Massive black holes and galaxy evolution

The Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) is accepting applications for one postdoctoral position in the topic of massive black holes and galaxy evolution in collaboration with the newly born Department of Astrophysics at the University of Zurich. 

Candidates with expertise in the modeling of galaxy evolution and/or the formation and growth of massive black holes are particularly encouraged to apply.

The successful applicant will work together with Prof. Silvia Bonoli at the DIPC and Prof. Lucio Mayer at the University of Zurich. 

The DIPC is a research institute located in Donostia/San Sebastian, a beautiful mid-sized city on the coast of the Spanish Basque Country. The Astrophysics & Cosmology group currently consists of 4 staff members, Prof. Raul Angulo, Prof. Nate Bastian, Prof. Silvia Bonoli and Prof. George Smoot; 6 postdocs and 8 PhD students.  The group’s research includes numerical simulations of structure formation and galaxy evolution (dark matter/hydrodynamical/semi-analytical), large galaxy surveys and the physics of globular clusters. The group is involved in the Euclid, the Athena and the LISA missions and the J-PAS and the WEAVE-QSO surveys. The postdoc will also have access to the DIPC supercomputing center and will have the possibility to supervise/co-supervise master and PhD students.

The Department for Astrophysics in Zurich, under the direction of Prof. Lucio Mayer, hosts several strong groups specializing in computational astrophysics and computational cosmology/galaxy formation, as well on theoretical exploration of astrophysical black holes and gravitational wave sources (especially the groups of Prof.  Mayer, Prof. Robert Fedmann, Prof. Joachim Stadel and Prof. Aurel Schneider). The postdoc will have access to the top-notch supercomputing facilities of the Department, which include rolling allocations of several million node hours at the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS). The Department leads or co-leads various swiss-wide funded initiatives such as the Swiss SKA Consortium (SKACH), the SPH-EXA  PASC project to develop Exascale-ready simulation codes, and a national network on black holes as gravitational wave sources (GWlearn), all involving collaborations with computer scientists and data scientists, and with other groups at ETH Zurich, the University of Basel and the University of Geneva. The postdoc will have a privileged entry point to these various networks and collaborations. The Department also has a strong presence in the Euclid and LISA Consortia, and in the new NASA-ESA ARRAKIHS mission for Near-Field Cosmology.

The maximum duration of the appointment is 3 years, with a flexible fraction of the time to be spent between Spain and Switzerland. 

For further information, please contact Prof. Bonoli ([email protected]) or Prof. Mayer ([email protected]) and visit this website for information on the application procedure.

The DIPC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability.