Research Associate in Particle Physics

Fixed Term: Three years in the first instance

Imperial College London invites applications for a Research Associate position to work on the Water Cherenkov Test Experiment (WCTE) at CERN and the Hyper-Kamiokande (HK) experiment in Japan.

The Imperial long-baseline neutrino group is a founding member of the WCTE and HK collaborations.  For both experiments Imperial play a leading role in the detector calibration, with the group responsible for the development and deployment of the laser diffusing sphere that will be used to understand the response of these detectors.  The Imperial group is also involved in the use Machine Learning for event reconstruction and detector calibration as part of the WatChMaL group.  Finally, the group leads the HK long-baseline physics group, focusing on the use of the proposed HK Intermediate Water Cherenkov Detector (IWCD) to perform measurements of neutrino oscillations.

The successful candidate will assist in the commissioning, operation, and data processing of WCTE, with a specific focus on the calibration systems the group is responsible for.  You will take a leading role in the physics analysis of WCTE and explore ways to apply the results of this analysis to Hyper-K, particularly focusing on IWCD and the Hyper-K long-baseline oscillation analysis.

You will hold a PhD* in a relevant area or have an equivalent level of professional qualifications and experience.

You must also be able to demonstrate the following essential criteria:     

• A strong track record with clearly defined individual contributions
• Experience of data analysis techniques and algorithms in experimental particle physics
• Evidence of ability to identify new research opportunities or develop new techniques
• Experience in taking initiative and/or developing your own ideas independently
• Proficiency in programming and computing within high energy physics
• Experience of leadership or evidence of future leadership potential
• Experience of working in an international collaborative environment

In addition, it would be desirable if you had:

• Experience in detector commissioning or operation
• Experience with machine learning techniques
• Experience with Monte Carlo simulation techniques and tools
• Evidence of ability to write high quality research papers

The position will be based in the UK but will require the candidate to spend significant periods of time at CERN. Other UK and foreign travel is likely to be required.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £44,888 - £41,694 per annum.

To apply for this vacancy online, please click the Apply button above.

The Particle Physics Community’s strategy for leadership in designing, constructing, and exploiting scientifically the leading experiments in particle physics sustains our high international profile. The Community has a strong ongoing experimental programme encompassing the T2K, Super-Kamiokande and future Hyper-Kamiokande experiments in Japan; the future neutrino oscillation experiment DUNE at Fermilab and SURF in the USA; the search for charged lepton flavour violation with COMET in Japan; the CMS and LHCb experiments at the LHC; the search for dark matter with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment in the USA and the future XLZD experiment; the Atom Interferometer Observatory and Network (AION) project in the UK and the USA; MICE, SHiP, SoLid and SuperNEMO activities and the development of future experiments and impact through the application of particle physics technologies. There are also significant accelerator, phenomenology and Grid computing programmes. As hosts to two Imperial College Centres of Excellence—namely, the Centre for Clinical Application of Particles and the Centre for High-Throughout Digital Electronics and Machine Learning - we demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration.

Visit our webpages for more information about the Department of Physics and the Particle Physics Community.

The Department of Physics is an IoP JUNO Practitioner and an Athena Silver SWAN Award winner reflecting our commitment to building a supportive, inclusive and highly motivated community.  The Department is committed to being a welcoming and supportive environment for everyone and has put in place a number of measures to promote a collaborative and stimulating culture. We value diversity and strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds. Individuals who identify as female and those who consider themselves as underrepresented are particularly encouraged to apply. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender reassignment, sex or sexual orientation. Further information about how the College strives to create and support an equitable workplace can be found here.

Further details about the position are available from Dr. Mark Scott m.scott09@imperial.ac.uk.

Should you have any queries about the application process please contact Paula Brown, Section Administrator, paula.brown@imperial.ac.uk.

If you experience any technical issues when applying online please email support.jobs@imperial.ac.uk

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level.
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/ 

We are committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex, or sexual orientation. We are an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Disability Confident Leader and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.