I am officially hiring! Applications are now welcome for 2 DARKTRACK-funded postdoc positions, for which I was previously gathering expressions of interest. Two positions are available, depending on whether or not the candidate holds a PhD at the time of the application:
* call 185/2023: lavoraconnoi.unitn.it/en/research-contracts/department-physics-call-selections-awarding-no-1-research-fellowship-decree-no-185-2023 (for candidates already holding a PhD)
* call 186/2023: lavoraconnoi.unitn.it/en/research-contracts/department-physics-call-selections-awarding-no-1-research-fellowship-decree-no-186-2023 (for candidates yet to obtain their PhD)
Please have a look at the INSPIRE job ad for further details, but make sure you submit all your application material to the above links, as we cannot consider material received via other channels. Please reach out to me if you have further questions about the project or the positions!
Expressions of interest for 2 DARKTRACK-funded postdoc positions
As mentioned earlier I am looking to hire 2 postdocs funded by my DARKTRACK project grant, focused on developing new ways to look for dark energy. There are a few bureaucratic steps I need to navigate before I can officially open the application process for these positions, but in the meantime I welcome expressions of interest from qualified and interested candidates. If you are interested, please send me an expression of interest following the indications provided in the INSPIRE job ad, with material to be sent to this AJO eDelivery link by November 23, 2023. As explained in the job ad, the cover letter is particularly important and will play a key role in my evaluation of the expressions of interest, so do pay particular attention to that. Do not hesitate to get in touch if you have further questions about the project or the positions!
DARKTRACK project funded!
Really excited to announce that I won the Internal Call for Research 2023 grant for which I applied in August! My project “Searching for Dark Energy off the beaten track” (acronym: DARKTRACK) was one among 5 projects selected throughout the University of Trento from ~150 applications, and I have been granted in total 135.200,00€. The goal of the project will be that of developing new ways to search for (screened) dark energy, and more generally look for non-gravitational interactions of dark energy. I will use the money to hire 2 postdocs for 2 years each (ideally an astroparticle physicist and a BH theorist), so if you are interested in joining my group stay tuned for updates on the application process. The group’s future is looking extremely bright, considering that we will also have another postdoc coming with a Caritro Fellowship, and I can’t wait to start working with all these bright young minds!
Internal Call for Research 2023 grant application
I just submitted an application for an UniTrento Internal Call for Research 2023 grant, funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento (PAT). I based my scientific case largely on the ERC StG application I submitted last year, obviously after taking into account reviewer feedback. I should hear back in October and, if successful, this would allow me to hire a couple of postdocs - I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
ERC Starting Grant evaluation report
Today I received the evaluation report for Step 1 of my ERC Starting Grant application, which was unsurprisingly unsuccessful - as I promised in an earlier news item, I have decided to openly report the outcome of the evaluation to help normalize otherwise taboo discussions about lack of success in academia. I received a “B” (proposal of high quality but not sufficient to pass to Step 2 of the evaluation), which means I am blocked from applying for a further year. The comments from the 4 reviewers were actually extremely positive (their ratings included 7 “exceptional”, 3 “excellent”, and 2 “very good”), and the high-risk high-gain nature of the project was clearly appreciated. The main issue identified by more than one reviewers was that I probably put too much at once - a subset of the proposal focusing on 2/3 of the ideas I put out there would probably have stood a much better chance. This was a very useful experience, the reviewer comments were very helpful and I have to say somewhat reassuring, so at this point there’s not much more I can do than roll up my sleeves, while looking forward to trying again in 2024 taking this feedback into account!
ERC Starting Grant application submitted!
Right on the deadline, I submitted my ERC Starting Grant application. Obviously I chose Trento as host and, albeit much less obviously, “TRENTO” as acronym.* It was a huge amount of work and, I won’t lie, I know the chances of even just making it to the interview stage are meager to say the least. However, I have decided that I will openly report the outcome of the evaluation here in this news section, for a simple reason: in academia there is a tendency to only discuss one’s successes, whereas openly talking about one’s insuccesses is considered somewhat of a “taboo”. I hope that by openly discussing a (likely) failure/insuccess, I will help normalizing this type of discussions which, while often done in oral form, are rarely done in written form - I believe this can only make for a healthier community (I’ll note I have been prompted also by Natalie Hogg’s excellent blog, which I regularly read and highly recommend, and which does not shy away from openly discussing lack of success). So, regardless of the outcome, I will get back with an update on this in March, while in the meantime enjoying a deserved break!
*Just because it already worked once: my successful Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship application, which would have been hosted by the University of Padova had I not declined it, indeed had “PADOVA” as acronym.