One Predoctoral Contract at the IAC CHRONOGAL PS-2026-084

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, invites applications for ONE predoctoral research contract in Astrophysics within the project “Chronology of our Galaxy from Gaia color-magnitude diagram fitting (ChronoGal)”, funded by the European Union through an ERC Advanced Grant (Ref. HORIZON EUROPE ERC-2024-ADG, Grant Agreement No. 101201412) and led by Professor Carme Gallart.

The proposed doctoral project focuses on the stellar populations of the Milky Way bulge by reconstructing the star formation history in different fields within this Galactic component, using state-of-the-art data from Rubin/LSST or the Roman Space Telescope. A substantial part of the project will involve deriving photometry from images currently being acquired, and yet to be acquired, by these two surveys. Strong programming skills and the ability to develop automated data-analysis pipelines are highly desirable.

The successful applicant will be based at the IAC headquarters in La Laguna, Tenerife, in a stimulating research environment, where s/he will undertake research on a specific and innovative project leading to the award of a doctoral degree. S/he will join the “Galaxy Evolution in the Local Group” research group, an expanding, dynamic, enthusiastic and collaborative team focused on Galactic archaeology and near-field cosmology, from both observational (e.g. Gaia, WEAVE, 4MOST and LSST) and theoretical perspectives, in collaboration with the “Numerical Astrophysics” research group.

Research at the IAC spans most areas of astrophysics, including solar physics, planetary systems, stellar and interstellar physics, galaxy formation and evolution, the Milky Way, cosmology and astroparticle physics. These research activities are supported by an ambitious instrumentation programme. Further information about the IAC’s research programme, its observatories and the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is available on the IAC website (https://www.iac.es/).

Qualifications: Applicants must hold a university degree in Physics or Mathematics.

The qualification must provide access to the PhD Programme at the University of La Laguna (ULL), and applicants must meet the requirements for admission or enrolment in that programme. The admission requirements for ULL doctoral programmes are set out on the University’s website. By way of guidance, these requirements are met, among others, by applicants holding a university master’s degree and by those who, without such a degree, hold an undergraduate degree and have completed a total of 300 ECTS credits, at least 60 of which must correspond to master’s-level study. Other routes of entry to the ULL PhD Programme are described on its website (https://www.ull.es).

This requirement must be met at the time the application is submitted.