Postdoctoral Fellow

Applicants are required to get in touch with our staff members to discuss their support of the application and to discuss a research project and implementation plan (theory, observation, and data analysis are all welcome). A list of supervisors for hosting postdoctoral fellows in 2026 is provided below.
Only applications that have been discussed with supervisors will be considered. Supervisors are expected to make their private shortlists and only recommend the final submission to the most promising applicants.

Deadlines:
1. Get in touch with the selected supervisor before September 1st. Later enquiries may not be accepted.
2. Application Deadline is September 10, 2025, 12 PM (noon; in CEST/UTC+2 timezone). Submissions by email to [email protected] with the subject POSTDOC 2026.

Required application parts (all in PDF):
- cover sheet listing: full name, birth date, nationality, current position, the exact date of PhD defence, name of the host/supervisor at ASU, short motivation (½ page max)
- curriculum vitae
- list of publications
- summary of the most significant research results achieved to date and proposed research project (2 pages max in total)
- outline of the implementation plan for 2 years (4500 characters max)
- recommendation letters (to be delivered separately)
Applicants must arrange for a minimum of two recommendation letters to be sent directly to the same electronic address as above. The letters may be issued up to 9 months before the application deadline.
Applications can be submitted slightly before finishing a PhD, in which case a statement from the current supervisor stating the planned date of the defence should be included. Applicants MUST then prove they have been awarded the PhD degree by September 26.

The appointment is initially for one year; an extension for another year is expected upon satisfactory scientific performance. A necessary condition is to satisfy legal requirements for employment in the Czech Republic (EU member state). Salary will be based on the domestic level (cca 1700 EUR/month before taxes; health insurance included). There is a possibility of staff accommodation in Ondrejov; in Prague, private accommodation has to be arranged.
The starting date of employment is expected to be January 1, 2026, but it is negotiable.
Applications from applicants who are less than two years away from obtaining their PhD will be considered separately. A shortlist will be preselected within 2 weeks of the application deadline, and listed applicants may be invited for an online interview. Once the evaluation process is completed, all applicants will be notified.
Further information:

● https://www.asu.cas.cz/en/departments for the list of working groups at the Institute
● https://www.euraxess.cz/ for details about the research, employment and work conditions in the Czech Republic
● http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp to compare the cost of living

List of researchers and topics:
▸ Jaroslav Dudík, [email protected], Solar flares and eruptions, solar corona and transition region
▸ Petr Kabáth, [email protected], Exoplanets and their atmospheres
▸ Jana Kašparová, [email protected], Solar flares in X-ray domain
▸ Ondřej Zelenka, [email protected], Gravitational waves from small mass ratio black hole binaries
▸ Marek Skarka, [email protected], Stellar variability
▸ Jiří Svoboda, [email protected], Multiwavelength observations of black holes across the mass scale
▸ Artem Koval, [email protected], Solar radio bursts
▸ Petr Hellinger, [email protected], Solar wind turbulence
▸ Soňa Ehlerová, [email protected], Structures in the interstellar medium
▸ Jan Palouš, [email protected], Feeding supermassive black holes
▸ Richard Wünsch, [email protected], Formation of stars and star clusters

▸ Pavel Jáchym, [email protected], Evolution of galaxies in galaxy clusters
▸ Michaela Kraus, [email protected], Pulsations in blue supergiants and evolution of massive stars
▸ Brankica Kubátová, [email protected], Multi-wavelength analysis of massive hot stars and inhomogeneous stellar winds
▸ Jiří Kubát, [email protected], Radiative transfer and modelling of stellar atmospheres and winds
▸ Michal Dovčiak, [email protected], X-ray astrophysics of black holes in AGN and XRBs - spectra, timing and polarization in theory and observations
▸ Rhys Taylor, [email protected], Arecibo studies of galaxy evolution
▸ Olga Maryeva, [email protected], Physical properties of evolved massive stars and their nebulae
▸ Petr Škoda, [email protected], Astroinformatics, advanced machine learning and usage of large language models and pre-trained transformers in astronomy
▸ Michalis Kourniotis, [email protected], Machine-learning classification of massive stars
▸ Vladimír Karas, [email protected], Acceleration and collimation processes in strong gravity


Inquiries:
Mrs. Lenka Čiháková
[email protected]