SUNDIAL (SUrvey Network for Deep Imaging Analysis & Learning) invites applications for a junior scientist position for its program on Galaxy Evolution and Big Data, where astronomers and computer scientists work together on big data algorithms, and apply them to the study of the formation and evolution of galaxies. It is a position for 3 months, starting on Nov. 1, 2019, or later.

SUNDIAL is an ambitious interdisciplinary network of research groups in astronomy and computer science in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom funded by the EU as a Horizon2020 Marie Curie ITN project. The aim of the network is to develop novel algorithms to study the very large databases coming from present and future telescopes and simulations to better understand galaxy formation and evolution, and to prepare for the huge astronomical missions of the next decade. As a starting database SUNDIAL uses the KIDS survey and the deep wide-field survey of the Fornax cluster FDS, both observed with the OMEGACam instrument at ESO, as well as complementary imaging and spectroscopic surveys from various telescopes, such as VISTA, SAMI (AAT) and MeerKAT across the full electromagnetic spectrum.

Special for this network is that the SUNDIAL-students are trained in two fields - computer science and astronomy, and scientific collaborations between the nodes are strongly encouraged. The techniques that we develop (in machine learning and mathematical morphology) are applied to problems in galaxy evolution, as well as other fields. With 5 companies we will look for commercial applications.

The candidate will set up one or more projects on the Zooniverse citizen science web portal (www.zooniverse.org). They can be about faint object detection, classification of mergers etc. Citizen Science is a way to reach hundreds of thousands of people, and get them involved in the aims of the project. It is being used more and more. Comparison between the Citizen Science Results and the automatic results obtained in SUNDIAL will provide important information about the sociological bias inherent in such a project.

The position is available either for our node in Groningen, the Netherlands, or for our node at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Tenerife, Spain. The duration of the contract will be 3 months.

Financial conditions and benefits are excellent, and include generous mobility and living allowance, following EU guidelines. We invite applicants from all nationalities, although EU rules on research experience and mobility apply, as outlined on our website. This means, for example, that the researcher must not have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the start of the contract. Applicants need to have finished the equivalent of a Masters degree in astrophysics, computer science, or a related field of study by the start of their contract.

Applications need to be submitted by 15 October 2019 at https://www.astro.rug.nl/~peletier/sundial/applications.html

SUNDIAL is committed to equal opportunities and will recruit exclusively on merit.