Postdoctoral Fellowship (Rubin/LSST South Africa)

In support of South Africa's in-kind contribution to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), we invite applications for a postdoctoral fellowship to be held at the Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

The incumbent will work with Prof. Matt Hilton on producing and integrating data products derived from public MeerKAT data into the Rubin Science Platform. They will spend 50% of their time working on this project, and will have LSST data rights for at least the duration of the fellowship. They will be free to spend the other 50% of their time working on research topics of their choice, but applicants with interests related to LSST and those of the UKZN extragalactic astrophysics group are preferred. Researchers at UKZN participate in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, Simons Observatory, XMM Cluster Survey, and various MeerKAT projects.

Requirements:

• PhD in astrophysics
• Strong technical skills (Linux, Python, version control using git, documentation etc.)
• Experience of processing and analysis of radio/optical/IR or other relevant multi-wavelength data
• Research interests in extragalactic astrophysics (ideally galaxy clusters/AGN)

The fellowship is for 3 years (subject to annual progress reviews by the South African Rubin/LSST Program), ideally to be taken up before March 2022. The salary is competitive, and an annual travel and equipment grant is provided.

Applicants must submit by email:

1. A cover letter highlighting their experience in meeting the requirements listed above, and outlining their relevant research experience and interests (max: 3 pages)
2. A CV including publications list
3. Contact details for two referees

Applicants must be within 5 years from the date of PhD at the start of the position and must not have held a permanent post.