Centre for Theoretical Cosmology News

Postdoctoral and Teaching Fellow vacancies in Cosmology and Gravitation

There are several job opportunities linked to the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology and the Relativity and Gravitation group, including three postdoctoral positions, as well as teaching positions for the new MPhil in Data Intensive Science (with which CTC is closely associated) and a Research Software Engineer post. In addition to the faculty members mentioned specifically, the successful candidates will be able to work with academic staff across the Relativity and Gravitation group, as well as research staff and PhD students. A full list of our group members can be found here. We also have close links with the HEP group in DAMTP and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology.

Further details are available at the CTC job vacancies page, which also lists PhD opportunities:  www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/about/jobs.php

First, the CTC is recruiting three Postdoctoral Research Associate positions, to be offered for either two or three years and available from 1 April 2023, but the start date is flexible and can be delayed until October 2023.

Postdoctoral fellowship in theoretical cosmology

This post is primarily to work with Professor Enrico Pajer on the calculation of cosmological correlators in the early universe and their observational signals in CMB and large-scale structure datasets (also with Professors Fergusson and Shellard). For this post a robust knowledge of quantum field theory and general relativity is required. The limit of tenure for the post is three years.

https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/38386/

Deadline: 20th December 2022

Postdoctoral fellowship in gravitational wave physics

The next post is to work on gravitational-wave physics, including gravitational-wave modelling, modified theories of gravity, numerical relativity and fundamental fields around black holes. The successful candidate for this post will work primarily with Professor Ulrich Sperhake, but also Professor Harvey Reall and Professor Jorge Santos. This is a two-year position in the first instance.

https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/38387/

Deadline: 8th January 2023

Postdoctoral fellowship in cosmology and gravitation

The final position will involve research on lensing of the cosmic microwave background, with a particular focus on lensing measurements and B-mode delensing with early Simons Observatory CMB data. This is a three-year post and the successful candidate will work primarily with Professor Blake Sherwin.

https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/38525/

Deadline: 4th January 2023 

Additional postdoctoral opportunity: In addition, there are postdoctoral opportunities to work on QFT and String Theory with Professors Dunajski, Hartnoll, Pajer, Reall, Santos and Wall, linked to the HEP group, advertised here: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/job/37722

Joint Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cosmology between Cambridge-Munich (LMU)

CTC, together with the Kavli Institute, has led a successful cosmology network collaboration with Munich through the Cambridge/LMU Strategic Partnership. It exploits the complementary strengths of world-leading researchers at both institutions, particularly in large-scale structure and CMB surveys and theoretical cosmology. To foster this Cambridge/LMU collaboration, we hope to be in a position shortly to advertise a four-year joint postdoctoral position; the post for the first two years will be located at Ludwig-Maximilians-University and for the following two years at the University of Cambridge. Scientists with a PhD degree in Physics, Astrophysics or related fields are invited to apply. Successful applicants will be expected to conduct original research in the field of cosmology in an active interdisciplinary environment.

(Link and deadline to follow)

Teaching Fellows - Senior Teaching Associates & CDT Co-ordinator

The University of Cambridge is also recruiting Senior Teaching Associates in Data Intensive Science to assist with the new MPhil in Data Intensive Science which will serve the School of Physical Sciences from 2023. The MPhil is a cross-Departmental Programme in the School of Physical Sciences (primarily linked to Physics, DAMTP and Astronomy) designed to provide students with the theoretical knowledge, practical experience and transferable skills required to undertake world-leading data intensive scientific research. Candidates should be able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of statistical methods and machine learning algorithms with high performance computing experience desirable. The role holders’ primary role is MPhil teaching but they are expected to nominate and participate in a research group associated with the programme to maintain their knowledge of the current status of research and the data science techniques used. Tenure is for three years in the first instance (see below) and further details of the two positions can be found here (with a third to be advertised shortly):

https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/38114/
https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/38113/

Contact the MPhil Director James Fergusson for further information.

The second of these posts will replace some MPhil teaching responsibilities with oversight and running of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science, a four-year PhD programme run by CTC faculty members Paul Shellard and James Fergusson. The CDT has successfully awarded 28 PhD studentships since 2017 and has close ties with industry where students take six month placements. There is an active CDT programme of seminars and training activities which are closely linked to the new DIS MPhil.

Relevant for both Teaching Fellow positions, the University has recently introduced a new Academic Career pathway scheme for Teaching and Scholarship staff to recognise and reward outstanding contributions and celebrate academic achievement through promotion and/or pay progression. These posts fall within this career pathway scheme. For further details, please visit www.acptands.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/acp-overview

Deadline: 12th December 2022

Faculty Research Software Engineer Manager

The role holder is expected to provide oversight of the Faculty of Mathematics Computing Development Platform, an HPC and data analytics supercomputer facility, together with Research Software Engineers supporting related programming efforts within Faculty research groups. This post is closely linked to the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology which hosts an Intel oneAPI Center of Excellence (formerly an Intel Parallel Computing Center).  

Amongst other duties, the role will provide senior-level expertise to oversee the RSE support within individual research groups, notably the Astrophysics group and CTC/GR group for which some domain knowledge would be desirable.  As well as demonstrating expertise in testing, profiling and improving the performance of parallel code, the role holder is expected to have experience of programming in C, C++, Fortran 90 and Python, using scripting languages such as Bash, and of parallel-programming using OpenMP and MPI as well as for GPU systems. The role also advises Faculty members on grant applications for RSE support and hardware procurement and supports them by offering RSE-based assistance.

The role holder would be expected to be actively involved in training PhD students, specifically through involvement with the Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science, Courses for this purpose are available through the new MPhil in Data Intensive Science, so the role would be expected to advise and assist MPhil faculty members with course design and teaching. Please follow this link for further details:

https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/job/37073

Deadline: 12th January 2023