LMU Munich Astrophysics Fraunhofer-Schwarzschild Postdoctoral Fellowships

The University Observatory in the Faculty of Physics of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (https://www.physik.lmu.de/en/research/astronomy-and-astrophysics-cosmology/) announces the opportunity for one or multiple Postdoctoral Fellowships. With this year’s call we are particularly looking for applicants in the area of observational cosmology. Scientists with a PhD degree and first postdoctoral experience, and recent PhD graduates with an exceptional record of scientific independence in physics, astrophysics, or related fields are encouraged to apply. The fellowship is intended to provide funding for at least four years and to develop an independent and innovative research program in these areas.

Postdoctoral Fellows at LMU have access to observational data including from the Dark Energy Survey, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time, Euclid, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Experiment, 4MOST, and eROSITA. The department operates a 2m observatory at Mt. Wendelstein, with instrumentation including a wide field optical imager (https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.2519) and a multi-channel optical/near-infrared imager (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016SPIE.9908E..44L). Fellows can utilize extensive computing facilities at LMU and at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre.

Successful applicants will be paired with a primary and a secondary mentor to support their research program and their development as a scientist. The position includes opportunities for mentoring student researchers from the university's B.Sc. and M.Sc. programs in physics and astrophysics, and may include teaching opportunities as well.

We aim for the fellowship to commence in October 2024, although different arrangements may be negotiated between successful applicants and their mentors. This year’s primary mentors are Prof. Daniel Gruen and Prof. Jochen Weller, with all other permanent staff and faculty members acting as potential secondary mentors.

The University Observatory of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität is part of Munich’s vibrant and growing astrophysics research community that includes the European Southern Observatory headquarters, the Max Planck Institutes for Astrophysics, for Physics, for Extraterrestrial Physics, and for Plasma Physics, the Technical University of Munich, and the DFG Excellence Cluster ORIGINS. 

This Fellowship program is intended to provide aspiring researchers at the postdoctoral level with support by multiple mentors that will help them develop a research program connecting to and complementing research interests at the University Observatory. It is named after Joseph von Fraunhofer, who performed the first ever spectroscopic observations with an astronomical observatory at Munich, and Karl Schwarzschild, who was a graduate student and senior postdoc at LMU while first testing the hypothesis that the geometry of the Universe could be non-Euclidean. 

Salary and benefits are paid according to the German public service pay agreement TV-L E13. The advancement of women in science is an integral part of the university‘s policy. Therefore, women are especially encouraged to apply. Persons with disabilities will be given preference to other applicants with equal qualifications. German language skills are not required.

Applicants should prepare a cover letter and the following documents: CV, publication list, and a 3-page statement of research interests and plans. Applicants should apply by filling this application form (https://cloud.physik.lmu.de/index.php/apps/forms/s/3Z5ooC2FaPxey5HaZQ8MbGzG) and uploading a single PDF with their collected documents to this cloud folder (https://cloud.physik.lmu.de/index.php/s/ZbsK9Rro6C8c5aL) by November 10, 2023 for full consideration.