Ref: IA2016-05-BPD

One postdoctoral fellowship in the field of galaxy formation and evolution is open at the Centro de Investigação em Astronomia/Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP), for the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA), in the context of research activities conducted by the IA Thematic Line “The assembly history of galaxies resolved in space and time”.

The position is offered in the context of the research unit Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço - FIS/04434 with financial support provided by the FCT through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 and PT2020 agreement (refª POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007672).

The Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) assembles more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal, and is responsible for an even greater 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.

1. Scientific Area: Astronomy and Astrophysics
2. Requirements for admission: The applicant must have completed a PhD degree in Astronomy, Physics or similar. The successful applicant will be working for the further development and application of the population spectral synthesis code FADO, a conceptually novel code for the exploration of the star formation history of galaxies, and have a goal of its application to integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data. Previous expertise in spectral synthesis of extragalactic data is thus required.
3. Factors preferred: Knowledge of Fortran+08 or other high-level programming languages.
4. Work plan: The successful candidate will further develop the spectral synthesis code FADO (version 2 and onwards), jointly with P. Papaderos. He/she is also expected to lead various studies with FADO of the assembly history of galaxies, with special emphasis on the investigation of the buildup of galactic disks and early-type galaxies using IFS data.
5. Legislation framework: A fellowship contract will be celebrated according to the regulations defined by FCT Regulamento de Bolsas e Investigação da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia' existing (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/docs/RegulamentoBolsasFCT2015.pdf) and 'Lei nº 40/2004, de 18 de Agosto (Estatuto do Bolseiro de Investigação Científica)'.
6. Place of work: The work will be developed at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Porto, under the scientific guidance of PD Dr. Polychronis Papaderos.
7. Fellowship duration: The position is initially opened for one year and is expected to begin on July 2016. The fellowship contract may be renewed until December 2017, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation of Research Fellowships from the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. The fellowship renewal beyond 2017, is pending on a favorable evaluation of the research unit and decision on the funding program that will be in place after 2017.
8. Monthly allowance: The fellowship amounts to € 1495,00, according to table values of the fellowships awarded directly by the FCT, IP. (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores). The fellowship holder will have a personal accident insurance. The fellowship will be paid monthly by bank transfer.
9. Selection method: Candidates will be assessed, on a first stage, by the quality of their CV, including the relevance of their publications (50%), previous research experience (40%) and Cover Letter (10%). The selection committee may decide on the need to have an interview for a second stage of evaluation (by teleconference or videoconference if needed). In that case, the final grade will be obtained by averaging the result of the first stage evaluation with the interview with weights 70/30, respectively. The contract will be offered according to the final ordering proposed by the selection committee.
10. Deadlines: This call for applications is open from June 1st to June 16th, 2016.
11. Application:
    The application, to be submitted using the web form below, should include the following information:
    • Cover letter with a brief description of the candidate's experience and motivation;
    • Curriculum Vitae (up to 4 pages) and scan of the PhD diploma;
    • Complete list of scientific publications. A brief description (up to 3 lines) of the candidate's contribution to the most relevant papers is welcome;
    • Name and contact details (position, email, address) of two referees, available to provide information about the candidate (to be contacted if considered necessary to clarify the information provided in the remaining documents).

Applications from persons with physical disabilities will receive equal consideration to the extent their disabilities do not prevent them from performing the defined work tasks.

The positions will be granted only if suitable candidates are found.

For inquires please contact PD Dr. Polychronis Papaderos.

Selection Committee
José Manuel Afonso (Chair)
Polychronis Papaderos
João J. G. Lima

Publication Date
May 16th, 2016