The Nikhef organisation

Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in The Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 175 physicists and 75 technical staff members work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together, they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. The Nikhef institute is a collaboration between six major Dutch universities and the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Nikhef participates in large research collaborations, including the ATLAS, LHCb and ALICE experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the VIRGO interferometer in Pisa, the Xenon1T dark matter experiment in Gran Sasso, the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory in Argentina and the eEDM research programme in Groningen. Nikhef also hosts a group in theoretical physics, and groups for Physics Data Processing and detector R&D, all with good connections to the experimental programs.

The group:
GRAPPA, the center of excellence in Astroparticle Physics of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), is a joint effort between the Institute of Physics (IoP) and the Anton Pannekoek Institute (API). It consists of faculty members with a strong interest in experimental and theoretical research into black holes, cosmic rays, neutrinos, dark matter, dark energy, early universe cosmology, and string theory. Several of GRAPPA’s faculty members are also affiliated with Nikhef, the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics, which is in close proximity to the UvA building.

Project description
GRAPPA/IoP has an opening for a PhD position in the XENON experimental group, based at Nikhef. The XENON collaboration operates XENON1T, currently the world’s most sensitive dark matter detector. The experiment, located in the underground Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, will soon be upgraded to the XENONnT phase. This will give another order of magnitude increase in sensitivity to dark matter particles. The Amsterdam group is closely involved in developing and building XENONnT. The group also operates a local R&D detector called XAMS, a dual-phase xenon Time Projection Chamber.

You will work on the following aspects:

- work on XENONnT dark matter data analysis, with a particular emphasis on the analysis of light dark matter signals;
- operate and analyze data from the local R&D setup.
You will be embedded in the XENON dark matter group at Nikhef.

Further information
Please direct your questions to prof. Patrick Decowski, the Dutch XENON program leader, via decowski@nikhef.nl 

Offer
The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of 4 years (initial appointment will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it can 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. You will require to travel to the experimental site in Italy. You are also expected to assist in university teaching as a teaching assistant.

Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from €2,325 in the first year to €2,972 in the last year. The Collective Labour Agreement (Cao) of Dutch Universities is applicable. Favourable tax agreement may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

Job application
The UvA is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We value a spirit of enquiry and endurance, provide the space to keep asking questions and cherish a diverse atmosphere of curiosity and creativity.

Please apply using the following link:

Apply now

All applications received before 16 April 2019 will be considered. Applications must include:

cover letter with a brief presentation of yourself;
personal statement where your background and potential research interests are described;
CV;
contact details of two referees. They will be contacted directly.
Please upload all the files as 1 PDF in the field marked CV.