We are looking for enthusiastic candidates for 2 PhD positions in particle astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam, starting in fall 2020. You will be embedded in the GRAPPA Center of excellence in Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics, a multidisciplinary team of researchers active in a variety of research topics including dark matter, compact objects, high-energy astrophysics and physics beyond the standard model.

The positions will be part of the ERC consolidator project 'UnDark - New Approaches to Uncover Dark Matter in the post-WIMP Era', under supervision of Christoph Weniger. Candidates interested in searches for gravitational and non-gravitational dark matter signals in astronomical data (including axions & sterile neutrinos, and ranging from indirect searches over strong lensing image analysis to the analysis of cosmological probes like Lyman-alpha data), data science and machine learning, as well as applicants interested in dark matter phenomenology, model building, and/or global scans, are invited to apply.

• Masters degree in physics or equivalent (expected to be received until fall 2020);
• excel academically, as indicated by grade transcript and curriculum vitae;
• wish to pursue an academic career;
• fluent in spoken and written English;
• have ability and interest to work in a team.

Fixed-term contract: 18 months.

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years) and should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.

The salary, depending on relevant experience before the beginning of the employment contract, will be €2,325 to €2,972 (scale P) gross per month, based on full-time employment (38 hours a week). These amounts are exclusive 8 % holiday allowance and 8,3 end-of-year bonus. A favorable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Then find out more about working at the Faculty of Science.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

Faculty of Science – Institute of Physics

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 6,500, as well as 1,600 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

You will be based at the Institute of Physics of the University of Amsterdam. The Institute of Physics (IoP) (http://iop.uva.nl/), one of the large research institutes of the faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam, combines the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute (WZI), the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITFA) and the Institute for High Energy Physics (IHEF).