Postdoctoral fellowship position in the field of planetary systems

Ref: IA2018-01-BPD

The Centro de Investigação em Astronomia/Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) opens a call for 1 postdoctoral fellowship (Bolsa de Pós-Doutoramento) in the field of Planetary Systems at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA). The position is offered in the context of the project FIS/04434 with financial support provided by the FCT through national funds and co-funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020 (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.

The call is open in the fields of Planetary Systems, and the fellowship is to be started preferably from February of 2018. The position is offered for 6 months and can be renewed.

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 €1495 (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. Nuno Santos.

Research work plan
The successful candidate is expected to give support to the participation of the team in the ESPRESSO planet search and characterization project. In particular, we expect the candidate to developed tools to analyze and statistically validate high precision radial velocity time series to detect exoplanet signals or improve the parameters of the detected planets. The same tools may also be used for the analysis of photometric time series within the context of our participation in the CHEOPS mission.

Given the scientific timescale of the project, preference is given to candidates with expertise in the analysis of existing RV data (e.g. with instruments like HARPS).

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;
- Curriculum Vitae (up to 4 pages in 10pt size format at minimum);
- 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 (these will be contacted at the jury's discretion).

Applications will be accepted from the 19th of January to 1st of February, 2018.

Selection criteria and evaluation
The applicant must be holder of a PhD degree. Only applications from candidates having an adequate background in Astronomy, Physics, Mathematics, or other relevant domains, will be considered. The curricular evaluation of the candidates will be done based on:
- cover letter with a brief description of the candidate's experience and motivation (10%);
- CV, including degrees completed (40%);
- relevance and adequacy of previous research experience and research plan to the priorities of the team and of IA (50%).

An ordered list of candidates will be defined by the selection committee based on the submitted documents and the criteria mentioned above. All candidates fulfilling the selection criteria (and having a total grade of at least 60 in a scale of 0-100) will be considered for a shortlist, and will be required to attend an interview for the second stage of the evaluation. Reference letters may also be asked to the aforementioned referees and will be taken into account in the evaluation process.

Awarding of the contract
Following the evaluation process the contracts will be offered according to the ordering list proposed by the selection committee. The positions 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. Nuno Santos.

Selection Committee
Nuno Santos (chair)
Sérgio Sousa
Vardan Adibekyan
João Lima
José Afonso

Publication Date
4th January 2018

The period for application submission has ended for this opportunity.