Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation

PhD Studentships 2021

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The Institute of Cosmology & Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth is one of the leading groups in research on cosmology and astrophysics in the UK. We are active participants in a wide range of international collaborations, including the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) and Euclid.

ICG PhD Students

PhD studentships starting in October 2021 will be available for research in:

There is no formal closing date, but applicants are advised to submit an application as early as possible. If you are seeking financial support, you should aim to submit by the end of January . Interviews for these studentships take place in February / March for entry in October. Applications will be considered until the positions are filled.

PhD applicants should have or expect to obtain a good honours degree or equivalent in Physics, Maths or Astronomy. Applicants should express interest by sending a CV and a brief statement of research interests, and arrange for two letters of recommendation to be emailed directly to icg-recruitment@port.ac.uk. (Unfortunately, at the moment we cannot process postal applications.)

Formal applications should be made through the University Application Form.

We welcome applications from all qualified applicants, but applications are particularly encouraged from traditionally under-represented groups in science. The University of Portsmouth holds an Athena SWAN bronze award and is an Institute of Physics Project Juno Supporter; these projects show a commitment to introduce organisational and cultural practices that promote gender equality in science and create a better working environment for men and women.

The Bell Burnell Scholarship Fund is designed to support full or part-time graduates who wish to study towards a doctorate in physics and are from groups that are currently under-represented in physics. The University of Portsmouth can sponsor one application and those interested in applying to this fund through the ICG should contact a relevant supervisor by January 11th, 2021.

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Scientific staff members:

©SDSS

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Prof Adam Amara
Prof David Bacon
Dr Marco Bruni
Dr Becky Canning
Dr Tom Collett
Prof Rob Crittenden
Dr Or Graur
Dr Ian Harry
Prof Kazuya Koyama
Dr Andrew Lundgren
Prof Roy Maartens
Prof Claudia Maraston
Dr Johannes Noller
Dr Laura Nuttall
Prof Daniel Thomas
Prof David Wands
Dr Daniel Whalen

SEPNet and GRADNet

The ICG is a member of the SouthEast Physics Network (SEPNet), a consortium of nine world-class universities in the southeast of England. Our post-graduate students have the opportunity to engage with the SEPNet Graduate Network (GRADNet). By channelling this broad research expertise into one central, combined resource, GRADNet provides a wide range of postgraduate training opportunities, including specialised schools and student-led workshops and conferences.

SEPNet
TEF

Workshop on gravitational-wave Bayesian parameter estimation with PyCBC Inference

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14 – 16 May 2019

In this workshop we will provide an introduction to gravitational-wave Bayesian parameter estimation, with specific focus on the PyCBC Inference toolkit. PyCBC Inference is a python-based parameter estimation tool for gravitational wave astronomy. It has been used in several publications to date, involving both multimessenger astrophysics, and tests of general relativity.

The goal of the workshop is to provide attendees with an understanding of the principles of gravitational-wave Bayesian parameter estimation and hands-on knowledge of PyCBC Inference. This will allow the attendees to be able to use this toolkit for a variety of analyses that they might want to perform on gravitational-wave data, whether using proprietary LIGO/Virgo data, or public data from GWOSC. The workshop will mix traditional presentations with hands-on tutorials, and will have time reserved for small-group hackathons. Topics covered will be:

  • Introduction to parameter estimation in gravitational-wave astronomy.
  • Overview of stochastic sampling techniques, including tests of convergence and practical considerations.
  • How to adapt the code for your project.
  • Parallelization and optimization techniques.

For more details see the program page

There is no registration fee for the workshop. For information about registration accommodation and travel, please see below.

Organizing team

Collin Capano (collin.capano@aei.mpg.de) is arranging the scientific content of this workshop. Please contact Collin for any questions on this aspect.

Ian Harry (ian.harry@port.ac.uk) is arranging the local organizational details. Please contact Ian for any questions on this aspect.

Registration

There is no fee for this workshop, but please do register so that we arrange a suitable room (it is exam period in Portsmouth, so we cannot just move to a larger room). To register please use this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gravitational-wave-bayesian-inference-workshop-pycbc-inference-tickets-59170904769

Accommodation

Portsmouth is a moderate-size city in the UK. Everything is reasonably compact around the centre so most things are within walking distance. For reference we are situated at the Dennis Sciama building on Burnaby Road (type into Google Maps to see).

We generally recommend visitors use the Ibis Portsmouth Centre, which is quite comfortable, offers breakfast, and is a short walk from here and close to restaurants. But feel free to use your hotel finder of choice!

Travel

If travelling from within the UK then most likely the train is easiest. Portsmouth and Southsea train station is in the middle of Portsmouth and easy walk to the accommodation options and our building.

If travelling from within Europe then look for flights into Southampton or London Gatwick airports. The former takes flights from Air France/KLM, and the latter is one of the largest EasyJet hubs. From either of these airports you can take a train (either directly or with a simple connection) to Portsmouth. Use the http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ website to figure out train times (you can normally buy a flexible fair to avoid problems if planes are delayed).

If travelling from outside of Europe you have two choices.

OPTION 1: fly into London Heathrow, which is very well connected and will probably be cheaper if a direct flight, but is not so easily connected to Portsmouth. As above, the nationalrail website will help to find connections to Portsmouth, but the “Heathrow bus” terminal can be used, which is a bus to, normally, Woking, and then a train from there. The Heathrow bus option will *not* show if selecting Heathrow all terminals. This is quicker and cheaper than travelling through London (which involves swapping at Paddington and using the Tube to get to Victoria/Waterloo). (As a note this method is also effective when travelling to other places in the UK, e.g. Cardiff).

OPTION 2: Fly to Paris/Amsterdam/(other hubs??) and get a connecting flight to Southampton, or even Gatwick. This will be a bit more expensive for the flight, but is a simpler connection to Portsmouth.

Venue

We will be hosting the workshop in the “Future Technology Center” http://www2.port.ac.uk/realising-the-vision/major-projects/future-technology-centre/. We have the first floor of the building (remember that ground floor is floor 0 in the UK) to use for the workshop, including some breakout space if people want to have separate discussions.

Please see here for more details of how to find the venue:

https://github.com/gwastro/PyCBCInferenceWorkshopMay2019/wiki/Venue

Code of conduct

The workshop will be run according to the ICG’s code of conduct http://www.icg.port.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ICGcodeofconductposter.pdf. We would ask participants to read over this to help ensure that the workshop is friendly and welcoming to all participants.

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