Fall applications are open
Deadline: 02 December 2016
APPLY ONLINE
Applications are invited for Max Planck Partner Group Postdoctoral Fellowships at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bangalore. These fellowships are supported by the Max Planck Partner Groups in Astrophysical Relativity (working in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics) and Physical Biology (working in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems) at ICTS. All applicants will be automatically considered for the regular ICTS postdoc positions also.
Eligibility
Applications are invited from highly motivated young scientists with a proven track record. Candidates are expected to have a PhD in Physics or related fields (Astrophysics or Astronomy for the Astrophysical Relativity group and Theoretical biophysics or Soft-condensed matter physics or Statistical mechanics for the Physical Biology group) with excellent track record.
Salary and benefits
The initial appointment will be for two years, with possibility of extension up to a third year, based on the scientific activity of the Fellow. The position carries a monthly salary of Rs. 60,000 and a housing allowance of Rs. 15,000. Fellows can also opt for free Institute accommodation in lieu of the housing allowance. Fellows receive health insurance and a research grant of Rs. 200,000 per year. Fellows will also have the opportunity to apply for additional travel and research grants offered by the ICTS as well as the national funding agencies.
Astrophysical Relativity at ICTS
The ICTS Astrophysical Relativity group includes Parameswaran Ajith (faculty), Bala Iyer (Simons visiting professor), Chandra Kant Mishra, Nathan K Johnson-McDaniel, Arunava Mukherjee, Sumit Kumar, Haris M K (postdocs), Abhirup Ghosh, Ajit Kumar Mehta (graduate students) and several visiting undergraduate students. K. G. Arun, Sascha Husa, Mark Hannam, Badri Krishnan and Tarun Souradeep are visiting associates. The group’s research interest include gravitational-wave source modeling, data analysis including parameter estimation, tests of general relativity using gravitational-wave observations and astrophysics. The group is an active member group in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the IndIGO consortium. The group hosts a 1000 core LIGO Tier-3 grid computing cluster and has access to other high-performance facilities at ICTS. The group organizes several ICTS programs every year, including the annual ICTS summer schools on gravitational wave astronomy.
The Max Planck Partner Group in Astrophysical Relativity (Head: Parameswaran Ajith, E-mail: ajith at icts.res.in) was established in 2015 in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany. ICTS postdoctoral fellows have the opportunity to spend extended periods at the Max Planck Institute.
Physical Biology at ICTS
The Physical Biology group at ICTS focusses on mechanobiology, physics of the actomyosin cytoskeleton, active matter, mechanochemical pattern formation as relevant to morphogenetic processes in developing embryos. Present members of the group are Vijaykumar Krishnamurthy (faculty), Shashi Thuttupalli (joint faculty with NCBS), Debajit Goswami, V Jemseena and Pawan Nandkishore (postdocs). In addition, the group has strong collaborations with the Simons Centre for the study of living machines at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru. Our group organizes a regular winter school on quantitative systems biology every year jointly with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste.
The Max Planck group in Physical Biology (Head: Vijaykumar Krishnamurthy, E-mail: vijaykumar at icts.res.in) was established in June 2016 in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPIPKS) in Dresden, Germany. The partner group has strong experimental collaborations with the group of Prof Stephan Grill, BIOTEC, TU Dresden. Selected candidates will have the opportunity to work on exciting projects in collaboration with MPIPKS and BIOTEC in Dresden, and the Simons centre at NCBS in Bengaluru.
How to apply
Interested candidates can APPLY ONLINE with their CV, list of publications, a research proposal (not more than two pages) and a covering letter (PDF). The applicants also need to arrange at least three recommendation letters to be uploaded here. The nominal deadline is Dec 02, 2016; but applications will be considered until the positions are filled. The nominal starting date of January 1, 2017 is negotiable. Informal queries may be addressed to the heads of the respective partner groups.
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