The research unit „Epistemology of the LHC“, newly established by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), invites applications for
6 Postdoctoral and 5 Doctoral Student positions in the fields of philosophy of science, physics, history of science, and science studies.
The research unit investigates a broad variety of themes centring on the experimental and theoretical research at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN from an interdisciplinary perspective that involves problems and methods from philosophy, history, and science studies.
The six research projects are:
A1 The formation and development of the concept of virtual particles;
A2 The hierarchy, fine tuning, and naturalness problem from a philosophical perspective;
A3 LHC and gravity;
B1 The impact of computer simulations on the epistemic status of LHC Data;
B2 Model building and dynamics;
B3 Producing novelty and securing credibility.
Each project is directed by two or more principal investigators, one from experimental or theoretical physics and one of the reflective disciplines: philosophy of science, history of science and science studies. With the exception of A3 each project is assigned one postdoctoral and one doctoral student position.
We are looking for candidates from all disciplines mentioned above who are willing to engage in interdisciplinary work and have some relevant experience in the complementary discipline.
The positions are initially for a duration of three years. After a successful evaluation of the project, the postdoctoral positions may be extended for another three years. Depending on the research project the positions will be hosted by the TU Berlin, the RWTH Aachen University, the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in Vienna, or the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. The positions will be filled around June 1st, 2016.
Deadline for applications: April 15, 2016.
More precise descriptions of the individual projects, the job requirements, salaries and benefits can be found under
http://www.lhc-epistemologie.uni-wuppertal.de.
Please send applications electronically to lhc.epistemology@uni-wuppertal.de. Applications should include a letter of motivation, a (possibly ranked) indication of the projects applied for, a curriculum vitae, a list of publications and presentations, copies of your diploma, and the names and addresses of referees who can be contacted directly. For predoctoral positions we expect at least one,
for postdoctoral positions at least two references.