Student assistant for development of open research database in Zürich

You will be part of the . 

The applicant will be supervised and supported by Dr. Matthias Schartner as part of an open research data project.

Geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) stands at the forefront of precise measurements for Earth's rotation and orientation, drawing on a global network of strategically positioned radio telescopes to capture radiation from extragalactic radio sources. At the core of geodetic VLBI operations lies the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS), a collaborative platform that unites institutions, observatories, and research agencies worldwide. In this project, we aim to collect and unify IVS-VLBI data, in particular, the analysis results and statistics about the various experiments, telescopes, and observed radio sources. 

We are seeking a highly motivated student assistant for the development of an open research database. The database should contain analysis results and statistics from Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiments.  Currently, the results and statistics are generated by various analysis centers around the world and published in regularly updated text files. You will develop automated scripts to download and parse these text files and enter their content into the database. Additionally, you will design a web interface to access the database, an application programming interface, and basic plotting utilities to visualize the results on a webpage.

You will be responsible for the full life-cycle of the project: setting up the database and webpage, designing the database structure, developing scripts to download, parse, and process the datasets, and generating code for basic plotting capabilities on the webpage.
In your work, you will be supported by Matthias Schartner as well as the IT Service Group of the department. 

According to internal regulations, you can work up to 18 hours per week during the semester, with the possibility of extension to 100% during the semester breaks. 

• You are able to work independently and organize yourself
• You want to drive innovation in an established research field
• You have good coding skills in Python
• You have experience with databases 
• You are eager to work with a young team of motivated scientists
• Experience in developing web interfaces is a plus
• Experience with Django and/or Flask is a plus
• Experience with MariaDB is a plus
• A good command of the English or German language is mandatory
   

• Training opportunities
• Support programmes (e.g. mentoring) and access to our scientific network
• Inclusive team culture and team composition
• Flexible working hours, possibility for part-time work and home office