Research Associate / Assistant in Supernovae / Astrostatistics / Data Science (Fixed Term)

The Institute of Astronomy (IoA), Cambridge University expects to appoint one or more postdoctoral researchers to work with Professor Kaisey Mandel on projects in supernova cosmology, transient astronomy, astrostatistics and/or machine learning. Prof Mandel's interdisciplinary research group is funded by the European Research Council and spans the Institute of Astronomy, Kavli Institute for Cosmology, and the Statistical Laboratory of the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. Appointments to the StatsLab (DPMMS) are possible. Negotiable starting dates from ASAP through to October 2025.

Experience in statistical modelling / computation, machine learning, supernova observations / data analysis, transient surveys, and/or cosmological analysis is desirable. The successful applicants will have opportunities to work with novel optical / near-infrared datasets from current time-domain surveys, including the Young Supernova Experiment, and participate in upcoming next-generation surveys including LSST with VRO and TiDES with 4MOST.

The role-holder will contribute to research excellence as a member of a highly collaborative international research team, with the role providing substantial scope for exercising academic judgement, originality, interpretation and presentation of results. The role-holder will develop a high degree of interaction with staff and students, disseminate their research findings via publications or other appropriate media, such as international workshops and conferences, and will be encouraged to participate in teaching, learning, and outreach activities.

Applicants must have a PhD in Astronomy, Statistics, or a related field, or have satisfied the requirements for the PhD, by the time of appointment. Applicants must possess a scientific publication record and a clear outline of current and future research areas of interest. Applicants must have excellent communication and computing skills and are expected to produce scientific articles for publication in peer-reviewed journals

The University of Cambridge is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). DORA recognises the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated. The University expects candidates to apply the principles of DORA when preparing their applications. We do not use journal-level metrics when assessing the quality of research outputs. Applicants should not include journal-level metrics, such as the Journal Impact Factor, anywhere in their application materials. More information about DORA, its principles and aims can be found at: https://sfdora.org/ and https://www.research-strategy.admin.cam.ac.uk/research-policy/DORA.

Salary will be on the Research Associate scale (grade 7, from £36,924 to £45,163). Appointment as a Research Associate (grade 7) is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted their thesis but not yet been awarded their PhD will initially be appointed as a Research Assistant and amended to Research Associate when the PhD is awarded. The Research Assistant salary (grade 5) falls within the range £33,882 to £34,866.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance.

The University of Cambridge thrives on the diversity of its staff and students. We have an active Equality and Diversity Committee which continually works to further the aims of the Athena SWAN charter. The University has several family-friendly policies and initiatives, including a returning-carer scheme, childcare costs support, university workplace nurseries, university holiday play-schemes, and a shared parental-leave policy. As part of its commitment to providing a family-friendly environment for researchers, the IoA ensures that should parental leave be needed during the course of employment, there is provision for extension to contract to compensate for the parental leave taken.