GFZ is Germany's national centre for solid Earth research. We advance the understanding of dynamic processes to address global challenges, from mitigating the impacts of natural hazards and sustaining our habitat amid global change to responsibly managing georesources. We are part of the Helmholtz Association, the largest German scientific organisation. With around 1,200 employees as well as ca. 500 guest researchers, we contribute to the Helmholtz Research Field Earth and Environment, aligning cutting-edge research with societal relevance and international collaboration. Our work integrates multidisciplinary studies across Earth's system components, leveraging advanced technologies and infrastructure to research solutions and to transfer our knowledge to society. We are doing this according to our vision: "Taking the pulse of our Earth to safeguard a habitable planet”.

Reference Number 10744

The successful candidate will contribute to the Astrogeodesy project (1^st May 2023 to 30^th April 2028), funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. Astrogeodesy aims to improve the precision of geodetic products from the next-generation very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) system, named VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS) by (1) deriving structure images of the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) directly from VGOS observations, (2) aligning the images over time and frequency through relative astrometric observations, and (3) calibrating VGOS observations by using the aligned images to model the quasars to be really point-like anchors on the sky. This project is dedicated to resolving the longstanding challenge in geodetic VLBI, which is the systematic error caused by source structure (i.e., angular distribution of the brightness of the AGNs). High motivation for working with simultaneous multi-frequency VLBI observations and achieving the full potential of VGOS observations is desired.

Your responsibilities:

• Develop pipelines for imaging VGOS data and measuring core shift, investigate image alignment, and understand structure evolution over time for the AGNs in VGOS observations
• Explore VGOS data for tropospheric turbulence on a short time scale, such as a few seconds to ten minutes, and ionospheric parameter estimation
• Validate the results from VGOS with GNSS, numerical weather model, and water vapor radiometer
• Collaborative work in a highly interdisciplinary and international team
• Present your results at international conferences and project meetings
• Publish your results in international scientific journals

Your qualifications:

• A Master`s degree or equivalent and a PhD degree in VLBI, radio astronomy, astrophysics, astrometry, geodesy, or a related field
• Good understanding of the estimation process and astrophysical/geophysical models
• Strong background and publication record in the development and application of VLBI observation in astronomy, astrometry, or geodesy
• Excellent command of the English language
• Strong skills in scientific programming with Python, Fortran, and/or other languages

What we offer:

• Ambitious and varied tasks in a dynamic and international research environment
• State-of-the-art equipment
• Public service benefits
• Extensive training opportunities
• Professional career advice offered by our in-house Career-Center
• Flexible working hours and conditions
• Support with finding a good work-life balance offered by benefit@work
• Institute day-care centre on site
• Working at the Albert Einstein Science Park on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam
• Workplace within walking distance of Potsdam main train station, or just a short ride on the shuttle bus