Job Description

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Position Details

School of Physics and Astronomy

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range \xc2\xa334,980 to \xc2\xa344,263 with potential progression once in post to \xc2\xa346,974

Grade 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 21st January 2024

Travel and international travel may be required for this role

Background

The Birmingham Particle Physics group has a vacancy for a Research Fellow working on detector operation and physics analysis within the NA62 experiment at CERN. The successful applicant will take significant responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the NA62 Cherenkov kaon tagger (KTAG) detector, will contribute to NA62 data collection, and will play a leading role in rare kaon decay measurements and publication of the results.

To contribute to the creation of knowledge through the achievement of the strategy of the particle physics research by undertaking specified activities within the established NA62 research project, in the area of rare kaon decay physics.

The Particle Physics group currently has 11 academic staff, 19 post-doctoral researchers and engineers, 5 support staff and 20 research students. Beyond kaon physics at NA62, our present activities include ATLAS and LHCb experiments at the LHC, dark matter experiments Darkside-20k, NEWS-G and MIGDAL, the future DUNE long-baseline neutrino experiment,and the future Brookhaven Electron Ion Collider. We operate substantial laboratory space, including a 200 m2 set of clean room facilities, and we maintain a Tier 2 site as part of the UK contribution to LHC world-wide distributed computing.

The School of Physics and Astronomy is a world-leading physics department, excelling in both research and teaching. Our physics research was recently ranked top in the UK for 4-star-category research, and 4th by Grade Point Average, by the Research Excellence Framework 2021. The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Higgs and Englert for their theoretical prediction of the Higgs boson that was discovered in 2012 with strong involvement of the Birmingham team within the ATLAS experiment. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Professor Mike Kosterlitz and Professor David Thouless jointly for their work into the discoveries of the properties of matter, which started when they were at Birmingham together. The 2017 Nobel Prize was awarded for the detection of gravitational waves, in which Birmingham staff played a key role.

The School\'s research portfolio is wide-ranging, and covers three principal themes: Quantum Matter; Particle and Nuclear Physics; and Astronomy and Experimental Gravity. It has over 120 academic and research staff together with 120 graduate students with around 50 technical and clerical support staff.

The School of Physics and Astronomy is an Institute of Physics Juno Champion since 2014 and holder of the Athena SWAN Silver Award. Both initiatives recognise the School\'s commitment to promote diversity and equality, and to encourage better practice for all members of the community, whilst also working towards developing an equitable working culture in which all students and staff can achieve their full potential.

Role Summary

• Maintenance, operation and development of the NA62 KTAG detector.
• Physics analysis of NA62 data, presentation and publication of the results.
• Contributing to generation of funding

Main Duties

To make leading contributions to the maintenance and operation of the NA62 KTAG detector,

including on-call expert shifts.

• To lead analysis of the data from the NA62 experiment, in the area of rare kaon decays.
• To contribute to the NA62 data collection, including data-taking shifts.
• To contribute to the NA62 data quality monitoring, data processing, and software development.
• To document the results in internal notes and to produce publications.
• To present research findings in publications, research seminars and conference talks.
• To contribute to the development of new techniques and methods.
• To develop further research objectives and proposals (with assistance of a mentor if required)
• To provide guidance to PhD students on research-related work.
• To contribute to writing bids for research funding.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Essential criteria

• PhD in particle physics (or thesis submitted, or about to submit by time post is taken up).
• Experience in operation of particle detectors.
• Experience in data collection by a particle experiment.
• Broad computing experience, including programming using C++ and/or python.
• Experience in particle physics data analysis.
• Strong presentation, communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work to deadlines and within the project schedule.
• High-level analytical capability.
• Willingness to travel for short periods within the UK and abroad.

Desirable criteria

• Experience with the NA62 experiment.
• Experience with Cherenkov particle identification detectors.
• Experience with publication of physics results

Planning and Organising

• Contribute to the planning and organising of the research project.
• Coordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort.

Decision Making

• Decide in consultation with senior colleagues as appropriate, on the most appropriate way of
• undertaking the specified research activities.
• Decide in consultation with senior colleagues as appropriate how to analyse and interpret the
• data from the specified research activities.
• Decide in collaboration with co-authors which aspects of the research findings to include in
• presentations and publications and how to convey the findings.
• Decide the most appropriate means of giving guidance, support and advice to graduate
• students on research related work.

Internal/External Relationships

• Liaise with research staff and support staff on research-related matters internally.
• Liaise with national and international external collaborators on the research, where
• appropriate.
• Give presentations and/or contribute to presentations at national and/or international conferences

Further information about the post may be obtained from Prof Evgueni Goudzovski (e.goudzovski@bham.ac.uk).

We believe there is no such thing as a \'typical\' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone .

University of Birmingham