PM CET. To request the present research project please use the following reference: CEX2019-000918-M-21-2.

Employment conditions:

Which is the salary?

The minimum salary compensation that researchers in training must receive will be 16.640 euros gross per year for each of the first two years, 17.830 for the third year and 22.290 for the fourth year.

You will also get an additional funding of 6.860€ that you will be able to spend on tuition or research visits, for example. More information, at the article 7.

What is the duration of the contract?

A maximum of four years.

More information here

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

Deadline: 11/11/2021 CLOSED

PhD grant on "Fundamental Physics and Astrophysics from Gravitational Waves"

The ICCUB, ...

The ICCUB, Unit of Excellence María de Maeztu, was awarded this recognition for the second time by the Spanish Government in 2020, as a center with a highly competitive strategic research programme in the frontiers of knowledge. Thanks to this recognition, we have the opportunity to offer a PhD grant funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF Investing in your future”:

- Fundamental Physics and Astrophysics from Gravitational Waves, PI Jordi Miralda, Reference CEX2019-000918-M-21-3

Description:

This thesis project is open to a variety of research projects related to fundamental gravity theory and applications of general relativity in cosmology.

Requirements:

· Who can apply?

Applicants may be all those who are enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program for the 2021/2022 academic year, at the time of the application submission. Applicants may also be all those people who, even though at the time of the application submission are not enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program, they will be on the date the contract is formalized, in accordance with article 18.

Employment conditions:

· Which is the salary?

You will also get an additional funding of 6.860€ that you will be able to spend on tuition or research visits, for example. More information, at the article 7.

· What is the duration of the contract?

A maximum of four years.

More information here

Contact: Jordi Miralda (jmiralda@fqa.ub.edu)

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

As part of the University of Barcelona, the ICCUB is a recipient of the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) Award, which recognises, among other achievements, respect for equal opportunities and the capacity to attract talent in a positive working environment that promotes the pursuit of successful research careers. The ICCUB respects the principles of open, transparent, merit-based selection. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in physical sciences to apply. For additional information, please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Deadline: 11/11/2021 CLOSED

PhD grant on "Structure and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy with Gaia "

The ICCUB, Unit of Excellence María de Maeztu, was awa ...

- Structure and evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy through Gaia, PI Carme Jodi and co-IP Paolo Padoan, Reference CEX2019-000918-M-21-1

Context:

The topic of the PhD will be selected in the following context based on the skills and interests of the candidate.

The vast improvement in astrometric accuracy for nearly 2 billion stars achieved by the Gaia mission is revolutionizing the studies of the Milky Way (MW) and their relation to galaxy evolution and cosmology. Gaia's third data release (in 2020 and 2022) reduces astrometric and photometric uncertainties, will extend the radial velocity survey and will add new products like astrophysical parameters and spectral energy distribution of the sources. The goal of the Gaia team at the ICCUB is to move beyond the local description of the MW into a description and understanding of observed structures in their cosmological framework using data from Gaia and other surveys (Gaia-ESO, WEAVE, 4MOST, OCCASO, MIRADAS and JPLUS/JPAS among others).

Topics covered by our team are:

· Structure and history of the MW, stellar initial mass function and star formation history of its disc

· Star-forming regions, formation and evolution of stellar clusters

· Globular clusters (GCs)

· MW disc structure and evolution, chemical evolution and radial migration in the disc, Galactic potential, spiral arms & bar, perturbations by external galaxies

· Substructure in the phase space of the Galaxy, halo substructures, disk streams

· Binary systems

The ICCUB is uniquely positioned for the Gaia science exploitation because of 1) our participation in the Gaia mission since its beginning, 2) our local expertise on stellar dynamics theory, 3) our leadership in building the Gaia archive with its associated comprehensive repository and Data Mining systems, and 4) our expertise in star formation modelling and GCs science. Moreover, the ICC-Technological Unit (ICC-UT) is developing tools for data mining, distributed computing and big data to better exploit the Gaia archive, and a platform for joint use of Gaia and other survey data for an optimal scientific use by international collaborations.

Check all our team members of the research line here.

Requirements:

· Who can apply?

Applicants may be all those who are enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program at the University of Barcelona for the 2021/2022 academic year, at the time of the application submission. Applicants may also be all those people who, even though at the time of the application submission are not enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program, they will be on the date the contract is formalized, in accordance with article 18.

Employment conditions:

· Which is the salary?

You will also get an additional funding of 6.860€ that you will be able to spend on tuition or research visits, for example. More information, at the article 7.

· What is the duration of the contract?

A maximum of four years.

More information here

Contact: Carme Jordi (carme@fqa.ub.edu)

Lola Balaguer-Núñez (lbalaguer@fqa.ub.edu)

About the Institute of Cosmos Sciences:

Deadline: 20/10/2021 CLOSED

FI Fellowships

Job offer description: ...

Job offer description:

The aim of the call is to award grants for the recruitment of pre-doctoral research staff and to promote their training and research activity for a maximum period of three years. These grants should contribute to increasing the qualification and professionalisation of contracted research staff and strengthening the generation of frontier knowledge in research and its transfer.

We are seeking highly talented and motivated students to apply for a FI (AGAUR) PhD grant.

Requirements:

Individual candidates' requirements:

Have completed the studies for admission to a PhD programme between 1 January 2019 and the time of submission of the application (check exceptions here).
Shall have been accepted into the PhD programme
At the date of the start of the contract, they should be enrolled in a PhD programme for the academic year 2021-2022.
The candidates may not have benefited in previous calls from any FI grant or FI SDUR grant. Nor may they have benefited from more than 12 months of any other contract for predoctoral research staff in training.
Not having a PhD.
Have a minimum average grade of academic transcript for undergraduate studies or the equivalent degree equal to or greater than 6.5 (scale from 0 to 10).
In the event that studies have been completed abroad, the average grade on the academic record must be calculated according to the equivalent average grades set forth in the current resolutions of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
Candidates are responsible for calculating their average grades and the aforementioned statements of equivalence. They do not need further validation from any public institution.

2. Supervisors of the individual candidates' requirements:

Form part of the staff or be associated with the entity affiliated to the grant application, according to the statutes or through a contract. This association should ensure sufficient supervision and monitoring of the individual candidate’s doctoral thesis. Check exclusion criteria.
Be part of a research group recognized by the Government of Catalonia (SGR).
Be the principal researchers or members of the research project, contract or research agreement or transfer which the individual candidate joins or is associated with. In the case of research agreements or contracts or in the transfer of knowledge, they must have a minimum value of €24,000.00. They must be in force at the time of application and at the time of the incorporation of the candidate’s incorporation into the affiliated entity. Projects which have already been accepted at the time of submitting the application will also be considered.
If the project, contract or agreement in force at the time of submitting the application ends or is not renewed before the incorporation of the candidate, it may be replaced by a new project, contract or agreement.

Neither support grants to groups recognized by the Government of Catalonia (SGR) nor grants with the purpose of incorporating research staff are considered competitive research projects.
Each thesis supervisor may only appear on one application.

Look for your supervisor among our researchers!

Application procedure:

Documentation:

An annexed form which includes a brief curriculum of the individual candidate, a summary of the project and of the scientific objectives.
If the research project, contract or research agreement has been awarded to another entity different to the affiliated entity, it will be necessary to attach a document which enables this project, contract or agreement to be identified.
Academic record: Candidates who apply to a center other than the university where they have completed their bachelor's, engineering, architecture or diploma or master's studies, must present the academic transcripts of the studies in which the date of obtaining the degree appears as well as the average grade.
If applicable, it will also be necessary to submit the statements of equivalence of the average grades.
If necessary, a copy of the corresponding supporting documentation relating to any exceptional situations provided for in the grant rules.
Additional documentation required by the entity affiliated with the grant.

Before applying, you must check if there is any specific documentation required by the university, research centre or hospital foundation through which the grant is requested.

Application:

1. Download the form(attached, only available in Catalan)

2. Fill in the form and validate, sign and save

3. Send for processing and receive confirmation of receipt

All the information can be found here.

The Deadline is October 20, 2021. The deadline to confirm or reject provisional applications if2 November 2021.

For EU citizens, the deadline for starting a contract is 1 May 2022. For non EU citizens, the deadline is 1 July 2022.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

ICCUB offers and promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and encourages applications regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation (for additional information please see the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission.

About us:

The ICCUB is an interdisciplinary centre with more than 70 long term scientists, 20 engineers and 80 postdoctoral researchers (55% international) and PhD students(30%international) offering an international and multicultural environment. The ICCUB also hosts a vibrant fundamental research program in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics, with a strong technology unit supporting our participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics.

The ICCUB is locatedin Barcelona, considered the 8th World's Best Cities 2021: one with near-perfectweather year-round, miles and miles of beaches, iconic parks, striking architecture and colourful neighbourhoods that march to their own beat—artistic, sophisticated, bohemian. Moreover, it is a pole of attraction for the technology sector, a top choice to establish a company in this sector, and it hosts some of the world's major technological events, such as the Mobile World Congress and the Smart City Expo. In addition, Barcelona and its metropolitan area is a leading destination on the map of global technological ecosystems and has infrastructures such as science parks, universities and the22@ district.

Deadline: 14/10/2021 CLOSED

Serra Hunter Lecturer

Applications are invited for a Serra Hunter Lecturer position (https://serrahunter.gencat.cat/en/inici/index.html) at the Atomic, Molecular & Nuclear Physics Area of the University of Barcelona. ...

Applications are invited for a Serra Hunter Lecturer position (https://serrahunter.gencat.cat/en/inici/index.html) at the Atomic, Molecular & Nuclear Physics Area of the University of Barcelona. The Group has broad interests,including nuclear and hadronic physics; quantum many-body physics; quark-gluon plasma physics; radiation physics and quantum technologies1.

Appointed Lecturers will advance their own research agenda in a theoretical orexperimental area close to the interests of the group. Lecturers also teach at the University,mostly within the Faculty of Physics (https://www.ub.edu/portal/web/physics), with a load that is roughly equivalent to that of permanent members of staff. Group members are also typically ascribed to the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICC-UB, http://icc.ub.edu/), a Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence with about 180 staff working in all aspects of cosmological sciences. We acknowledge, understand and embrace cultural and gender diversity.

This is a full-time contract for a period of no more than five years. At the end of the contract, the university undertakes to open a competition for a permanent contract as associate professor, provided that the candidates have passed an assessment of their working in the last year of the fixed-term contract.

Candidates must hold a PhD in physics. The Serra Hunter Programme selection process involves two different steps (for details, see https://serrahunter.gencat.cat/en/informacio_per_als_candidats/proces_de_seleccio).

STEP 1

The first step is an international call, which is now open with deadline on14 October 2021Candidates need to present their applications via the SHP portal(https://serrahunter.gencat.cat/en/informacio_per_als_candidats/presentacio-decandidatures/index.html). As an administrative requirement, candidates that do not hold the accreditation by the Catalan Accreditation Agency (AQU) at the Lector level will be given the opportunity to obtain it after submitting the application. This is a pre requisite for Step 2.

STEP 2

The second step is a sifting process, based at the University but supervised by an international Selection Committee. The first, eliminatory phase of Step 2 consists of an evaluation of the candidates' specific merits. The second phase is an on-campus interview, in which the candidates' suitability is assessed.

Prospective applicants in nuclear physics are encouraged to contact Dr Javier Menéndez(menendez@fqa.ub.edu) and/or Dr Arnau Rios (arnau.rios@icc.ub.edu) for further information.

Deadline: 12/10/2021 CLOSED

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships at the ICCUB

The goal of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary ...

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality. The scheme also encourages researchers to work on research and innovation projects in the non-academic sector and is open to researchers wishing to reintegrate in Europe, to those who are displaced by conflict, as well as to researchers with high potential who are seeking to restart their careers in research.

All domains of research and technological development are eligible for funding.

Fellowship types:

There are two types of fellowships:

1. European Postdoctoral Fellowships (EPF)

EPF are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving to Europe
EPF must last between 12 and 24 months

2. Global Postdoctoral Fellowships (GPF)

GPF are open to European nationals or long-term residents who wish to engage in R&I projects with organisations outside European Union and Associated Countries.
GPF must last between 24 and 36 months (12-24 outgoing phase and 12 months mandatory return phase in Europe)

For both types:

An additional period of up to six months can be awarded to support researchers seeking a placement at the end of the project to work on R&I projects in an organisation from the non-academic sector.
Researchers may opt to include a worldwide secondment phase, within the overall duration of their fellowship. The secondment phase cannot exceed one third of the standard fellowship duration (EPF) or the outgoing phase (GPF)

Eligible Researchers

Researches can be of any nationality and must:

Be in possession of PhD at the call deadline.
A maximum of 8 years full-time research experience after the date of award of the doctoral degree.
Not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of the recruiting beneficiary (or host organization for GPF) for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date.

Financial Support

The salary conditions of a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow is very competitive in relation to the average cost of living in Barcelona. It provides the following entries yearly allocated:

Monthly living allowance: 5.080€ per month.
Mobility allowance: 600€ per month.
Family allowance: 660€ per month.

Application procedure

Your supervisor should be a researcher at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona, please contact him or her and express your interest to join our institute.

The deadline is October 12, 2021 and the results are expected to be public by early 2022.

What can the ICCUB do for you?

The International Research Projects Office at the University of Barcelona offers support to applicants and guidance throughout all this process: eligibility check, info sessions, feedback on the draft proposal and runs a Mentoring programme specifically designed for MSCA applicants (subject to availability).

Please contact us at your earliest convenience if you are planning on applying.

About us

As part of the University of Barcelona, it is a recipient of the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) Award, which recognizes, among other achievements, respect for equal opportunities and the capacity to attract talent in a positive working environment that promotes the pursuit of successful research careers. The ICCUB respects the principles of open, transparent, merit-based selection.

More information

Deadline: 07/10/2021 CLOSED

Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowships, Incoming Programme

“La Caixa” Foundation is launching a postdoctoral fellowships program in which candidates will be able to conduct a research project at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu excellence award, Institutos de Investigación Sanit ...

Description of our Institute:

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) is an interdisciplinary center devoted to fundamental research in the fields of cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics. In addition, the Institute has a strong technology program through its participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics. Moreover, the institute is an interdisciplinary centre with more than 70 long term scientists, 20 engineers and 80 postdoctoral researchers (55% international) and PhD students (30%international) offering an international and multicultural environment.

The ICCUB has been awarded the Maria de Maeztu distinction which recognizes our leadership and research impact. Our main lines of research, as well as the associated faculty members, can be found here: http://icc.ub.edu/research/research_areas

The ICCUB is concerned about the under representation of women, as well as other underrepresented minorities in the fields of sciences of the cosmos, and therefore strongly encourages their application.

Junior Leader Fellowships Programme Description:

The Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships programme is aimed at hiring excellent researchers, of any nationality, who wish to continue their research career in Spain or Portugal in the STEM area (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The objectives of this programme are to foster high-quality, innovative research in Spain and Portugal and to support the best scientific talent by providing them with an attractive, competitive environment in which to conduct excellent research.

The Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships programme is divided into two different frames, to conduct your research project at the Institute you must apply to the Incoming programme:

Postdoctorate Junior Leader – Incoming: 25 postdoctoral fellowships for researchers of all nationalities. They will be offered a three-year employment contract to conduct a research project at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu excellence award, Institutos de Investigación Sanitaria Carlos IIII and units evaluated as excellent by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia of Portugal.
For Spanish institutions, candidates must have resided in Spain less than 12 months in the last three years while for Portuguese institutions, candidates must have resided in Portugal less than 12 months in the last three years.

Requirements:

Researchers of any nationality are eligible for the Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships programme. In order to get accepted, candidates must meet the following requirements:

Experience: They should have earned their doctoral degree two to seven years prior to the deadline of the call for applications. The date of the doctoral thesis defence will be understood as the date when the doctoral degree was obtained. In the cases of interruption of the research activity between the date of obtaining the doctoral degree and the call deadline, the candidate may request an extension of the period in which the doctoral degree must have been obtained.
Geographic mobility:
For candidates applying to Spanish centres or units: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than twelve months in the three years immediately preceding the closing date of the call. Short stays, such as holidays, will not be taken into account.
For candidates applying to Portuguese units: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than twelve months in the three years immediately preceding the closing date of the call. Short stays, such as holidays, will not be taken into account.
Special mobility condition could apply for the in the cases of interruption of the research activity or researchers who have spent time in the procedure for obtaining the refugee status under the Geneva Convention.
Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

Application: ”la Caixa” fellowship application website

Deadline: 30/07/2021 CLOSED

Margarita Salas Fellowships

Objective: To train young doctors in Spanish public universities, foreign universities or research centers, or in Spanish public research organisms by means of subsidizing them for two continuous years. ...

Objective: To train young doctors in Spanish public universities, foreign universities or research centers, or in Spanish public research organisms by means of subsidizing them for two continuous years.

These grants have a full duration of two years, and may be scheduled to start between January 1st and April 1st, 2022.

The second year must be developed at the University of Barcelona or at a Spanish university of the applicant’s choice, even if the doctorate has been obtained.

Conditions:

The aid amounts to 3,500 gross euros per month for stays abroad and 2,800 gross euros per month for stays in Spain, including the last year. In addition, a single payment of 3,500 gross euros is made as a transfer fee.

Requirements:

- You must have obtained the title of doctor at the University of Barcelona within a maximum of two years prior to the closing date for the submission of applications (July 30). This period is extended when certain circumstances arise, please consult the rules of the call.

-People who request to do part or all of their stay at the UB can apply to the UB as long as they meet the other requirements.

- Apply for incorporation to carry out a continuous stay for two years in a Spanish public university, or during the first year in foreign universities or research centers or in Spanish public research organizations. In all cases, they must be different from those in which the pre-doctoral training was taken and the doctorate was obtained.

Documentation:

- CV, abbreviated curriculum

- Copy of the doctorate degree, except if issued by the UB.

- Scientific and technical history of the receiving group, stating the group's collaborations with the University of Barcelona and the report justifying the impact on the progress of the applicant's teaching and research career, Annex 2. This must be done both for the host group of the university or research center in which the stay will take place in the first year, and for the host center for the last year.

- Document of acceptance of the formative stay of the receiving group 1, and if applicable of the receiving group 2. Annex 3 and Annex 4.

Submission of the application:

Through this website before July 30th.

Evaluation criteria:

a) Abbreviated curriculum vitae of the applicant (up to 50 points)

b) Scientific and technical history of the receiving group or groups (up to 30 points). Collaborations of the receiving group with the University of Barcelona are taken into account.

c) Supporting reports (up to 20 points)

The applicant must score at least 80 points to pass the assessment.

All the information regarding this call can be found here.

Deadline: 30/07/2021 CLOSED

María Zambrano Fellowship

Objective: To make Spanish public universities attractive to teaching and research staff with accumulated postdoctoral careers in foreign universities or research centers. ...

Objective: To make Spanish public universities attractive to teaching and research staff with accumulated postdoctoral careers in foreign universities or research centers.

These grants may last for one or two full years, and may be scheduled to start between January 1st and April 1st, 2022.

Conditions:

The amount of aid is 4,000 gross euros per month. In addition, a single payment of 3,500 gross euros is made as a transfer fee.

Requirements:

- 24 months of accredited postdoctoral experience which must be done in a different center from where the doctoral thesis was defended.

- The applicant must be a teaching and research staff with a doctorate, and at the time of submitting the application be developing a research project and/or teaching at a university, research center, or organization located outside Spain. The applicant must also reside in the country where the university or center of origin is located.

Documentation:

- CV, abbreviated curriculum

- Accreditation of the postdoctoral trajectory, Annex 7

- Document of acceptance of the stay, Annex 8

- Report justifying the applicant's suitability for the research and knowledge transfer needs of the recipient group and their expected impact, Annex 9

Submission of the application:

Through this website before July 30th.

Evaluation criteria:

a) Abbreviated curriculum vitae of the applicant (up to 50 points)

b) Scientific and technical history of the receiving group or groups (up to 30 points). Collaborations of the receiving group with the University of Barcelona are taken into account.

c) Supporting reports (up to 20 points)

The applicant must score at least 80 points to pass the assessment.

Deadline: 28/07/2021 CLOSED

PhD Grants for Astrophysics students

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is offering 10 PhD grants for students who have taken a masters in astrophysics or high energy particle Physics. We strongly encourage women and minority communities to apply.Deadline: 28/07/2021 ...

Deadline: 28/07/2021

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in BSM models from Dark Matter searches

Research project:

Physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is motivated by different theoretical arguments and experimental facts. One of them is the existence of Dark Matter (DM), which can be interpreted as a BSM particle or sector, five times more abundant than Standard Model (SM) matter in our universe. The nature of DM and its interactions with SM particles is thus a window to the structure of the next generation BSM theory, intended to answer the main questions that the SM leaves unanswered. In particular, BSM models must provide a DM candidate satisfying cosmological requirements and modern experimental DM searches, both in collider experiments that can produce DM particles and direct DM detection experiments in the lab.

The ICCUB is involved in the LHCb experiment (with ongoing searches for invisible particles), in the nuclear physics of DM interacting with nuclei, and in the IAXO experiment dedicated to axion searches both from the Sun and the DM. The QCD axion and axion-like particles in general provide other DM candidates with different experimental signatures depending on axion couplings, which are again the subject of theoretical research on BSM physics.

The goal of this project is to map the spectrum of BSM models in the context of DM as confronted by present experimental bounds, and to further establish the discovery potential of current and future experiments. The student will be able to collaborate broadly in the Institute with experts on particle physics phenomenology, experimentalists and cosmologists working on the nature of DM, with a shared thesis supervision by Prof. Federico Mescia and Dr. Javier Virto.

Job position description:

The candidate will work on a PhD thesis providing a characterization of BSM models (at the fundamental and Effective-Field-Theory levels) that provide viable DM candidates in view of present and near future experiments of three types: 1. collider experiments searching for invisible states (LHCb and Belle-2), 2. direct detection experiments (XenonNT), and 3. axion searches (IAXO). This requires a synergy between particle-physics phenomenology and nuclear physics.

The candidate is expected to hold a Master’s degree in theoretical physics, with basic knowledge on Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model. The candidate will participate actively in the scientific activities of the institute (journal clubs, seminars, discussions, ...), acquire the knowledge and competence to produce research of high quality in the area of particle physics phenomenology, and publish the research work on international peer-reviewed journals and present it at international workshops and conferences.

More information:

Group Leader: Prof. Federico Mescia

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- Three annual payments of €34,800 each. Where applicable, the amounts corresponding to the Social Security contributions payable by the employer (in this case, the host institution), as well as any other compulsory fee, whether current or that may be provided for in a future legal framework, will be deducted from the yearly gross amount of €34,800 to be received by the fellow.

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

The ”laCaixa” Foundation will award a prize of €7,500, which will be paid in the fourth year, should the fellow be able to deposit their thesis within 6 months after the third year of their fellowship has ended.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

Three sessions will be held: at the start of the fellowship, during the second year, and during the third year. Each session will last between 3 and 5 days, and attendance is mandatory for all fellows. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will coverall costs for these sessions, as well as the fellows’ accommodation and travel expenses.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

- To have completed the studies that lead to an official university degree adapted to the European Higher Education Area awarding 300 ECTS credits, of which at least 60ECTS credits must correspond to master level.

- To have completed a degree in a university not adapted to the European Higher EducationArea that gives access to doctoral studies. The verification of an equivalent level of studies to the ones mentioned above will be made by the university when the admission procedure starts.

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Mining the Gaia catalogue: structure and kinematics of the Milky Way and the LMC

Research project:

The Gaia mission (ESA) is providing extensive catalogues with an unprecedented amount of data of extremely high precision. The upcoming third releases (EDR3 and DR3), with more than 1 billion stars, will constitute the ideal dataset for the study of the structure and kinematics of the Milky Way (MW).

The Gaia data has already unveiled a rich substructure of very young groups of stars and detected many unknown ones. We aim to explore the bunch of new Gaia data and from large spectrographs to detect distant and poor Open Clusters (OC) that have been unnoticed so far. The analysis of the cluster population will allow the understanding of the mechanisms of their formation and disruption and their contribution to the disc of the MW and, together with field stars, contribute to describe the chemo-dynamical history the disc.

Gaia has also been key to unveil the history of the MW and the fine details of its kinematics. In particular, its halo appears to be full of stellar substructures (dwarf and ultrafaint galaxies, and remnants of these systems) in agreement with the current model of galaxy formation. We aim to detect the faintest relics of satellite galaxies that may be hidden due to their distant location and low number of stars by using data mining techniques to look for small over-densities in the phase space of the stars. These findings will be relevant for the comparison with cosmological models, the understanding of how small galaxies are disrupted, and to fit the gravitational potential and history of the MW.

Beyond the MW, we will also use the new Gaia data to improve and extend our knowledge of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Extending our published work on its structure and kinematics, we will combine the Gaia data with other surveys to produce a full analysis of the Cloud, also identifying and studying its constituting populations and its substructures. If possible, this analysis will be extended to other members of the Local Group.

Job position description:

The PhD will be carried on a the ICCUB, integrated in the Gaia group which has long experience in the design, development, operation, archive and data exploitation of the mission. He/she will also benefit from the collaboration and interaction with the software engineering group at the ICCUB Technological Unit in order to develop and utilize Big Data and Data Mining tools to take full advantage of the amount and unique quality of the Gaia data; for this purpose we will develop data mining algorithms and probabilistic (hierarchical Bayesian) models and deploy them in supercomputing facilities.

The work in the PhD will combine the advanced data analysis and the scientific exploitation of the Gaia data and related surveys. The student will be formed in Data Science, data modelling and distributed computing, and will design, implement and deploy probabilistic models using state-of-the-art hardware and software infrastructures. These tools will run in the computing facilities accessible to the group and the institute, including the MareNostrum supercomputer, the CSUC facilities and Cloud environments. These tools will be applied to the scientific exploitation of the Gaia data for the objectives outlined above, which are in the forefront of the worldwide current investigations of the MW, its neighbourhood and its cosmological context.

Let us finally note that these developments have synergies with other groups at the institute, among others the wide team of researchers working on large-scale structure and observational cosmology.

More information:

Group Leader: Prof. Xavier Luri

X. Luri page at Gaia site

Web page of the Gaia group at the ICCUB

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Black hole mergers from star clusters

The doctoral fellowship programme INPhINIT "la Caixa" is devoted to attracting talented Early-Stage Researchers - of any nationality - who wish to pursue doctoral studies in Spanish or Portuguese territory. Sponsored by "la Caixa" Foundation, it is aimed at supporting the best scientific talent and fostering innovative and high-quality research in Spain and Portugal by recruiting outstanding international students and offering them an attractive and competitive environment for conducting research of excellence.

Research project:

The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) has opened a new window in our understanding of the Universe. The vast majority of the GW detections by the Advanced LIGO-Virgo interferometers are binary black holes (BBHs) with stellar masses (< 100 solar masses). The origin of these BBHs is an open question: they may have a cosmological origin and be part of the dark matter in the universe. Alternatively, they have an astrophysical origin and formed from binary/triple massive stars, or in dynamical interactions in dense stellar systems such as star clusters (SCs).

Several studies have shown that dynamically formed BBH mergers in SCs might be the dominant contribution to BBH mergers in the Universe. The BBH merger rate and binary properties in this scenario depend sensitively on the initial properties of SCs that formed between now and more than 10 Gyr ago. This opens the possibility to constrain star and star cluster formation at high redshift byGWs. To achieve this, we need independent constraints on the formation of star clusters from star formation theory as well as the present-day properties ofSCs.

The staff at ICCUB works on comprehensive, multi-physics and multi-scale computational models of the long-term evolution of stars and BHs in star clusters (Prof MarkGieles) and star (cluster) formation (Prof Paolo Padoan). The student will also benefit from interactions with members of the ICCUB cosmology group led by ProfLicia Verde and the ICCUB Galactic dynamics group led by Prof Carme Jordi. The student will have access to large supercomputing allocations through the European PRACE program and local special-purpose hardware (Graphics ProcessingUnits, GPUs), to carry out state-of-the-art astrophysical simulations. The ICCUB is a full member of the Virgo collaboration and actively involved in Gaia and Weave, such that you will work on the forefront of computational astrophysics, GWs and Milky Way research.

Job position description:

The presence of BHs in SCs has consequences for the observed density profile, kinematics and escape rate of stars. The present-day properties of SCs and their stellar streams can therefore be used to constrain the demographics of BHs in SC today. In particular, the student will exploit the wealth of kinematics provided by the Gaia space telescope and related surveys such as Weave to study the properties of both dissolved and surviving SCs with the help of dynamical models for the evolution of SCs with BHs as well as mass models of the present-day mass distribution of SCs with BHs. These models are fast enough to be used in Bayesian inference techniques to derive constraints on the initial masses and densities of observed SCs in the Milky Way, as well as their evolution and resulting BBH mergers.

The student has the option to get involved in multi-physics and multi-scale simulations of star cluster formation, to obtain independent constraints on SC formation from star formation theory.

The results for the Milky Way SC population are extrapolated to compute the BBH merger rates of all SCs in the Universe across cosmic time. The predictions include merger rate as a function of redshift, BH mass, mass ratio and the distribution of orbital eccentricities. These will be compared to GW data of BBH mergers in the ongoing LIGOVirgo (and soon Kagra) observing runs, to provide tight constraints on the fraction of all BBH mergers that originate from the dynamical channel and use GWs to constrain star and SC formation both in the present and in the early Universe!

More information:

Website of Prof Mark Gieles

Website of Prof Paolo Padoan

Website of ICC

Paper discussing the contribution of BBH mergers from star clusters

Paper describing a fast model for the evolution of star clusters and resulting BBH merger

Paper on supermassive star formation in globular clusters

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Machine learning for few-body quantum systems

Research project:

Supervised machine-learning is emerging as a potentially disruptive technique to accurately predict the properties of complex quantum systems. It has already allowed researchers to drastically speed-up various important computational tasks in quantum chemistry and in condensed-matter physics [1,2], including: molecular dynamics simulations, electronic structure calculations, structure-based molecular design, and protein-molecule binding-affinity predictions. The deep neural networks represent the most powerful and versatile statistical model.

Training them without over-fitting requires extremely copious datasets, often comprising hundreds of thousands of training instances. A possible approach is to adopt a transfer-learning strategy, as often done in the field of image analysis. In the case of quantum systems, transfer learning can be implemented by scaling to larger sizes neural networks that have been trained on smaller – therefore, computationally tractable – systems. A statistical model including particle number as an explicit system descriptor was recently investigated by our group in collaboration with Dr. S. Pilati (U. Camerino) [3].

The project will consist in devising proper artificial neural networks to describe interacting few-body systems which are nowadays produced in ultracold atomic gases experiments around the world [4]. In particular, we aim at having a proper model which uses as descriptors the confining potential, the particle number and the interaction strength for contact interacting bosons. We will generalize our model to dipolar interatomic interactions [5], which are long range and anisotropic.

[1] G. Carleo et al, Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 045002 (2019)

[2] J. Carrasquilla, Adv. Phys.-X 5, 1797528 (2020)

[3] P. Mujal, A. Martínez Miguel, A. Polls, B. Juliá-Díaz, S. Pilati, arXiv:2010.03875 (2020)

[4] AN Wenz et al, Science 342, 457 (2013)

[5] A. Gallemí, M. Guilleumas, R. Mayol, A. Sanpera, Phys. Rev. A 88, 063645 (2013)

Job position description:

The main objectives of this work are:

Learn and apply the Machine Learning techniques to a few-body quantum system; train and adapt the available codes and improve them to our particular system.
Generalize the neural network to more sophisticated interatomic interactions, such as the dipolar one, which in contrast to the usual contact interactions, is long range and anisotropic.
Apply the sophisticated code to related many-body systems, for instance, large ultracold atomic samples, or nuclear and astronuclear systems.

The fellow will join the Quantum Technologies area of the ICCUB and will participate actively in our Quantum Technologies meetings and seminars. The fellow will pursue possible synergies in the Institute exploring the application of Machine Learning in other areas such as Nuclear and Astronuclear Physics. We will seek collaboration with experts in theoretical nuclear and astronuclear physics such as Dr. Arnau Rios. The student will join our network of international collaborators.

During the PhD period the student will participate in Schools and Workshops to strengthen his/her background, and he/she will be encouraged to present the results of the research at international conferences. The fellow is expected to learn: i) Performing theoretical and computational high-quality research; ii) Participating in the preparation of manuscripts for publication and of presentations at scientific conferences.

The PhD thesis will be co-supervised by two members of the Quantum Technologies group, Dr. Bruno Juliá and Dr. Montserrat Guilleumas, to profit from the different backgrounds and approaches used in this area. This will strengthen and broaden the formation of the fellow.

More information:

The page contains the current research in quantum technologies and related areas carried out at the ICCUB.

Web page of the group leader: Prof. Bruno Julià

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Dark energy and large-scale structure surveys

Research project:

Cosmology has now a standard model -the so called LCDM model- which, with only a handful of parameters, can describe the evolution Universe over the past 13.7 Gyrs. The LCDM model has many deep connections with fundamental physics issues (particle physics, high-energy physics, gravitation etc.). While the numerical values of the model’s parameters are determined with unprecedented precision, we still have limited insights on the physical meaning of some of these parameters values. This model leaves many unanswered questions such as: what is dark energy? what is the origin of primordial perturbations? are there indications for deviations for the model which may indicate our lack of understanding of the Universe?

Our main research interest is making the connection between cosmological observations and the physics behind the standard cosmological model, hoping to shed some light on the “open questions” in cosmology.

You will join the Physical Cosmology research group, and you will have the opportunity to get involved, under the wings of the group members, with the analysis and interpretation of the state-of-the-art galaxy redshift survey DESI (https://www.desi.lbl.gov). DESI is a truly global collaboration involving institutions and researchers from all around the world. You will be able to join the collaboration working groups that you find most suitable and interesting.

Job position description:

A PhD teaches you to do research and become a scientist. This is achieved by carrying out a research project, which is then presented in a thesis.

A good PhD student is expected to produce such a thesis, which is an original piece of work (roughly equivalent to three published peer-reviewed articles), by the end of the PhD, and to be able to present the work and defend it in front of a thesis committee. The PhD program is a guided path towards research independence. While at the beginning, the student is being closely supervised by a senior group member, by the end of the program the student is expected to collaborate with the group members as a peer. As part of the PhD, besides carrying out to completion your research project, you can expect to read articles, discuss them, participate to group meetings and seminars, conferences and workshops, present your work or interesting articles you might have read, and contribute to the intellectual life of the group. You can expect to travel to scientific visits and conferences (pandemic situation permitting). You are expected to take responsibility of your research project, and report on your work progress (or difficulties you might encounter and plans to overcome them) at least weekly to your advisor.

Requirements: physics of astronomy degree (or related disciplines), knowledge of cosmology.

Welcome plus: Statistics, computer literacy.

Important skills to have include: coding and programming, speaking, reading and writing in English, independence, effective communication, critical and creative thinking. Teamwork as well as domain knowledge (physics, astronomy, cosmology).

More information:

PI presentation: Prof. Licia Verde

Home page of the group leader

Page of the research group

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in On the out-of-equilibrium dynamics with tensor networks

Research project:

Quantum many-body systems. They are made by thousands of constituents that, when strongly interacting, give rise to a plethora of exotic phenomena, from confinement in QCD to high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates. We still struggle to understand them but at equilibrium, some progress has been made by using numerical simulations based on Tensor Networks. Our group has pioneered the use of these tools.

Out of equilibrium. The out-of-equilibrium dynamics of many-body quantum systems cannot be solved from first principles. As a consequence, we only have a conjectural understanding, of major physical phenomena, such as, the formation of the quark gluon plasma in heavy ions collision at high-energies, or the appearance of transient superconducting states in materials irradiated by femto-second laser pulses at room temperature.

Quantum technologies, out-of-equilibrium processes. They are based on highly sophisticated out-of-equilibrium processes that transform easy to prepare initial states of many-body quantum systems into strongly correlated states. Those are useful for specific tasks, e.g computation or sensing. In order to design better quantum technologies we need to improve our capabilities to simulate out-equilibrium phenomena.

Research objectives. At ICCUB we develop new tensor networks algorithms allowing us to better describe the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of quantum systems. We deploy the new algorithms and describe processes relevant to the current experiments with ultra-cold atoms, trapped ions, superconducting qubits, and exotic quantum materials. Examples include 1D gauge theories where we currently investigate the presence/lack of thermalization after quenches and the out-of-equilibrium dynamics close to dynamical quantum phase transitions. All these are examples of our research activities aiming at supporting the design and benchmark of improved quantum technologies for the second quantum revolution.

Job position description:

The PhD student will work on

Benchmark the new tensor-network algorithms we have recently developed. The algorithm describes the evolution of local operators after a quench for 1D and 2D systems and thus can be used to tackle the presence/absence of thermalization in those systems and thus reconcile statistical physics with quantum mechanics ( Phys. Rev. B 99, 235115
Deploy the new algorithms in quenches in cold-atomic and trapped-ions systems relevant to the experiments (see our recent Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 180602 ) aiming to engineer strongly correlated non-equilibrium states relevant to quantum technologies (e.g. quantum memories)
Characterize the emerging universality we have recently observed at dynamical quantum phase transitions (see our recent Phys. Rev. B 101, 241107(R) ) and try to formulate a renormalization group approach for these transitions aiming at a new analytical framework for the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems
Generalize our algorithms to advanced tensor network structures. Despite their complexity they seem to provide a unique possibility to describe the out-of-equilibrium evolution of the full wave function of strongly correlated many-body quantum systems.

We will pursue synergies within the Institute by exploring alternative descriptions of the out-of-equilibrium processes in terms of field theories and their holographic descriptions. The student will collaborate with the Post Docs in the group and join our network of international collaborators, including the European Tensor Network, and the QTFLAG network we belong to and researchers from ICFO, SISSA IFF and IFT we collaborate with. During the PhD the fellow is expected to learn to

Perform theoretical and computational high-quality research
Develop, implementing and maintaining scientific software in large collaborations
Participate in the preparation of manuscripts for publication and of presentations at scientific conferences;

More information:

GroupLeader: Prof. Luca Tagliacozzo

Personal page at the ICCUB

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Effective theories for black hole dynamics

Research project:

The investigation of black hole collisions and mergers, and more generally the study of black hole dynamics, although one of the most important problems in gravitational theory, is a notoriously difficult subject due to the complexities of Einstein’s equations. However, in recent years our group at ICCUB has developed novel approaches, based on an expansion in the inverse of the number of dimensions, that are proving to be surprisingly effective and which allow much simpler and faster solutions without requiring sophisticated numerical calculations. In this project we will explore: (i) how these methods allow to describe the final plunge, merger, and relaxation in a binary black hole collision; (ii) the possibility of extracting the gravitational wave signal from these phases; (iii) whether the effective theory can clarify the approach to the formation of naked singularities that are expected to occur in certain unstable black holes; (iv) find an analytic description of critical collapse in the 1/D expansion; (v) analyze what these violations of cosmic censorship imply for the observability of quantum-gravitational effects in black hole collapse and collisions; (vi) potential implications of the violations for the holographic AdS/CFT correspondence of quantum gravity.

Job position description:

The work to be done is theoretical, and mostly analytical, possibly aided by numerical calculations but not going beyond modest computational resources (with desktop/laptop computers). The PhD student will follow an initial period of in-depth formation in gravitation, ranging from the classical theory of black holes to more advanced topics such as quantum effects and quantum gravity within the AdS/CFT correspondence. Alongside this initial training, the student will begin to get immersed in the specific research topic of the effective theory of black hole dynamics. Collaboration with other group members, in particular postdocs, will be encouraged.

More information:

Group Leader: Prof. Roberto Emparan

Webpage of Group Leader at ICCUB

Website of ICC

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Massive neutrinos as new physics messengers in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology.

Research Project:

In the last two decades neutrinos have provided us with the only unambiguous evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The enomenon known as neutrino oscillations is today well established and well understood with two oscillation frequency scales given by two mass differences.

The effort to determine the neutrino masses carried by many oscillation experiments have produced a large amount of data in different energy ranges and with neutrinos originated both in natural and artificial sources.

Furthermore due to their very weak interactions, neutrinos have been also proposed as mediators to observe and study extreme high energy astrophysical phenomena. This effort culminated recently with the first observation of an ultra high energy astrophysical neutrino flux by IceCube, the first neutrino telescope.

Neutrinos also play a unique role in the evolution of the Universe and therefore their properties and interactions can leave identifiable imprints in the cosmological observations.

All this makes neutrino results from laboratory experiments, as well as from astrophysical and cosmological observations a great phenomenological environment to test extensions of the Standard Model of particle interactions.

The project will consist in such exploration of new physics from a phenomenological perspective in the context of the current and near future neutrino experiments and astrophysical and cosmological observations. A special focus will be made on the potential of the very high energy neutrino data provided by the current and future neutrino telescopes suchAntares, IceCube, IceCube Gen2, or KM3net.

This project will be done in the research group at ICC-UB with Prof. Maria ConcepcionGonzalez Garcia and Dr Jordi SalvadoSerra. The group is leader in interpretation of neutrino experimental results in terms of physics beyond the standard model and founding members of the nu-fit collaboration http://www.nu-fit.org/

Job position description

The job is a PhD position to study new physics phenomenology with results from laboratory experiments, astrophysics and cosmology. The project will involve analysing data, and understanding and developing the theory needed to study the new physics implications.

Candidates need to have a master degree in physics, basic knowledge of particle physics,programming, and knowledge of the basic tools for data analysis.

The expected achievements would be:

Produce valuable scientific results to be published in peer reviewed journals
Present the research results in conferences, workshops and seminars.
Learn the tools and theoretical knowledge to research in the field of particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.
Participate in journal clubs, seminars, and lead discussions with the members of the group.

More information:

GroupLeader: Prof. M. Concepción GonzálezGarcía

Research project website

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Dark Matter and the evolution of the Local Group from cosmological initial conditions

Research project:

A fundamental question in modern cosmology is the nature of dark matter. The ColdDark Matter model, where dark matter has no initial velocity dispersion and collapsed gravitationally from Gaussian adiabatic fluctuations, is so far consistent with available observations. The large number of proper motions, radial velocities and distance estimates obtained recently in the Local Group of galaxies, mostly through the Gaia mission (see e.g., A&A 616 A12), various spectroscopic surveys and HST measurements, is an unprecedented opportunity to study the detailed orbital evolution of the Local Group from cosmological initial conditions.

This project involves developing an innovative method to analyze the dynamical evolution of the Local Group galaxies, globular clusters and stellar streams, using these rapidly growing data sets to constrain the initial cosmological conditions that led to the present configuration. The Cold Dark Matter cosmology dictates that initial conditions of small density perturbations must have peculiar velocities governed by the growing mode with no primordial velocity dispersion in the dark matter, a constraint that must be checked against observational data. This can be done in the Local Group by reconstructing orbital histories with complete3-dimensional data. The aim is to develop a method to fit a global model of the dark matter distribution to all the available data on dwarf galaxies, globular clusters and their stellar streams. In particular, a dynamical model of the recent evolution of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds is needed, focusing on large scales where complex baryonic effects are less important.

Job position description:

The student will benefit from interacting with the group of ICCUB researchers working on the dynamics of the Milky Way and Local Group using Gaia data, who have a long and broad experience participating in the Gaia mission. There is also a wide team of researchers working on large-scale structure and observational cosmology, and the use of N-body codes, that the student will benefit from. This project can involve development of N-body codes that can run rapidly on a very large set of possible initial conditions to find best fits to a set of observational data in the Local Group, with special characteristics for this problem. Among the data to be used is that of stellar streams formed by tidal stripping of globular clusters and other objects that are being detected thanks to Gaia, such as the M68 globular cluster (Palau & Miralda-Escudé 2019). The student will be trained in data science and modeling using large data sets like that of the Gaia mission, with several tools that the Gaia group has developed.

Other researchers in particle physics and theoretical physics at the ICCUB are investigating axion dark matter and its implications on the dark matter distribution, including formation of mini-halos and mini-streams, and dynamical relaxation effects from axion waves in dark matter halos. Gravitational lensing probes into the dark matter small-scale have also been investigated recently by Jordi Miralda-Escudé and collaborators. The student will have the opportunity to participate in these studies.

More information:

ICCUB webpage of group leader: Prof. JordiMiralda-Escudé

Webpage of the group leader

GAIA group website

Webpage of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 04/02/2021 CLOSED

INPhINIT Incoming PhD Fellowship in Strongly coupled matter and dynamical gravity

The doctoral fellowship programme INPhINIT "la Caixa" is devoted to attracting talented Early-Stage Researchers - of any nationality- who wish to pursue doctoral studies in Spanish or Portuguese territory. Sponsored by "la Caixa" Foundation, it is aimed at supporting the best scientific talent and fostering innovative and high-quality research in supporting the best scientific talent and fostering innovative and high-quality research in Spain and Portugal by recruiting outstanding international students and offering them an attractive and competitive environment for conducting research of excellence.

Research project:

We will investigate the properties of strongly interacting matter coupled to dynamical gravity.

In a cosmological context, the motivations for this research come from the QCD phase transition one microsecond after the Big Bang, from the possible existence of strongly coupled, Grand Unified Theories beyond the Standard Model, or from the possibility that dark matter may be strongly self-interacting. We will pay particular attention to the production of gravitational waves, especially in the presence of phase transitions. There are also potential implications for new production mechanisms of primordial black holes.
In the context of neutron star mergers, the recent discovery of gravitational waves opens a new window into the properties of strongly coupled QCD matter at the highest densities known in the Universe. The gravitational wave signal produced in these mergers is detected in observatories like those of the VIRGO and LIGO collaborations and depends on the properties of dense matter – including its equation of state and its transport coefficients. Importantly for neutron stars, the ICCUB is a full member of the VIRGO collaboration and this project will potentially provide useful inputs in gravitational wave searches. The constraints generated within this project can also potentially inform the form factors of relevance for dark matter detection – as explored by other members of the ICCUB.

Job position description:

The successful candidate will be a PhD student at the ICCUB under the supervision of Prof David Mateos and/or Dr Arnau Rios Huguet. Our institute is uniquely positioned worldwide for this research because of our expertise in all the fields involved. The work will be highly interdisciplinary, ranging from theoretical analysis based on holography to hydrodynamics and quantum many-body theory. You will also have the opportunity to develop machine learning techniques to describe dense matter, and/or run numerical relativity codes on high-performance supercomputers.

More information:

Group Leader: Prof. David Mateos

David Mateos’personal website

Dr Arnau Rios’ website

ICCUB’s website

Twitter feed of the ICCUB

Employment conditions

The maximum total payment amount will be €122,592, as broken down below:

- €3,564 per year, as an additional amount for conferences, courses, research stays, consumables, equipment, charges for the use of intellectual property, etc.

In addition to financial support, the fellowship includes a training programme on transversal skills, which has been specially designed by leading international institutions in the sector.

For more information on the employment conditions, please refer to this document.

Working at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences

the institute of Cosmos Sciences has 50 professors, 10 ICREA professors, 37postdocs, 23 technicians and 61 PhD students. Postdoctoral staff at the ICCUBis largely international, above 60%.

Moreover, the ICCUB participates in many key international scientific consortia and projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Gaia astrometric space mission, the MAGIC / CTA high-energy astrophysics telescopes, and the Virgo gravitational wave detector, among others. Additional information about the institute and the University of Barcelona can be found here.

The institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences is an equal employment opportunity employer. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. We strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences to apply. For additional information please see the Diversity, equity and inclusion Commission.

Requirements:

In order to be accepted, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Experience: At the call deadline, applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

Studies pursued: At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

Geographic mobility: Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline. Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

Level of English: Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

Complete applications: Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

For more information on the candidates' requirements, please refer to this document.

All applications must be submitted online through the following link. For more information on the application procedure, please refer to this document.

Inquiries about the application submission can be directed to fellowships@fundacionlacaixa.org.

Deadline: Please submit your applications by February 4th 2021.

Selection process:

The process is comprised of three parts:

Eligibility screening: all applications received are screened and applications that do not fulfil the criteria published in the call for applications rules are rejected.

Remote evaluation (preselection): each of the eligible applications is sent to evaluation panel made up of two or three professors or researchers with broad experience in the discipline of the application and an extensive list of publications and/or contributions within this field. The application that receives the highest scores from each panel will pass to the next stage. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify candidates whether they have been shortlisted or not by e-mail on 22 April 2021.

Final evaluation (selection): candidates whose applications have passed the shortlisting stage will be called in for an interview before a multidisciplinary committee comprised of professors and researchers with extensive experience in selection processes by peer review. The interviews will be held in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 May 2021. The ”la Caixa” Foundation will notify interviewed candidates of the outcome of the process by e-mail on 7 June 2021.

The rating criteria that govern the selection process can be found in the Evaluation of applications section of the ”la Caixa” Fellowship Programme website.

For more information on the selection process, please refer to this document.

Deadline: 31/01/2021 CLOSED

Postdoctoral position in computational galaxy formation

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) invites applications for a postdoctoral research fellow in computational galaxy formation within the new "Milky Way & neighbours" group led by Dr. Chervin Laporte. They will perform cosmological zoom-in simulations of galaxy formation, with a focus on dwarf galaxies and Milky Way-like systems. Candidates with interests and experience in modelling star formation, feedback processes, chemical evolution on galactic scales in a cosmological context are encouraged to apply. Experience in code-development and using high performance computing to run and analyse simulations of galaxy formation would be desirable.

They will also have the opportunity to be involved in the scientific exploitation of the Gaia mission, WEAVE as well as participating in international collaborative networks and supervising students (if they wish). The ICCUB offers a stimulating environment with scientific staff working on a variety of topics from cosmology, extragalactic and Galactic astronomy to star formation and gravitational wave detection. The term of employment is for 3 years with potential for extensions. The position is funded by an ERC starting grant and comes with access to supercomputing and travel support. Candidates should have completed their PhD within the last six years.

The position is expected to begin around the fall of 2021, although exceptions can be made in cases of maternity/paternity or other special circumstances. ICCUB offers and promotes a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation (for additional information please see the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission). Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should email secretaria@icc.ub.edu with their request.

The ICCUB is an interdisciplinary centre with more than 60 long term scientists, 20 engineers and 80 postdoctoral researchers (55% international) and PhD students (30%international) offering an international and multicultural environment. The ICCUB also hosts a vibrant fundamental research program in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics, with a strong technology unit supporting our participation in international collaborations in observational astronomy and experimental particle physics. The Institute is situated in Barcelona, which offers an outstanding scientific and cultural environment, entertainment and sports as well as outstanding food and music.

Applicants should submit a single PDF including a CV, a publication list and statement of research interests/plans (3 pages max.) and cover letter (optional) via the ICCUB application system. They should also provide three referees to be asked for a letter of reference. Applications received by January 1st, 2021 will receive full consideration, but the search will continue until the position is filled.

When you submit your application form with the three referees email address, our system automatically emails them requesting the recommendation letters and the instructions on how to submit them. Please check with your referees that they receive our email.