Postdoctoral Fellow

Classification: Academic Level A
Salary package: $85,010 – $106,702 per annum plus 17% superannuation
Term: Full-time, Fixed Term (up to 3 years)

Working at ANU

This is an opportunity to work with a world class University that undertakes cutting edge research and has a strong tradition in research-led teaching excellence.

We offer:

• Flexible working arrangements including hybrid arrangements working both on our beautiful, green campus and working remotely,
• Generous paid parental leave entitlements of up to 32 weeks. We are one of the leading employers in Australia for parental leave entitlements,
• Designated parent rooms, quiet spaces and childcare facilities on campus,
• Career support, training, mentoring & upskilling opportunities.

For more information on a range of lifestyle, financial and non-financial rewards and programs, please click here.

To see what the Science at ANU community is like, we invite you to follow us on social media at Instagram and Facebook.

A Diverse and Inclusive Team

ANU is introducing measures to support the recruitment, inclusion and retention of employees with disability. To find out more, please click here.

ANU is a large, diverse employer with staff working across numerous professions (see the full list of available roles here. We are a recipient of the bronze award through the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program and a platinum member of the Australian Network on Disability. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and identities and from individuals who may have had a non-linear career path, career gaps or career breaks.

The Area

The Research School of Physics (RSPhys) represents Australia's largest university based research and teaching activity in the physics discipline. The School is home to a number of major national facilities such as Australia's largest heavy-ion accelerator. Hundreds of academics, technical staff and students form the School's greatest asset, its people. This critical mass of researchers is of fundamental importance in fostering the kind of interdisciplinary interactions that create modern research excellence.

The underlying impetus of our research is a belief in the fundamental importance of physics to all of science and technology and the key role physics must play in addressing the challenges facing the modern world. For example, in addressing climate change, we must better understand the physics of the atmosphere and develop new clean sources of energy. In medicine, further development of new procedures, such as positron, hadron and Auger therapy for cancer treatment, will not be possible without advancing the basic physics that underlies them. The candidate will also be expected to work at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Mount Stromlo Observatory campus.

The Position

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be jointly based in the Research School Physics and the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, ANU. They will primarily undertake work on an ARC Discovery Project in creating photonic crystal waveguides in mid-infrared transparent materials via ultrashort laser pulses, and will also design, test and characterise these waveguide structures. These spatial filters are a key missing element for the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE) space mission concept, designed to search for signs of life on a large sample of nearby terrestrial planets. They are also expected to contribute to a related ARC Discovery Project on directly creating technology for small satellite space interferometry, including optomechanical design and testing.

The Person

We are looking for an early career researcher with a PhD (or awarding of a PhD within six months of appointment) in photonics and optical physics, with strong track record of research in the field of high power lasers in the short and ultrashort regime, or related areas including photonics and optics.

Learn more about the ground-breaking research and work class facilities of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics here.

For more information about the position please contact Prof. Michael Ireland on E: Michael.Ireland@anu.edu.au

To Apply

To be considered for this position, please upload the following documents:

• A current curriculum vitae (CV), and
• No more than a two-page summary addressing your suitability against the selection criteria.

The committee will consider candidates that do not meet one or more aspects of the selection criteria.

If you require adjustments to participate in any of the above assessments, please contact our HR team at E: hr.cos@anu.edu.au. Any adjustment request or the disclosure of disability will not be communicated to the selection committee without the candidates consent and it will not having any bearing on hiring decisions.

For examples of common reasonable adjustments please click here.

The successful candidate will be required to undergo a background check during the recruitment process. An offer of employment is conditional on satisfactory results.