ULTRASAT Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship

The ULTRASAT Postdoctoral Fellowship Program invites highly qualified candidates to apply for a 3-year ULTRASAT Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship. ULTRASAT Fellows are expected to conduct independent research that will support the ULTRASAT mission. Fellows can pursue research in theoretical, numerical, observational or experimental astrophysics related to ULTRASAT science,  either within the framework of current ULTRASAT Working Groups areas or new ones.

ULTRASAT is a scientific satellite that is planned to be launched to GEO orbit in 2025. It will be carrying a telescope with an unprecedentedly large field of view (204 squared degrees), that will conduct the first wide-field survey of transient and variable ultraviolet (UV, 230-290nm) sources. ULTRASAT will have a broad scientific impact across the fields of gravitational wave sources, supernovae, variable and flare stars, active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, compact objects, and galaxies. It will open a new wave band (UV) and cadence access (minutes to months), with a vast space for serendipitous discovery.

ULTRASAT Fellows will be part of the Astrophysics group within the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and will have access to the resources available to the group. These include the Large Array Survey Telescope (LAST) at the Weizmann Institute’s observatory, regular access to the MMT and Magellan telescopes (8 nights per year), full membership of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) as well as the BlackGem survey, extensive guaranteed time access to the Son of Xshooter (SoXs) spectrograph, soon to be commissioned at the ESO La Silla Observatory, as well as to extensive computational resources.

The Weizmann Institute Campus is located in Rehovot, a short distance from Tel Aviv, and offers excellent conditions for research in an international setting. Candidates should submit the application material through the submission webpage: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/ultrasat/fellowship-submission/, including a research statement that includes a summary of previous achievements (up to 4 pages), and three reference letters. Applications submitted by Jan. 15, 2023, will receive full consideration.