Postdoctoral Fellowships in Astrophysics

MPA Postdoctoral Fellowships in Astrophysics

at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching near Munich, Germany.

The MPA postdoctoral fellowships are prestigious three-year positions allowing promising young
scientists, who completed their PhD in the last six years, to develop a research program of their
choice. We seek candidates that are eager to interact with our current institute members. This can be
because of overlapping interests with our present staff, but we also welcome those who would bring
new complementary expertise.

Research areas of interest include (but are not limited to) stellar astrophysics, asteroseismology,
interacting binary and multiple systems, transients and supernovae, gravitational waves,
computational astrophysics and cosmology, the formation and evolution of galaxies and their
supermassive black holes, galactic structure, and star formation, galaxy clustering, and cosmic large-
scale structure, gravitational lensing, cosmic microwave background studies, and physical cosmology.
Further information can be found here https://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/science.

We aim to offer a vibrant environment where you can develop your science through stimulating
interactions with our 14 long-term staff members, about 40 postdocs, and a similar number of PhD
students. The four departments and independent groups in our institute actively interact and
collaborate. We meet informally each morning for science coffee, over lunch, or during various group
meetings and seminars. You will also be invited to join the local and Max Planck wide postdoc
network.

We strive for excellent science, but believe this can only be achieved with a healthy work-life balance.
As an employee of the Max Planck community, you will also have access to extensive resources and
support, see https://www.mpg.de/family-and-career.

We are located on the Garching research campus, 10 km north of Munich, which hosts the largest
European concentration of astronomers. As a fellow, you can take advantage of interactions with our
next-door colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the
headquarters of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and from the many (high-profile) visitors
that frequently visit.

We offer generous financial support to allow our fellows to attend (international) conferences or
workshops or make work trips.

MPA fellows are welcome to use the institute’s excellent in-house computing facilities and support if
their research program requires this. Fellows will also have privileged access to facilities at the
Supercomputer Centre of the Max Planck Society.

The city of Munich is quite expat-friendly and you can fairly easily find doctors, a bank, and an
insurance company that offers their services in English. We do offer the possibility to attend German
language classes for those interested.

Salaries are paid at German civil service rates (gross annual pre-tax income including a special
annual payment are currently in the range of 63.000 EUR to 72.500 EUR, depending on post-doctoral
experience). The position comes with 30 days holiday entitlement, social security insurance (e.g.
health insurance), and social benefits according to the regulations for public service.

Interested candidates are invited to apply by November 15, 2024, link to the portal will be provided on
our MPA website shortly: https://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/postdoc2024.

To be considered, please upload (1) a curriculum vitae, (2) a publication list (indicating papers that are accepted for publication in refereed journals), (3) a research statement describing your prior and current interests and plans at MPA. There are no strict page limits, but we suggest you keep your statement to 3-5 pages. Optionally, you can also include a cover letter.

(4) please give the names/details of three referees. The upload of their confidential letters (by
November 15, 2024) will be requested by the portal once you have submitted your application.

The MPA is actively committed to equal opportunity in employment.