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Vacancies

Two-year Postdoc in Atmosphere Microbial Habitability Modelling

AIX-MARSEILLE UNIVERSITÉ is seeking a 24-month Postdoc (PhD-level position) to work on a Human Frontier Science Project (HFSP) funded project ‘The atmosphere: a living, breathing ecosystem?’. The project is a collaboration involving the MIO in Marseille (France), the University of Guelph (Canada), Monash University (Australia) and Arizona State University (USA). The position is under the supervision of Dr. James Bradley.

The overall aim of the project is to resolve the composition, capabilities, and activities of atmospheric microbes at a global scale, to distinguish whether the atmosphere exhibits structure and microbial activity characteristic of a true ecosystem, or if it is simply a passive dispersal medium for microorganisms.

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PERMANENT FULL-TIME SCIENTIFIC POSITION FACULTY OF SCIENCES

The University of Liège (ULiège) seeks a research logician to join its Astrobiology research unit, focusing on the SPECULOOS instrumental platform for exoplanetology. The successful candidate will play a key role in maintaining ULiège’s international reputation in astrobiology, managing the SPECULOOS network of telescopes across various locations, fostering collaborative research projects in exoplanetology, and contributing to the development and commissioning of the SPECULOOS Orion telescope. This position offers the opportunity to work in a dynamic research environment with a commitment to promoting well-being, diversity, and equality of opportunity.

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Tenure Track in Astrochemistry

The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) is offering a tenure track position for an ASTROCHEMISTRY (M/F) (H/F) role under the acronym CATRAMOL. This position, referenced as CPJ-2024-023, is available across multiple sites, including 1 in Bordeaux, 2 in Paris, and 1 in Lille, spanning academic regions in Bordeaux, Paris, and Lille. The envisaged partner institutions for this role include Université de Bordeaux, Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux, Sorbonne Université, Université de Lille, and Centrale Lille Institut. Published on 14 February 2024, this full-time contract spans between 3 to 6 years, contingent upon the research project and the scientist’s profile, with an annual salary ranging from 54,600 Euros to 57,800 Euros, depending on professional experience. The scientific theme primarily focuses on Chemistry and Processes, specifically within CNRS Sections 13 (Physical chemistry, theoretical and analytic), 17 (Solar system and distant universe), and 19 (Earth System: superficial envelopes). Applicants must hold a doctorate or a PhD or equivalent degree, or have relevant scientific qualifications or experience.

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PhD Scholarship

Since fifteen years, the ASTRO team draws a unique scenario that starts from the primitive dense molecular cloud up to the development of a prebiotic chemistry at the surface of the early Earth. They develop experimental approaches questioning the origin of the organic matter observed in the various interplanetary bodies of our solar system. They demonstrated that a part of this matter could be related to the chemistry occurring during the collapse of the native dense molecular clouds and its evolution to a protoplanetary disk. The accretion step could have then led to an incorporation of a fraction of this primitive organic matter in asteroids and comets, where, depending on the body, secondary alterations could have occurred, leading to a new evolution of the organic content. As observed on Earth with the presence of meteorites, the organic content of interplanetary bodies may have been delivered at the surface of the early Earth, 4.3 to 3.8 Go ago. This extraterrestrial organic matter may have been an important reservoir of organic matter that could have played a role in the emergence of life on the early Earth.

The aim is to develop, under the supervision of Pr. Grégoire Danger and in collaboration with Dr. Robert Pascal and Dr Vassilissa Vinogradoff, prebiotic chemistry experiments in order to understand the chemistry occurring in the context of the early Earth. A reductionist approach will be developed that aims to investigate the reactivity possibly occurring in the known conditions of the early Earth, by working on simple chemical systems to understand the role of specific chemical compounds involving high energy components such as nitriles and species capable of overcoming their otherwise limited reactivity like thiols and others. Our research will focus on amino acid and sugar chemistries, as well as on the chirality evolution.

  • The position is for three years. The funding is part of the AMIDEX IMOTEP project AMX-22-RE-AB-190.
  • Applicants must have a Master degree in analytical chemistry, physical chemistry or organic chemistry by the date of appointment.
  • The starting date is no later than October 2024.
  • Applicants should submit a cover letter, a CV, a statement (2 pages max) explaining interests and qualifications, and if available letters of recommendation.
  • Review of applications will begin upon receipt until the position is filled and all applications received by the deadline will receive full consideration.
  • Selected applicants will be interviewed. They will have to present their research background and to propose a project in relation with the aim of the current position. The selection of the candidate will be held after these interviews.

Application Deadline: June 1st, 2024
Audition Deadline: July 1th, 2024
Starting date: October, 2024
End Date: October, 2027
Attention To: Grégoire Danger – Email: gregoire.danger@univ-amu.fr

pOSTDOCTORAL pOSITION

open position for a postdoctoral researcher in the Early Life lab, ULiège, Belgium

In the frame of the PDR FRS-FNRS project "LIFEFORMS” (is it LIFE? First Organisms oR bioMorphS), a position is open for a postdoctoral researcher in the Early Life lab (http://www.earlylife.uliege.be/-, ULiège, Belgium. The LIFEFORMS project addresses the questions: if life appeared on Mars, is it possible to preserve it and to detect it? How can we discriminate abiotic from biotic microbial traces in ancient clay-rich sediments? The discovery of fossil microbial life on Mars would be a paradigm shift. Opening a formidable window on the possibility of extraterrestrial biospheres would have a profound impact on society by reassessing our place in the universe, as a temporary non-unique but not-lonely form of life. Ongoing or planned missions such as Perseverance 2020 (NASA) and ExoMARS 2028 (ESA) aim to discover if the conditions for prebiotic or biological evolution were met during the early history of Mars (the Noachian) and if these traces can be preserved and detected using mission instruments onboard rovers, or by future analyses of samples returned by Mars Sample Return (MSR) (NASA-ESA). The task is hard because of missions’ constraints but also because of abiotic processes mimicking life or altering original biological traces. The LIFEFORMS project aims to characterize biomorphs (abiotic organo-mineral microstructures resembling life) and biological remains that could form and be preserved in the early geological records of Mars and Earth. LIFEFORMS will assess the possible preservation of traces of life and biomorphs in conditions most similar to Noachian clay-rich sediments by examining micro to nanoscale morphologies, ultrastructures and molecular compositions of early Earth fossil analogs, and by performing experimental taphonomy of modern extremophiles and prebiotic molecules produced in Stanley Miller’s type experiments. Early Earth and experimental analogues will be analyzed first with Earth lab optimal conditions, then re-examined under the simulated challenging conditions of ExoMars 2028 instruments. The results will improve the data interpretation of ongoing and future Mars missions and will also provide clues for deciphering the early record of life on Earth. Evidencing the presence or absence of fossil life on Mars will inform on the necessary and sufficient conditions for planetary habitability and for the Origin of Life on Earth and possibly on Mars and beyond. This project is conducted in collaboration with experts and members of ExoMARS instrument teams forming the international IDS ExoMARS team “Patterns” selected by ESA.

==> Candidates should have a PhD degree in sciences, preferably in biology, chemistry and/or geosciences. The ideal candidates will show scientific curiosity and interest in Astrobiology and early life evolution, ability to work in collaboration, experience in geobiology (microfossils, microbial mats, fossilization processes); light and electron microscopy, Raman and FTIR micro-spectroscopy, synchrotron-XANES and -FTIR, cell cultures, and experimental taphonomy. Fellowship is competitive and allows comfortable living in Belgium. Appointment is for 1 year, renewable up to 2 times (3.5 years in total) depending on results and progress.

Applicants should send their CV with a motivation letter and names and coordinates
of two referees before April 1st 2024 to the coordinator of the project Emmanuelle Javaux uid=U014762 . A first round of selection will occur in May 2024 (starting date is flexible), but the position will remain opened until being filled 

pOSTDOCTORAL pOSITION

3 years post-doc position in Physical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry applied to the quest of the Origins of Life in ASTRO team at the PIIM laboratory of the AixMarseille University in France

Objectives the scientific project: The aim of this position is to built, under the supervision of Pr. Grégoire Danger and in collaboration with Dr. Robert Pascal, Dr. Louis Le Sergeant d’Hendecourt and Dr Vassilissa Vinogradoff, a chemistry lab dedicated to prebiotic chemistry experiments. In our case, prebiotic chemistry experiments are developed in order to understand the chemistry occurring in the context of the early Earth using two complementary approaches: 1. A holistic approach that concerns the understanding of the environmental conditions that could drive an emergence of a selectivity from a molecular diversity as represented by the extraterrestrial reservoir of organic matter. What conditions to the emergence of a system chemistry capable of presenting a chemical evolution. 2. A reductionist approach that aims to investigate the reactivity possibly occurring in the conditions explored in 1. by working on simple chemical systems to understand the role of specific chemical compounds such as nitriles, thiols and others

Application Deadline: March 1th, 2024
Audition Deadline: March 15th, 2024
Starting date: June, 2024
End Date: June, 2027
Attention To: Grégoire Danger – Email: gregoire.danger@univ-amu.fr

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pOSTDOCTORAL pOSITION

Postdoctoral position at Sorbonne University

A 18 months Post Doctoral fellowship is available at Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC, Sorbonne University, CNRS & MNHN), in collaboration with the PASTEUR Lab (Dept of Chemistry of ENS, CNRS, SU). The latest starting date is 1st of November 2023. Candidates are required to have a PhD in Physics, Chemistry or Materials Science. The project is mainly focused on the investigation of prebiotic chemical reactions in solution by numerical simulations, enhanced sampling, ML approaches (details in attachment). Prior knowledge of numerical simulations using, e.g., DFT, MD, is expected. Experience of one or several of the following codes is considered an advantage: CP2K, Quantum-Espresso, Plumed, LAMMPS. Interested applicants should send (via mail to A. Marco Saitta, marco.saitta@sorbonne-universite.fr and Rodolphe Vuilleumier rodolphe.vuilleumier@ens.fr ) the following: * an up-to-date CV * a publications list * a letter of motivation (max. 2 pages) * the names and contacts of at least 2 academic referees

Position

New research fellowship opportunity: The Natural Sciences Programme

The Institut Origines from Marseille (France), whose dual goals are to develop intensive and interdisciplinary research and establish a Graduate School that will train the future researchers in the field of Astrobiology, is looking for a young scientist with expertise in at least one of the following fields: experimental astrochemistry, the formation and evolution of planetary systems, including the Solar System. More specifically, the proposed research will have to be compatible with the research programs conducted at our Institute whose implications and interests are as follows: i) exploitation of ground-/space- based observations of exoplanets and Solar System bodies (e.g., JWST, ELT, PLATO, ARIEL), ii) exploitation of data acquired by Solar System interplanetary missions (Bepi-Colombo, MMX, JUICE, Europa-Clipper, Comet Interceptor), iii) laboratory characterization of extraterrestrial matter (interplanetary dust particles, meteorites, extraterrestrial samples returns) and/or analogues of extraterrestrial materials (e.g., organics, ices, etc..), and iv) development of laboratory experiments related to the exploitation of observational data. The hired person will have to demonstrate a strong potential to propose news ideas that differ from what already exists in our Institute, as well as an ability to work in a highly interdisciplinary environment.

The open position (tenure track) will become permanent (civil servant position at the Professor level) after 3 to 5 years provided that the hired candidate has managed to conduct a successful research program during this time span. The teaching activities will be reduced during the first 3 years (64h/year) before getting back to normal (192h/year), allowing the candidate to start his/her research program with more flexibility. The teaching activity will be both at the Bachelor and Master level. The position comes with guaranteed funding (270 000 euros), allowing the recruitment of at least one PhD student and one postdoc along with funding to buy equipment and to attend international conferences.

For information contact: iom-direction@osupytheas.fr

This video tries to answer the following questions:
– How to become an astrobiologist ?
– Where to study astrobiology ?  
– How to find an intership ? 
– Participation to online courses, conferences

This video wikll give you helpful hints and tricks for your own career, and present to you an overview about the astrobiological landscape in Europe.

The European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) is hosted by The European Science Foundation 

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