Key Skills

Job Description

Position Description The consortium "Emergence at all Scales" is the national flag-carrier of the NWA route 2 game changer Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (d-iep.org). EAAS combines 8 Dutch and 1 Ukrainian university as well as Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in an interdisciplinary and collaborative endeavour aimed at understanding emergent phenomena across scales, combining multiple fields including physics, mathematics, astronomy, history & philosophy of science, and social science. Its approach to societal engagement throughout the project’s 5-year lifetime is equally interdisciplinary, with a wide variety of activities ranging from art/science programmes, large-scale science festivals, citizen science and educational initiatives at various levels. EAAS is hiring a total of 20 PhD/postdoc scientists to join the team, and our project/group leaders share the ambition of gender parity in hires across EAAS. Within this context, we invite interested candidates to apply either for a PhD or a PD position to work in the EAAS sub-project Cosmic Structures. We particularly encourage women and candidates from other under-represented groups to apply. At the University of Groningen, and within the Cosmic Structures program, we plan to recruit: one PhD student, based primarily in Groningen and one postdoc (with an appointment of 3 years), stationed primarily in Groningen, with the possibility to spend up to one year in either Amsterdam or Leiden. The PhD student will be supervised in Groningen by Daniel Meerburg and Ema Dimastrogiovanni, in collaboration with Elisa Chisari (Utrecht), Rien van de Weijgaert (Groningen) and Christoph Weniger (Amsterdam). The project will be on observational signatures sourced by the emergence of spacetime and primordial structures from inflation. The student will explore both existing methods, such as standard summary statistics, as well as yet-to-be-fully matured methods, such as those rooted in persistent homology and likelihood-free inference. The PhD researcher will combine observations of the large-scale structure and the cosmic microwave background with future direct probes of gravitational waves. The Postdoc will be primarily based in Groningen with close ties to Leiden and Amsterdam, and will be jointly supervised by Diederik Roest (Groningen), Ana Achucarro (Leiden), and Marieke Postma (Nikhef, & Radboud University Nijmegen). The postdoc will investigate the emergence of primordial structures that have seeded the structure formation of the Universe. The focus of this research will be on multiple quantum degrees of freedom in the primordial Universe. The postdoc will contribute to two complementary questions. First, to classify the universality classes of the emergent behaviour of these multi-component systems and derive the resulting correlators. And second, to understand the role of emergent space-time symmetries in these systems, using these to characterize and determine the primordial correlators that have generated cosmic structures. If selected for one of these positions, you are expected to participate in the various scientific activities, meetings and workshops of the EAAS consortium, to form interdisciplinary collaborations across fields and geographical locations within the Netherlands, and to acquire skills by active participation in science communication activities, interacting with public audiences and taking part in a pilot programme where experience can be acquired in high school science teaching. Please Apply Via AJO By Submitting The Following Material for the PhD position: CV, cover letter, full academic transcripts, a minimum of 2 reference letters, preprint of publications (optional), grades scale explanations (optional) for the postdoc position: CV, cover letter, research statement, publication list, between 2 and 3 reference letters.

Core Responsibilities

The PhD researcher will investigate observational signatures of emergent spacetime and primordial structures, combining large-scale structure and cosmic microwave background observations with future gravitational-wave probes. The postdoc will study multi-component quantum systems in the primordial Universe, classifying emergent behavior and using spacetime symmetries to characterize primordial correlators.

Requirements

Applicants should submit the materials specified for their chosen PhD or postdoctoral position, including a CV, cover letter, and references; postdoc applicants must also provide a research statement and publication list. Selected candidates are expected to participate in consortium activities, build interdisciplinary collaborations, and engage in science communication and high-school teaching activities.