Research Associate - Herzberg Instrument Science Fellowship

Location: Victoria, BC, CA

Research Associate - Herzberg Instrument Science Fellowship

Priority may be given to the following designated employment equity groups: women, Indigenous Peoples* (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), persons with disabilities and racialized persons*.

* The Employment Equity Act, which is under review, uses the terminology Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities.

Candidates are asked to self-declare when applying to this hiring process.

City: Victoria or Penticton

Organizational Unit: Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics

Classification: RO

Tenure: Term

Duration: 2 Years (with option to extend 1 year)

Language Requirements: English

Work arrangements: Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position will require full-time physical presence at the NRC work location identified.

At the NRC, we recognize that Indigenous candidates may have important connections to their communities and you may be eligible for an exception to this work arrangement. Alternative work arrangements may also be considered to accommodate candidates as required. To learn more about these options, please contact the NRC Hiring team using the contact information below.

The role

NRC’s Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre is excited to advertise the Herzberg Instrument Science Fellowship, a postdoctoral fellowship position open to early-career researchers with a planned start date of September 2027. We look forward to having a new postdoctoral fellow who shares our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Respect and Creativity join us at NRC Herzberg.

The Herzberg Instrumentation Fellowship is an independent (2+1 year) fellowship that is meant to empower a recent Ph.D. (those within 5 years of their doctorate) to explore their science and instrumentation interests within an inclusive environment for active research, learning and service. They will have a goal of becoming a Principal Investigator for the next generation of astronomical instruments and facilities. NRC Herzberg will provide them with the experience, support and professional development to help them grow into this role. The Herzberg Instrumentation Fellow will be expected to undertake research activities in astronomical instrumentation, and/or observational astronomy of relevance to their instrumentation interests. This position is tenable at either the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) in Penticton, BC, Canada, or the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) in Victoria, BC, Canada, depending on the instrumentation interests of the successful candidate.

NRC Herzberg is a vibrant research centre with a federal mandate to support Canada’s international observatories and the Canadian astronomy community. NRC-Herzberg has a rare combination of staff involved in astronomy research, instrumentation design and development, engineering, data science and observatory support. This fellowship is intended to leverage this environment to help mentor researchers who will become the leaders enabling ambitious cutting edge astronomy research in the coming decades. We are committed to ensuring that all staff members promptly receive the accommodation they need to do their job and we understand the importance of work/life balance.

NRC Herzberg is a leading developer of instrumentation for Canada’s current and future ground- and space-based telescopes at radio through ultraviolet wavelengths, including major facilities such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), Gemini and CASTOR. Active areas of research include Solar System objects, exoplanets and circumstellar disks, star formation, the interstellar medium, magnetic fields, the Milky Way and Local Group, near-field cosmology and resolved stellar populations, galaxy evolution, supermassive black holes and high redshift galaxies. Current and future ground- and space-based facilities from the UV to radio are represented in our instrumentation development, which includes radio astronomical instrumentation such as receivers, correlators, signal processing technology, and antenna design; and UV/optical/near-IR instrumentation such as adaptive optics, precision mechanics and detectors. Our instrument development activities also include the development of modest-scale pathfinder instruments and on-sky demonstrators.

Herzberg is eager to diversify the fields of research represented at our Research Centre. For this fellowship, we strongly encourage applications from researchers conducting research or developing new technologies fundamental or complementary to the next generation of observing facilities.

Screening criteria

Applicants must demonstrate within the content of their application that they meet the following screening criteria in order to be given further consideration as candidates:

Education

A Ph.D. in astronomy, astrophysics, engineering or a related field is required.

Candidates should have obtained a PhD within the past five years (PhD received on or after September 30, 2022) or expect to complete their PhD within 6 months of appointment.

* Exceptions may be considered to recognize personal or family related leave. Please connect with us using the contact information below to discuss in more detail.

For information on certificates and diplomas issued abroad, please see Degree equivalency

Experience

Experience in astronomical, astrophysical, instrumentation, engineering, data science, or related research beyond the Ph.D. at the time of taking up the Fellowship.

Experience in the design and development of astronomical instrumentation, or a clear and credible interest in the same.

Experience in obtaining, reducing, analysing, and/or aiding in the interpretation of astronomical data from ground- and/or space-based observatories, instrumentation, or astronomical data archives.

Experience