Durham University, Astronomy
Position ID:
Durham University-Astronomy-PDRA [#31130]
Position Title:
Postdoctoral positions in Dark Energy, Modified Gravity, Cosmology and Large-Scale Structure
Position Type:
Postdoctoral
Position Location:
Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Subject Area:
Appl Deadline:
2025/12/19 11:59PM
* (posted 2025/11/06, listed until 2025/12/20)
* (posted 2025/11/06, listed until 2025/12/20)Position Description:
Position Description
We invite applications for postdoctoral positions in cosmology at the Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC), Durham University. Two funded positions are available. One is funded by the European Research Council (ERC), to start in October 2026, for a period of 3 years. The other is funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), to start in June 2026, for a period of 3 years. Successful candidates will join thriving research teams within the ICC at Durham. The ICC is a leading group in computational cosmology research, having previously played key roles in the development of simulation techniques for dark matter, dark energy and galaxy formation, and in the establishment of the Lambda cold dark matter (LCDM) model, and has continued to be at the forefront of cosmology research.We are particularly interested in candidates with research interests in the following areas:
- ERC post: Cosmological tests of dark energy and modified gravity (contact: Baojiu Li)
- UKRI post: The use of cosmological simulations in the analysis of large-scale structure and galaxy redshift surveys, topics in the galaxy-halo connection, and field-level inference (contact: Sownak Bose)
In addition to the funded posts described above, we expect to have positions for candidates interested in large-scale structure, galaxy surveys, galaxy formation and evolution, gravitational lensing, cosmological simulations, and near-field cosmology.
Durham University hosts one of Europe's largest and most active research groups working in the fields of observational and theoretical extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, and instrumentation. Currently, we have about 35 permanent members of academic staff, around 100 postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students, and several research-active emeritus staff. We have access to all UK national observing facilities, including ESO, ALMA, and ESA, and membership of the KMOS, NuSTAR, XRISM, LOFAR, PAUS, and MOONS teams. Durham is also a partner of the DESI, 4MOST, WEAVE, Euclid, LSST, JCMT, HARMONI, and e-MERLIN collaborations and surveys. We are part of the Virgo Consortium and host extensive supercomputing resources, including the "Cosmology Machine", some of which is part of the DiRAC national supercomputing facility. Further information may be found at http://www.astro.dur.ac.uk.
For all posts, salaries are on the Grade 7 scale, which is currently in the range £38,784 - £46,049. Research support will be at standard UK rates.
The Department of Physics is committed to building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment. It is pledged to the Athena SWAN charter, where we hold a silver award, and has the status of IoP Juno Champion. We embrace equality, and particularly welcome applications from members of communities that are underrepresented in Physics. Durham University provides a range of benefits including pension, shared parental leave policy, and childcare provision, and will assist with potential schooling requirements.
Please submit a CV and publication list (no strict page limit), covering letter (of about 1 page), a statement on your experience with, or commitment towards, mentoring, equality, and inclusivity (of about 0.5 pages), a research statement (no more than 3 pages), and the details of three academic referees to the Academic Jobs Online website: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31130.
Please briefly summarise in your covering letter your research interests and identify, where possible, the position(s) you are interested in or the staff member(s) whose expertise most overlaps with your interests.
To ensure full consideration, complete applications, including references, need to be received by 19 December, 2025.
Application Materials Required:
Submit the following items online at this website to complete your application:
- Cover letter
- Curriculum Vitae
- Research statement
- Publication list
- Mentoring, equality and inclusivity statement
- Three reference letters (to be submitted online by the reference writers on this site )
And anything else requested in the position description.
Further Info:
Ogden Centre for Fundament Physics - West
Department of Physics
Durham University
South Road
Durham DH1 3LE
United Kingdom
Department of Physics
Durham University
South Road
Durham DH1 3LE
United Kingdom