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The Cavendish Laboratory (Department of Physics) has an exciting opportunity for a new General Administrator to join our passionate and dedicated community at the University of Cambridge. Working as part of the Departments' Soft Facilities team, you will be a new addition to the team delivering exceptional customer service, reception and concierge services to all users of the Cavendish Estate.

The Cavendish Laboratory is at an exciting point in its 150-year history, and undergoing a substantial period of transformation, as it prepares for its relocation to a beautiful, purpose-built physics facility, the Ray Dolby Centre, which will be the centre-piece of the new Cavendish III Laboratory. The Department is home to over 2000 staff, students and visitors across a large range of disciplines and categories, where exemplary delivery of world-leading, innovative research programmes and teaching takes place and where the provision of an outstanding soft facilities service will be vital to delivering the vision for the new Estate.

Working within the soft facilities remit alongside the Facilities Coordinator, the roleholder will have a can-do attitude and an approachable and professional manner, being responsible for providing a variety of administrative assistance to the wider team, updating the intranet SharePoint site, welcoming visitors to the Department and being the first point of contact for general enquiries.

About you

We are looking for someone who:

• Is able to communicate effectively and interact positively with staff, students and visitors, with a confident approach and positive attitude

• Can organise their time to get tasks done and use their initiative to priortise when necessary

• Understands the needs of basic administration work within a higher education setting and makes themselves readily available and willing to help out wherever needed

• Preferably has previous experience from a similar role in an educational setting working with SharePoint sites, editing and uploading content.

Some of our many benefits include:

• Competitive rates of pay with automatic service related pay progression and annual cost of living increases;

• Generous annual leave provision

• Family & Work-life balance policies including hybrid working and generous carer leave (maternity, paternity, shared parental leave, adoption leave), amongst others

• An auto-enrolment pension scheme, with a generous employer contribution;

• Exclusive employee discounts via our CamBens scheme

• Personal Development: The Department actively encourages and supports personal development and our staff have access to a wide range of courses and training via our Personal and Professional Development (PPD) service.

This full-time post is available now. Additional information regarding the role may be found within the Further Particulars via the link below.

The closing date for applications is 16 March 2025.

Interviews are expected to be held on 3 April 2025.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a health assessment.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Ren Isaksen, Facilities Coordinator (ri316@cam.ac.uk)

Please quote reference KA44507 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around ultracool dwarfs require precise ground-based observations across visible and infrared wavelengths. In this talk, I will present the discovery of TOI -2407b, a Neptune-sized planet located in the Neptune desert—a sparsely populated region of parameter space for close-in exoplanets. This detection was made using SPIRIT , a novel infrared CMOS detector designed to enhance sensitivity to cool stars. I will discuss the role of SPIRIT in improving exoplanet transit observations, the development of its data pipeline, and the implications of TOI -2407b for our understanding of planet formation and evolution in the Neptune desert.

• Speaker: Clàudia Jano Muñoz (Cavendish)
• Tuesday 18 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Dolev Bashi.

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The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around ultracool dwarfs require precise ground-based observations across visible and infrared wavelengths. In this talk, I will present the discovery of TOI -2407b, a Neptune-sized planet located in the Neptune desert—a sparsely populated region of parameter space for close-in exoplanets. This detection was made using SPIRIT , a novel infrared CMOS detector designed to enhance sensitivity to cool stars. I will discuss the role of SPIRIT in improving exoplanet transit observations, the development of its data pipeline, and the implications of TOI -2407b for our understanding of planet formation and evolution in the Neptune desert.

• Speaker: Clàudia Jano Muñoz (Cavendish)
• Tuesday 18 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Dolev Bashi.

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Gravitational wave radiation is only unambiguously defined at future null infinity – the location in spacetime where light rays arrive and where global properties of spacetimes can be measured. Reaching future null infinity is thus very important for extracting correct waveforms. A convenient way to include it in numerical relativity simulations is via hyperboloidal foliations. I will focus on conformal compactification as method to implement free hyperboloidal evolution, in the BSSN / conformal Z4 formulations. After illustrating its advantages, I will report on some ongoing applications in spherical symmetry: an extension to include the Maxwell equations, scattering simulations on a given background, and wave equation(s) evolved on some FLRW -type spacetimes with time-dependent scale factor. I will conclude giving an update on ongoing work in 3D evolutions.

• Speaker: Alex Vañó-Viñuales (IST Lisbon)
• Friday 21 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Potter room.
• Series: DAMTP Friday GR Seminar; organiser: Daniela Cors.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Girish Kulkarni (TIFR)
• Friday 09 May 2025, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Ryle Seminar Room, KICC + online.
• Series: Galaxies Discussion Group; organiser: Sandro Tacchella.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Federico Sestito (Hertfordshire)
• Friday 21 February 2025, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Ryle Seminar Room, KICC + online.
• Series: Galaxies Discussion Group; organiser: Sandro Tacchella.

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Cygnus X-3 is a `high mass X-ray binary’, which was first detected in the early days of X-ray astronomy, in 1966. It is also seen in the radio and the infra-red (but not optically due to obscuration). The emission is due to accretion from the companion star onto the compact source, thought to be a Wolf-Rayet star and a black hole respectively. It occasionally shows giant fares, and has been monitored—approximately daily—for several years with the Arcminute Microkelvin Image (AMI) at Lord’s Bridge, SW of Cambridge. During 2022 and 2023 was placid, with little variation in its radio (or X-ray) emission, but in 2024 it showed five giant radio flares, brightening from a few mJy to > 10 Jy over a few days.

• Speaker: Prof. Dave Green (Cavendish Astrophysics)
• Tuesday 04 March 2025, 11:15-12:00
• Venue: Martin Ryle Seminar Room, Kavli Institute.
• Series: Hills Coffee Talks; organiser: Charles Walker.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Emmy Escott (Durham)
• Friday 11 April 2025, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Ryle Seminar Room, KICC + online.
• Series: Galaxies Discussion Group; organiser: Sandro Tacchella.

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The oldest, most metal-poor stars we find in the Milky Way today were born in pristine environments in the early Universe. These local, ancient stars contain unique clues about the First Stars and the early formation and evolution of our Galaxy. At low metallicity, many stars have been found to be enhanced in carbon, coming in two main types: some contain the fingerprints of the First Stars and others have experienced binary interaction with an evolved companion. I recently built a homogeneous sample of C-rich metal-poor stars using the Gaia XP spectra, employing a neural network and a dedicated training sample. I will present this recent paper and discuss how the change in frequency of C-rich stars with Galactic environment relates to globular clusters and clustered star formation in the early Universe.

• Speaker: Anke Ardern-Arentsen / IoA
• Wednesday 19 February 2025, 13:40-14:05
• Venue: The Hoyle Lecture Theatre + Zoom .
• Series: Institute of Astronomy Seminars; organiser: Xander Byrne.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Paul Huet (Paris Observatory)
• Tuesday 11 March 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Hoyle Committee Room - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Dolev Bashi.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Paul Huet (Paris Observatory)
• Tuesday 11 March 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Hoyle Committee Room - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Dolev Bashi.

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Machine learning has significantly improved the way cosmologists model and interpret cosmological data; yet, its “black box” nature often limits our ability to trust and understand its results. In this talk, I will present an explainable deep learning framework designed to rely on a minimal set of physically interpretable parameters which describe the data. I will first discuss applications to dark matter halos, demonstrating how these neural networks can be used to model their final properties — such as their density profiles — and connect them to the underlying physics. Additionally, I will present applications to the cosmic microwave background, revealing to which parameters the CMB temperature power spectrum is sensitive in the context of early dark energy models.

• Speaker: Luisa Lucie-Smith (University of Hamburg)
• Monday 17 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: CMS, Pav. B, CTC Common Room (B1.19) [Potter Room].
• Series: Cosmology Lunch; organiser: Thomas Colas.

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Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position investigating cellulose-based liquid crystalline polymers and elastomers at the Cavendish Laboratory. The aim of project is to develop new polymeric materials with anisotropic properties, based on natural polysaccharides with appropriate substitutions.

The work will be funded by an ERC Synergy grant: "Atypical Liquid Crystal Elastomers" (ALCEMIST) and represents a close collaboration with the University of Luxembourg and Nova University of Lisbon. The successful candidate will join the research group of Professor Eugene M. Terentjev (http://people.bss.phy.cam.ac.uk/~emt1000), and join the larger ALCEMIST team.

We are looking for an experienced researcher with a PhD in Chemistry or Materials Science to lead the laboratory effort making the new functional polymers and characterising their properties. Experience in liquid-crystalline elastomers, rotaxane chemistry, and enhanced mechanical damping is a significant bonus.

Key duties and responsibilities expected from the successful candidate will include, but not be limited to, conducting individual and collaborative projects, assisting in the supervision of student projects, building internal and external contacts and planning the use of research resources, laboratories and workshops as appropriate.

Successful candidates will have been awarded their PhD by the appointment date. The position is available from March 2025.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 1 year in the first instance.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcome and should be directed to Professor Terentjev at emt1000@cam.ac.uk

Please quote reference KA45076 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Luisa Lucie-Smith (University of Hamburg)
• Monday 17 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: CMS, Pav. B, CTC Common Room (B1.19) [Potter Room].
• Series: Cosmology Lunch; organiser: Thomas Colas.

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Stars and their evolution underpin most of modern astrophysics, enriching the galaxy with heavy elements and producing the progenitors of gravitational wave sources. Yet modern asteroseismology has shown that standard 1D stellar evolution models, used widely in astrophysics fall short when confronted with these detailed observations. The discrepancies lie in the 1D treatment of 3D processes, such as convective overshoot, waves and magnetism. In this talk I will review some of the important results from asteroseismology, my groups work over the years on these processes and the various ways in which we can make contact with the observations and (possibly) improve 1D models.

• Speaker: Tamara Rogers (Newcastle)
• Monday 17 February 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: MR14 DAMTP and online.
• Series: DAMTP Astrophysics Seminars; organiser: Loren E. Held.

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In the short time since the start of JWST ’s science operations, it has caused a paradigm shift in the information and understanding of giant planet atmospheres. The spectroscopic IR capabilities have revealed absorption from H2O , CO2, and CO with exquisite precision, provided the first look at elusive methane absorption, and shown a diversity of photochemistry and disequilibrium processes at play in giant planet atmospheres. Previously obscuring aerosols that plagued UV-optical spectra are revealing themselves via distinct absorption and emission in the mid-IR confirming for the first time in irradiated exoplanets theoretical predictions of cloud formation. I will present a case study of one such planet which is revealing the roles of clouds and chemistry in exoplanet atmospheres and the feedback imparted between composition, dynamics, and detectability.

• Speaker: Hannah Wakeford
• Thursday 20 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: Hoyle Lecture Theatre, Institute of Astronomy.
• Series: Institute of Astronomy Colloquia; organiser: Matthew Grayling.

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Core collapse supernovae play many important roles in astronomy and astrophysics. They trigger and regulate star formation through the energy they inject into the interstellar medium and they forge and disperse elements that seed the next generation of stars. On much more compact scales, which is the focus area of this talk, core collapsing stars are the birth sites of neutron stars and black holes, and therefore they are the gateway to the compact Universe. Numerical simulations of the core collapse have rapidly progressed in the last decade. Explosions are now readily obtained, the key ingredient being multidimensionality. This colloquium will review recent progress in understanding the central engines at the heart of core-collapse supernovae. I’ll touch upon how we can still use 1D simulations to understand the population as a whole, 2D simulations to systematically study theoretical uncertainties and explore the multimessenger signals, and 3D simulations to push our understanding of these extreme events.

• Speaker: Evan O'Connor
• Thursday 06 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: Hoyle Lecture Theatre, Institute of Astronomy.
• Series: Institute of Astronomy Colloquia; organiser: Matthew Grayling.

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Applications are invited for a Research Assistant position investigating cellulose-based liquid crystalline polymers and elastomers at the Cavendish Laboratory. The aim of the project is to develop new polymeric materials with anisotropic properties, based on natural polysaccharides with appropriate substitutions.

The work will be funded by an ERC Synergy grant: "Atypical Liquid Crystal Elastomers" (ALCEMIST) and represents a close collaboration with the University of Luxembourg and Nova University of Lisbon. The successful candidate will join the research group of Professor Eugene M. Terentjev (http://people.bss.phy.cam.ac.uk/~emt1000), and join the larger ALCEMIST team. We are looking for a capable research project manager, both to assist in the lab with projects to do with vibration testing and sound attenuation, and to help manage the overall Synergy project on the Cambridge side (alongside similar project managers in Lisbon and Luxembourg). Demonstrated experience in R&D project management is critical. Experience in polymer chemistry and/or in cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibers is a significant bonus.

Key duties and responsibilities expected from the successful candidate will include, but not be limited to, assisting in the physical-chemistry lab work, building internal and external contacts, planning the use of research resources as appropriate.

This position is available from March 2025.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 1 year in the first instance.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Professor Terentjev at emt1000@cam.ac.uk

Please quote reference KA45065 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position investigating cellulose-based liquid crystalline polymers and elastomers at the Cavendish Laboratory. The aim of the project is to develop new polymeric materials with anisotropic properties, based on natural polysaccharides with appropriate substitutions.

The work will be funded by an ERC Synergy grant: "Atypical Liquid Crystal Elastomers" (ALCEMIST) and represents a close collaboration with the University of Luxembourg and Nova University of Lisbon. The successful candidate will join the research group of Professor Eugene M. Terentjev (http://people.bss.phy.cam.ac.uk/~emt1000), and join the larger ALCEMIST team. We are looking for an experienced researcher with a PhD in Chemistry or Materials Science to lead the laboratory effort making the new functional polymers based on substituted polysaccharides, and characterising their properties. Experience in liquid-crystalline elastomers, and/or in cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibers is a significant bonus.

Key duties and responsibilities expected from the successful candidate will include, but not be limited to, conducting individual and collaborative projects, assisting in the supervision of student projects, building internal and external contacts and planning the use of research resources, laboratories and workshops as appropriate.

Successful candidates will have been awarded their PhD by the appointment date. The position is available from March 2025.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 1 year in the first instance.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Professor Terentjev at emt1000@cam.ac.uk

Please quote reference KA45061 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

In the short time since the start of JWST ’s science operations, it has caused a paradigm shift in the information and understanding of giant planet atmospheres. The spectroscopic IR capabilities have revealed absorption from H2O , CO2, and CO with exquisite precision, provided the first look at elusive methane absorption, and shown a diversity of photochemistry and disequilibrium processes at play in giant planet atmospheres. Previously obscuring aerosols that plagued UV-optical spectra are revealing themselves via distinct absorption and emission in the mid-IR confirming for the first time in irradiated exoplanets theoretical predictions of cloud formation. I will present a case study of one such planet which is revealing the roles of clouds and chemistry in exoplanet atmospheres and the feedback imparted between composition, dynamics, and detectability.

• Speaker: Dr Hannah Wakeford
• Thursday 20 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: Hoyle Lecture Theatre, Institute of Astronomy.
• Series: Institute of Astronomy Colloquia; organiser: Matthew Grayling.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list