PhD student in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics and Machine learning - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The research conducted at the Department of Physics and Astronomy encompasses a wide range of physics topics, distributed over ten divisions. The department is located in the Ångström laboratory and employs nearly 400 people, 125 of whom are doctoral students. It offers a broad physics curriculum to undergraduate and graduate students, participation in nationally and internationally leading projects for researchers, and opportunities for partnership with industry and various outreach activities. Read more at www.physics.uu.se.

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The position is part of the European Commission-funded Doctoral Network EUSpecLab, a collaboration between 23 universities and companies. Salary conditions, travel/mobility allowances, and benefits follow the attractive EU amounts for Researchers in the HORIZON- MSCA-2021-DN-01 call. The EUSpeclab project contains a mix of 11 theoretical research- oriented PhD projects. The Phd student will be enrolled on the Physics PhD program at Uppsala University Science which has a strong expertise in computational materials studies including fundamental properties, materials for applications, and code development. The supervisor of the project will be Dr. Heike Herper (Uppsala University) and the co-supervisor within EUSpecLab will be Dr. Didier Sébilleau from CNRS (Rennes, France). As part of the project there will be mandatory visits at different academic and industrial collaborators within EUSpecLab:

• Prof. Jan Minár (University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic) -- 2 months
• Prof. Kristian Thygesen (Lyngby, University of Denmark) -- 2 months
• Scienta-Omicron AB (Uppsala, Sweden) -- 4 months

Duties
The goal is to develop a high throughput method which allows to identify new Ce-based systems with tailored functionalities (thermoelectric, magnetic, etc.).

In detail:

Extension of the RSPt code to study M4,5 edges in XAS/XMCD and to optimize spectroscopy part of the code for high-throughput use.

Classification of existing Ce-compounds using ab initio methods (DFT, DMFT) and theoretical spectroscopy techniques (XAS, PES).

Deriving a set of descriptors to generate new Ce-compounds with tailored functionalities from high-throughput/machine learning methods

Requirements

• MSc graduate in theoretical physics, chemistry, or materials science
• Solid background in quantum mechanics and condensed matter physics
• Programming skills (e.g. Fortran, python)
• Good communication skills (written and oral) in English
• Capable to work in a team
• Willingness to relocate between Uppsala, Pilsen (Czech Republic), and Lyngby (Denmark)

Additional qualifications

• Knowledge in density functional theory
• XAS and PES spectroscopy
• Scattering theory

Requested documents

• Detailed motivation letter (1-2 pages)
• Data to support that you are an excellent young scientist
• CV
• List of publications
• MCs certificate

Note: References may be asked for in a later stage of the recruitment process.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. The employment is four years, with the first three years consisting of the Marie Curie fellowship, and the fourth year as a regular doctoral student at Uppsala university. For the duration of the Marie Curie fellowship (3 years) an additional monthly mobility allowance of 600 Euro/month and additional monthly family allowance of 660 Euro/month [EL1] for researchers who have a family (regardless of whether the family will move with the researcher or not), https://mp.uu.se/web/info/stod/ekonomi/forskningsstod/eu/marie-sklodowska-curie (avalible in english). In addition, the EU provides funding for training and transfer of knowledge expenses to the institutes. The fourth year is a regular doctoral position at Uppsala University and does not qualify for any extra allowances. 

Eligibility
At present there are more employees with legal gender man than legal gender woman among PhD students at Faculty of Science and Technology. The university is striving for a more balanced distribution of legal gender within this category. As MSCA is an EU-funded project, the EU mobility rules apply: Candidates can have any nationality and live anywhere. Applicants who have been in Sweden for more than 12 months within the past 3 years are not eligible, however, as the project has a clear international profile. Candidates who already have a PhD are not eligible to apply.

Starting date 1 November, 2022.

Placement: Uppsala University, University of West Bohemnia (Czech Republic), Technical University of Denmark, Scienta-Omicron (Uppsala)

For further information about the position, please contact: heike.herper@physics.uu.se; phone: +46 18 471 5876

Please submit your application by 8 September, UFV-PA 2023/2930.

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