PhD Student in Physics

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For further information about the Department of Physics, please visit our website at www.physics.gu.se/english. More information about Gothenburg Physics Centre can be found at www.chalmers.se/en/centres/gpc/Pages/default.aspx. 

Information about the research group:  

The research will be carried out in the group at the University of Gothenburg led by Giovanni Volpe. The group focuses on soft matter, optical tweezers, statistical physics and machine learning. 

Job assignments 

We are looking for a PhD student at the Department of Physics at the University of Gothenburg. The applicant will work  

Option 1 – with optical tweezers, optical manipulation, microfluidics.  

Option 2 – at the development of DeepTrack 2.0 (https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0034891 and https://github.com/softmatterlab/DeepTrack-2.0) in close cooperation with the existing developers’ team at Soft Matter Lab.  

Option 3 – with micro- and nanofabrication, metamaterials, and nanooptics 

Qualifications 

To apply, you should have a master’s degree, or equivalent, in physics or in related disciplines. We are looking for someone with experience (possibly) in optical tweezers, holographic optical tweezers, microfluidics, programming, machine learning, robotics, nanofabrication, metamaterial, nanooptics.  

We are looking for a motivated person who can work individually but at the same time have a good ability to collaborate with other researchers in this multidisciplinary collaboration.  

You should have a good ability to express yourself in both written and spoken English. 

Previous, documented experience in:

• programming, machine learning, robotics  
• simulating optical devices and physical systems  
• optical manipulation, holographic optical tweezers, intracavity optical tweezers 
• microfluidics 
• high performance code or deep learning 
• nanofabrication in cleanroom, especially in electron beam lithography 

is an advantage. 

Being a PhD is a 4-year full-time studies and leads to a Doctoral Degree. Those who are employed as doctoral students must primarily devote themselves to their doctoral education. However, a doctoral student may to a limited extent work with education, research and administration. Such work may, before the doctoral degree is completed, not cover more than 20 % of full-time work.  

Eligibility 

To be eligible for third-cycle studies, the applicant must meet both the general and specific entry requirements: 

A person meets the general entry requirements for third-cycle courses and study programs if he or she: 
1. has been awarded a second-cycle qualification,  
2. has satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or 
3. has acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad. 

To meet the specific entry requirements for third-cycle studies, applicants must: (i) have a second-cycle (advanced-level) degree in a relevant* subject area in the natural sciences, or (ii) have completed studies for at least 60 higher education credits at a second-cycle level in relevant subject areas in the natural sciences, or (iii) have completed a corresponding programme of relevance to the planned third-cycle programme, in Sweden or in another country, or have equivalent qualifications. 

*Relevant for the planned third-cycle education 

The specific entry requirements also include an acceptable command of spoken and written English. Guidelines for assessing English proficiency may include a minimum score of 550 on the TOEFL test (or 213 on the TOEFL-CBT, or 79 on the TOEFL-iBT). 

Assessment 

Regulations for the evaluation of qualifications for education on a doctoral level are given in SFS 1993:100. 

Selection among applicants who meet the requirements for basic and special eligibility is based on the ability to assimilate the education at postgraduate level. In the assessment, special emphasis is placed on documented qualifications regarding: 

You should have a good ability to express yourself in both written and spoken English. 

You should be a motivated person who can work individually but at the same time have a good ability to collaborate with other researchers in this multidisciplinary collaboration. 

In the assessment, special emphasis is placed on documented qualifications regarding 

• programming, machine learning, robotics 
• Knowledge of Python, Matlab, C/C++ or similar programming language 
• optical manipulation, holographic optical tweezers, intracavity optical tweezers 
• microfluidics 
• nanofabrication in cleanroom, especially in electron beam lithography 

Consolidated experience with standard Python ML libraries (e.g., Tensorflow, Keras, PyTorch) software development tooling (git and docker) is preferable.  

Employment 

A new employment as a PhD student applies for a maximum of one year. The employment may be prolonged for up to two years at a time. The total employment period may not be longer than the equivalent of four years of full time doctoral studies. 

Type of employment: Fixed-term employment, 4 years full time 
Extent: 100 % 
Location: Department of Physics, Gothenburg 
First day of employment:  1 November 2024, or as agreed 

University applies a local salary agreement of graduate students. 

Appointment procedure 

Please apply online 

The application shall include: 

Cover letter with an explanation of why you apply for the position 
CV including scientific publications 
Copy of exam certificate  
Two referees (name, telephone number, relation) 

For further information regarding the position 

Giovanni Volpe, Professor, 031-786 9137, giovanni.volpe@physics.gu.se 

Unions 

Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg: http://www.gu.se/english/about_the_university/job-opportunities/union-representatives 

How to apply 

In order to apply for a position at the University of Gothenburg, you have to register an account in our online recruitment system. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the job advertisement, and that it is submitted before the deadline. The selection of candidates is made based of the qualifications registered in the application. 

The Application Deadline is: 15 September 2024

The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations. Salaries are set individually at the University. In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden’s regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed. In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.