Job Title: Early Stage Researcher in STELLAR POPULATIONS & GALAXY FORMATION
Attention: Dr. Annette Ferguson

Closing date: Jan 15, 2006

Applications are invited for a 3-year PhD Studentship to be held at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA), University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The successful candidate will join a newly-formed research group led by Annette Ferguson and funded by a Marie Curie Excellence Grant from the European Commission. The research group is focused on studying resolved stellar populations in the Local Universe as a probe of galaxy formation and evolution.

The thesis project is of an observational nature and will primarily involve the analysis of wide-field ground-based observations (obtained with the VLT, Subaru and UKIRT) for sample of nearby galaxies. Candidates having previous experience with astronomical data reduction, especially stellar photometry and/or analysis of large datasets, are particularly encouraged to apply.

The position is available to start from April-September 2006 and is open to students of all nationalities who will hold a Masters or BSc degree by the start of the appointment. Applications from those who would contribute to the diversity of the research group in terms of nationality and/or gender are especially welcomed. The minimum salary will be in the range of 18,340-20,194 GBP per annum and comes with full benefits.

For further details and application procedure please see the web site: http://www.jobs.ed.ac.uk/ quoting Vacancy Reference No. 30005272. Informal enquiries should be addressed to Dr Annette Ferguson (email: ferguson@roe.ac.uk). The application review process will begin January 15, 2006 and will continue until the position has been filled.

Funding for this position is subject to final contract signature (expected by the end of 2005).