Euclid postdoctoral positions: Euclid Mission External Data and Strong Lensiing

The astronomical departments of the University of Groningen and Leiden University invite applications for two postdoctoral research positions. The postdoctoral researchers will be members of the Euclid Consortium and are both based at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen. Both positions are fixed-term for two years initially, with one or two-year extensions depending on performance and funding.

One position (max. four years) allows 50% fully independent research and requires 50% support tasks. The latter consists of leading the scientific data-quality assessment of Euclid-internal data products derived from ground-based wide-field imaging surveys. These form a crucial part of the Euclid Mission for providing very accurate photometric redshifts. The independent research can be done in collaboration with the Euclid science team members in Groningen and Leiden under the supervision of Prof. Léon Koopmans (UG), Dr Gijs Verdoes Kleijn (UG) and Prof. Konrad Kuijken (UL). The quality assessment is performed with the Euclid Organisational Unit “External Data” members, co-led by Dr Gijs Verdoes Kleijn at the University of Groningen.

The second position (max. three years) is related to studying dark matter and galaxy formation, using strong gravitational lensing, possibly in combination with galaxy-scale weak lensing, under the supervision of Prof. Léon Koopmans (UG) and Prof. Henk Hoekstra (UL). The postdoc will join the Euclid Strong Lensing and Weak Lensing Science Working Groups.

Organisation
The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and Leiden Observatory are the universities’ departments for research and education in astronomy, astrophysics, astronomical instrumentation, and informatics. Both are part of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), which executes nationally coherent scientific exploitation of the Euclid Mission data. The Euclid Mission is the European Space Agency's next cosmology flagship mission. It will be launched in July 2023 and will study the dark universe and cosmology. The University of Groningen hosts the Netherlands Euclid Science Data Center (Euclid SDC) and the NOVA-Kapteyn-OmegaCEN expertise centre for astronomical data science systems. The Euclid Organisational Unit “External Data” (OU-EXT) is an international team co-led by Gijs Verdoes Kleijn. Besides Groningen, it includes team members at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, the Astroparticle and Cosmology Laboratory in Paris and Oulu University in Finland.

We are looking for the following qualifications and experience:

- a PhD in astronomy (exceptionally another field but with proven astronomical survey experience*)
- interest in developing team leading / management skills*
- strong pros are:

o experience with astronomical image processing and software in the optical or near-infrared*

o astro data science tools (e.g, mastery of Python and/or C++, Jupyter Notebooks).

- pro-active and independent working attitude
- team player, communicative, experience with distributed software project teams is a plus*
- flexibility in dealing with different organisational cultures and structures
- prepared to travel several times per year to international partners
- good mastery of the English language and writing skills.

*In particular for the position that includes 50% support.

We offer you, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

- a salary based on qualifications and experience starting at € 3,557 gross per month (salary scale 10)
- excellent secondary terms of employment
- a full-time position
- a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus
- 232 holiday hours per calendar year for full-time employment
- participation in a pension scheme for employees
- a personal budget of € 1,000 per year for additional training and career activities.

The postdocs will be based in Groningen but can pursue research with the Euclid science team in both Leiden and Groningen. The successful candidate will be offered a temporary position of two years. After a performance evaluation, this position may be extended for up to two more years, depending on the maximum duration of the position and available funding.

The starting date is as soon as possible, given the launch of the Euclid satellite in July 2023

Applications shall include:

- a cover/motivation letter
- CV
- research statement. Please also include a research statement for the position with 50% independent research and an explicit statement on interest/skills regarding the ground-based survey data quality assessment
- between two to four reference letters.

Please upload all material as a single pdf as ‘Letter of motivation’ attachment.

You can apply for both positions (clearly stating which position you are interested in or both) until 5 June 11:59pm / before 6 June 2023 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/policy-and-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/

Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

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