Postdoctoral Research Associate

About the Role

You will contribute to the construction and quality control of the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk). The ITk group at Queen Mary University of London has played a key role in the development and construction of the new ITk detector, which will run as part of the ATLAS Phase-II Upgrade at the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) beginning in 2030. With construction of this instrument ongoing, we make critical contributions to silicon sensor quality control, the initial steps of module assembly, thermal quality control of local supports. The group is led by Dr Seth Zenz, and consists of two academics, two senior physicists, two postdoctoral research associates (PDRAs), one technician, and one engineer.

The ITk Group collaborates closely with the rest of the Particle Physics group as well as with the Detector Development Group, which connects our work to a wider community of experts in detector technology and laboratory practice. The primary objective of the role is to directly contribute to production steps in the clean room and other laboratories, but the role will also include opportunities to develop new techniques and new knowledge of detector technology.

About You

You will have experience with laboratory work on detector technology, for example developing novel particle detectors or contributing to construction and operations of large particle physics experiments. You will have appropriate knowledge of relevant software tools for this work, including coding in python or C, and experience with standard laboratory equipment for detector development.

About the School

The School of Physical and Chemical Sciences consists of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Chemistry. It is one of five schools in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The School is an exciting and dynamic environment, home to over 530 undergraduate students, 70 postgraduate taught students, and 130 teaching and research staff. Our research is highly collaborative, working with colleagues across all three faculties and supported by partnerships with industry, NHS and other stakeholders.

About Queen Mary

At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously unthinkable.

Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.

We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide, disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.

Benefits

We offer competitive salaries, access to a generous pension scheme, 30 days’ leave per annum (pro-rata for part-time/fixed-term), a season ticket loan scheme and access to a comprehensive range of personal and professional development opportunities. In addition, we offer a range of work life balance and family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, and campus facilities.

Queen Mary’s commitment to our diverse and inclusive community is embedded in our appointments processes. Reasonable adjustments will be made at each stage of the recruitment process for any candidate with a disability. We are open to considering applications from candidates wishing to work flexibly.