Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) is seeking a number of international PhD students in observational, theoretical, and computational astrophysics. SHAO belongs to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which provides a diverse setting and research facilities. SHAO has about 40 faculty members, 20 postdocs, and 40 PhD students in astrophysics. It is located in downtown Shanghai, one of the most rapidly evolving and cosmopolitan cities in Asia. More information can be found on the astrophysics division website.
The graduate student scholarships are open to researchers of all nationalities outside of China, and suitable applicants will be nominated for the CAS-TWAS President’s PhD Fellowship Programme. If successful, this scholarship will cover all tuition fees and provide a monthly stipend of 7,000-8,000 RMB for the duration of the four-year program. After one semester of astronomy and Chinese language classes, the applicant will spend three years at SHAO engaged in research leading to a PhD degree. Applicants must hold an MSc degree (or obtain one before 1st September 2017), be under 35 years of age and proficient in either English or Chinese. Full details of this fellowship can be found here.
Thesis supervisors can be selected from the following research groups:
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Observational studies of Galactic high energy objects (leader: Zhongxiang Wang). This group uses various observations at multiple wavelengths (IR, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray) to study properties of compact star systems in our Galaxy, e.g., X-ray binaries, pulsars, millisecond pulsar binaries, and supernova remnants.
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Black Hole Feedback and Cosmic Ray Astrophysics (leader: Fulai Guo). This group covers a large variety of topics in theoretical and computational astrophysics, including active galactic nucleus feedback, the intracluster medium, the circumgalactic medium, galactic winds, galaxy evolution, cosmic ray astrophysics, etc.
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Star clusters and galactic structure (leader: Jinliang Hou). This group covers a broad range of topics, from the structure of the Milky Way and its cluster population, to studies of galaxies in the distant universe. Potential supervisors include Jinliang Hou (chemical evolution modelling), Chen Li (Milky Way star clusters), Zhengyi Shao (star cluters and nearby galaxies).
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Galaxy structure and dynamics (leader: Juntai Shen). This group focuses on Galactic dynamics, dynamical structures of the Milky Way and external galaxies.
Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae and a brief statement of research experience and interests (including the names of up to three potential supervisors from the above list) to Prof. Martin Smith at <[email protected]>. In addition, two letters of reference from someone familiar with the applicants adademic record should be sent directly to the same address. For full consideration, all application material should arrive before February 15th.