Scientific Initiation Studentship (BIC) in the field of Computational Astrophysics

Ref: IA2019-04-BIC

The Centro de Investigação em Astronomia/Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) opens a call for one Scientific Initiation Studenship (Bolsa de Iniciação Científica - BIC) in the field of Computacional Astrophysics at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA).

The position is offered in the context of the project "Towards the precise characterization of Earth-like exoplanets" with financial support provided by the FCT/MCTES (refª IF/00028/2014/CP1215/CT0002).

The Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) is the most prominent research unit in the field of Astrophysics in Portugal, integrating researchers from the University of Porto and the University of Lisbon, and is responsible for a major fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in this area. The research and development effort at the IA includes most of the topics at the forefront of research in Astrophysics and Space Sciences, complemented by work on instrumentation and systems with potential use in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The call is open in the field of Computational Astrophysics, and the fellowship is to be started preferably from March 2019. The position has a maximum duration of 6 months.

The fellowship contract will comply with the ''Lei nº 40/2004 de 18 de Agosto (Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação) and ''Regulamento de Bolsas e Investigação da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia'' in force (http://fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT.pdf).

According to the FCT table values (http:www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores), the monthly allowance will be €385 (tax free) and will be paid monthly by bank transfer. The fellowships holders will have a personal accident insurance. Funds for traveling (conferences, collaborations, observing missions) are also available. The work plan is to be carried out in IA, in Porto, under the supervision of Dr. Sérgio Sousa.

Research work plan:
IA is strongly contributing for the ESA’s mission CHEOPS expected to be launched very soon. Part of this contribution to CHEOPS is related with the CHEOPS data reduction pipeline. The calibration and correction of the data of the mission has a goal to produce treated observed light curves for science analysis. One of the goals of this call is to implement and test alternative algorithms to perform and improve the photometric extraction of the CHEOPS images. Moreover, in many cases the images will also collect light from close-by field stars which are not automatically analyzed by the mission data processing pipeline. Therefore we will also test the algorithms to retrieve the light-curves of these field stars, and establish the precision of these light curves.

This work will be done by using CHEOPS simulated data (CHEOPSim), and comparisons with the processes pipeline data will be made. Since pipeline is mostly implemented in Python, this language will also be used for these tasks.

Application:
The application, to be submitted through the web form below, should include the following information:

          - cover letter with a brief description of the candidate's experience and motivation;
          - brief curriculum vitae (1 page) with relevant additional information - this should include explicity:
               •    the degree in which the student is currently registered and year he/she is attending,
               •    computational skills and relevant expertise;
          - copy of the student's update academic record.

Applications will be accepted from the 14th to 27th of February, 2019.

Selection criteria and evaluation:
The curricular evaluation of the candidates will be done based on:
         - (10%) cover letter;
         - (50%) CV;
         - (40%) academic record.

Awarding of the contract:
Following the evaluation process the contract will be offered according to the ordering list proposed by the selection committee. The position will be granted only if suitable candidates are found. Only candidates with a minimum grade of 60% will be accepted.

The selected candidates will be notified by e-mail.

For inquires please contact Dr. Sérgio Sousa.

Selection Committee:
Sérgio Sousa (chair)
Nuno Santos
Susana Barros
Elisa Delgado-Mena

Publication Date:
30th January 2019

The period for application submission has ended for this opportunity.