ERC-funded Post-doctoral Position(s) in Strong Gravitational Lensing

Applications are invited for postdoctoral positions funded through the ERC AdG project "COSMICLENS: cosmology with strong gravitational lensing" (PIs: F. Courbin - EFPL, Switzerland / D. Sluse - Uni. Liège, Belgium) and focusing on cosmography with time delays in lensed quasars and supernovae.

The project is based on 1- massive lens monitoring at various telescopes, 2- lens modeling (incl. development based on sparsity methods) 3- analysis of ancillary data with e.g. VLT, HST, JWST, 4- lens finding in existing surveys as well as in Euclid, 5- testing lens model degeneracies with hydro simulations. Eventually, combining all 5 points above will yield full cosmological analysis, in the context of the COSMOGRAIL and H0LiCOW programs.

The successful candidate(s) will be based at EPFL in Switzerland and will work mostly on the first 4 points above. He/she will join the group of F. Courbin, i.e. 4 PhD students and 3 postdocs. Close collaboration with D. Sluse in Liège is expected, especially in connection with point #5 above.

EPFL is recognized as one of the best Universities in Europe, addressing both engineering and fundamental sciences. Astrophysicists from EPFL and Geneva University share the same facilities at the Observatoire de Sauverny near Geneva, but also have offices on the EPFL campus. There are also natural connections with CERN and with other Swiss Universities as well as with the Swiss National HPC Center (cscs.ch). Both F. Courbin and D. Sluse are involved in the ESA Euclid satellite mission, as will be the successful applicant if he/she desires.

Applicants should submit a CV, publication list, and a research statement, via email to [email protected] (1 single pdf file) together with three reference letters before Oct 15, 2018. The position(s) is(are) initially for 2 years, with possible extensions up to 4 years in total and comes with very competitive salary, benefits and generous travel funding. Earliest possible start: 1 January 2019.