PhD student in Solar Orbiter Science in Zürich

The Institute of Particle Physics and Astrophysics at ETH Zurich hosts a solar astrophysics group. The lead, Louise Harra, is also a director at PMOD/WRC in Davos. The position is based at  in Davos Dorf, Switzerland. Founded in 1907, PMOD/WRC is concerned with the study of solar radiation and its effect on the Earth's climate. PMOD/WRC has been involved in space instrumentation since the 1980s, including the spectrometer SPICE and the EUV Imager EUI onboard the ESA Solar Orbiter mission, and the future Solar Spectral Irradiance Monitor onboard the JAXA Solar-C mission. 

This position is based on the ESA Solar Orbiter space mission which was launched in 2020. The mission is focussing on understanding the sources of solar activity including solar wind and solar flare triggers. PMOD/WRC were involved in the design and build of two instruments onboard Solar Orbiter (SPICE and EUI), and are actively engaged in the data analysis focussing on the sources of the solar wind and solar flares. 

You will undergo original research in the area of solar wind formation. The project is dominantly data analysis and you will actively engage with international instruments and mission consortia. The project will entail analysing data not only from the Solar Orbiter mission but also from Hinode, IRIS, SDO and potentially DKIST. The analysis software is based both in Python and IDL. As part of your role as a PhD student, you will also actively engage in the teaching of the D-PHYS department at ETH. 

It is expected that you will have:

• a MSc in physics
• Experience in solar astrophysics is desirable
• The solar data analysis and calibration software packages are in IDL and Python, so experience in one of these is desirable. 

ETH Zurich is a family-friendly employer with excellent working conditions. You can look forward to an exciting working environment, cultural diversity and attractive offers and benefits.