Research Assistant*in (PhD Student) (f/m/d)

11.10.2024

Research assistant (PhD student) (f/m/d)

Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity (MfN), Berlin

Our Mission: Discovering and describing life and earth - with people, through dialogue.

The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) is an excellent and integrated research museum of the Leibniz Association with an international reputation and globally networked research infrastructure. It is active in three closely interlinked fields: collection-based research, collection development and cataloguing, and research-based public and educational work. Over the next ten years, the Museum für Naturkunde will realise its plan for the future. New laboratories and jobs for cutting-edge research will be created. At the same time, one of the world's most comprehensive natural history collections with over 30 million objects will be housed in modern collection buildings and completely digitized in the process. The implementation of the Future Plan, funded with a total of 660 million euros from the Federal Government and the State of Berlin, will only succeed with strong interdisciplinary national and international partners.

Become part of our team

Research assistant (PhD student) (f/m/d)

• Work schedule: Part time 75%; corresponds to 29 hours and 33 minutes per week
• Duration: As soon as possible, limited for 36 months
• Salary level: E 13 TV-L
• Code: 58/ 2024

Project Description

The overarching goal of the interdisciplinary NoSHADE (Novel Perspectives on our Solar System History recorded in the Atacama Desert) project funded by the European Research Council (ERC, 101077668) is to collect traces of cosmic dust from Atacama Desert sedimentary records reaching back >10 million years and link them to specific cosmic events. Particularly, Supernovae occurring in our Solar neighborhood leave trace amounts of characteristic radionuclides on Earth (e.g. 60Fe). Such isotopic fingerprints mirror the various types of interstellar matter our Solar System encountered in the past as well as nucleosynthesis processes in massive stars. To identify the quantity, timing, locations and types of past nearby Supernova events, the focus is on searching for anomalies of long-lived radionuclides in the sedimentary records.

Your tasks

• Sedimentary and geochemical analyses of Atacama Desert sediments (e.g., leaching, sieving, electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction)
• Chemical extraction of long-lived radionuclides (10Be, 26Al, 53Mn, 60Fe) for dating the sedimentary records as well as for detecting Supernova isotopes
• Coordination of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements
• Analysis and interpretation of the collected data, including the use of suitable software (e.g. Python, Fortran, Mathematica)
• Writing scientific reports and publications, as well as presenting results at national and international conferences

Your profile

• Completed university degree (Diploma/Master), preferentially in the fields of (astro)physics, geology, chemistry or another closely related field
• Interest in astrophysics and interdisciplinary applications
• Preferentially experience with isotope research
• Experience in one or several of the following are an advantage
  • Geo- or radiochemistry
  • Sedimentology
  • Programming skills
  • Laboratory work
• Self-motivation and good communication skills within an international team

We offer you

• Exciting working environment in an attractive research museum with varied tasks in a dynamic and future-orientated market
• Very good public transport connections in the centre of Berlin
• Extensive further training opportunities on a personal and professional level
• Flexible working hours and a wide range of options for balancing work and family life (e.g. flexitime or individual part-time models)
• Depending on the job, mobile working is possible for up to 60 per cent of individual working hours
• Remuneration according to TV-L with company pension scheme (VBL), special annual payment and capital-forming benefits
• Employee events, company health management and German and English language courses
• 30 days' holiday plus 24 December and 31 December off

Special notes

In support of equal rights applications from qualified women are particularly welcome. Handicapped individuals will be given preference in cases of identical qualifications.

We look forward to receiving your application with the usual documents (cover letter, curriculum vitae, certificates) by 22.11.2024, preferably via our online application portal.

https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/jobs-and-career/jobs

For information on the application procedure, please contact re********ng@***.berlin.