Publication date: 17/06/2011

The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere awards several postdoctoral fellowships each year. The programme is open to applicants who will have achieved their PhD in astronomy, physics or related discipline before 1 November, 2012.

The goal of these fellowships is to offer young outstanding scientists opportunities and facilities to enhance their research programmes in close contact with the activities and staff at one of the world’s foremost observatories.

The closing date for applications is 15 October 2011.

  • In Garching, the fellowships start with an initial contract of one year followed by a two-year extension (3 years total). In addition to the excellent scientific environment that will allow to develop their scientific skills, as part of the diverse training ESO offers, Garching fellows spend up to 25 of their time in some functional work related to instrumentation, operations support, archive/virtual observatory, VLTI, ALMA, ELT, public affairs, or science operations at the Observatory in Chile.
  • In Chile, the fellowships are granted for one year initially with an extension of three additional years (4 years total). During the first three years, the fellows are assigned to one of the operations groups on Paranal, ALMA or APEX. Fellows contribute to the operations at a level of 80 nights per year at the Observatory. During the fourth year there is little or no functional work and several options are provided. The fellow may be hosted by a Chilean institution (and will thus have access to all telescopes in Chile via the Chilean observing time). Alternatively, she/he may choose to spend the fourth year either at ESO’s Astronomy Centre in Santiago, or at the ESO Headquarters in Garching, or at any institute of astronomy/astrophysics in an ESO member state.