Job Possibilities in Astronomy Stéphane Blondin & Peter Shaver (ESO) In collaboration with: Danielle Alloin, Céline Péroux & Carlos de Breuck (ESO)

Outline Stéphane Blondin: Results of an ESO job-hunting survey The astronomy job market (Gibson, 2003) Job Markets (JENAM 2003 & 2004) Astro jobs on www Peter Shaver – The ESO fellowship programme Danielle Alloin – Research facilities ESO/Santiago 1998-2004 Céline Péroux & Carlos de Breuck – Being an ESO fellow (Q&A)

ESO job-hunting survey Q: How did you get to (do you plan to) hear about your 1st post-doc?

Astronomy Job Market (2001) Gibson, B.K., 2003, “The 2001 Job Market”, astro-ph/0301061 No. of available Post-Doctoral Fellowships (PDF): ~300 No. of astronomy/astrophysics Ph.-D.’s awarded : ~250 (50% US) No. of permanent positions per year : ~70 ____________________________________________________ i.e. ~80% Ph.-D. graduates will end up in a PDF (or ~100% including voluntary drop-outs) Over-production of Ph.-D.’s-to-permanent positions ~3

ESO fellowship programme 5 fellows per year (Garching and Vitacura) ~95% of all former ESO fellows are still working in astronomy (~200 in 27 yrs)

Targeted positions 83.5 permanent positions in AAS 69.5 based in US (~80%) 47.5 targeted (~60%)

Ph.-D.’s are important (Gibson et al. 1999, astro-ph/9904229) # Ph.-D.’s remaining active: 55-75% overall up to ~80% for “prestigious” institutes only ~50% for “non-prestigious” programs (Trimble, 1991) Within 10yrs of Ph.-D. … recipe for success? 45% permanent 20% “soft-money” 35% quit research

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (1) Investigate past history of school/supervisor How have their past students fared? What is their grant history like? What are the opportunities for external/international collaborations? At Yale… The Party Animal Avoiding Vietnam With a turkey

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (2) Know what’s “Hot” Both short- and long-term e.g.: computational and/or theory, cosmology, instrumentation, planetary, astro-biology Sofia Loren Brad Pitt

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (3) Get experience writing grants (and proposals!) I’d need 3 G$ to build a space telescope…

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (4) Be sure to network

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (5) Avoid excessive observing “excellent observers, (…) but not at all well-trained in astrophysics” (Gibson 2003 on Australian students)

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (6) Be wary of undertaking Ph-Ds in very large teams

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (7) Move institutes for your Ph-D and PDF, and be prepared to emigrate Click here and register online *Winners will get FREE Airline ticket to the USA

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (8) Be aware of the competition “Most folks have ~10 papers by the end of their first PDF position”, Gibson 2003 Marcel Cerdan (F) vs. Tony Zale (US) 21st Sep 1948

Recipe for success for Ph.-D. (1) Investigate past history of school/supervisor (2) Know what’s “Hot” (3) Get experience writing grants (and proposals!) (4) Be sure to network (5) Avoid excessive observing (6) Be wary of undertaking Ph-Ds in very large teams (7) Move institutes for your Ph-D and PDF, and be prepared to emigrate (8) Be aware of the competition

The EAS – JENAM Job Market (Joint European and National Astronomical Meeting) 25-30 August 2003, Budapest http://www.konkoly.hu/jenam03/

13-17 September 2004, Granada – “The many scales in the Universe” The EAS – JENAM Job Market (Joint European and National Astronomical Meeting) 13-17 September 2004, Granada – “The many scales in the Universe” http://www.iaa.csic.es/jenam2004/jm.html

WWW Job Hunting Astronomical Societies: Americam Astronomical Society (AAS): http://members.aas.org/JobReg/Jobregister.cfm European Astronomical Society (EAS): http://www2.iap.fr/eas/index.html Royal Astronomical Society (RAS): http://www.ras.org.uk/html/ras_jobslist.html Fellowship/Studentship Programmes: Chandra: http://cxc.harvard.edu/fellows/Chandra_fellow.2004.html ESO: http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant/studentship2003.html and http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant/fellows2003-4.html Marie-Curie: http://www.mariecurie.org/ PPARC: http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Rs/Fs/Fw/Fellindex.asp and http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Pg/Stu/studentships.asp STSci: http://www.stsci.edu/stsci/STScI_Fellow.html Specific Institutes/Observatories/Organisations: Cambridge University: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~sjs/postdocjobs.html Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS): http://www.sg.cnrs.fr/espaces/personnels.htm European Southern Observatory (ESO): http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant/ European Space Agency (ESA): http://www.esa.int/hr/vn.htm Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC): http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JAClocal/admin/jobs/ Mount Stromlo Observatory: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/astronomy/astroweb/astro_jobs.html Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC): http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Ap/Rc/Vacnt/Vacancies.asp UK Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC): http://www.roe.ac.uk/atc/ Science Magazines: Nature: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/ New Scientist: http://www.newscientistjobs.com/

AAS Job Register http://members.aas.org/JobReg/Jobregister.cfm ~550 ads yr-1 x2 every ~5 yrs Peak period in November Number of Ads 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Year

AAS Job Register (cont.) Number of Ads Year 52%

The EAS Job Register http://www2.iap.fr/eas/index.html Focus on European positions (~80%) cf. ~80% of AAS ads are positions based in the US

RAS e-mail distribution list http://www.ras.org.uk/html/ras_jobslist.html ~24 ads in 6 months (~4 month-1) Example (received: 3rd Feb; expires: 1st Mar)

The ESO Fellowship Programme Bruno Leibundgut & Peter Shaver

+ APEX (2003)

ESO Fellowship Programme Fellows at all ESO installations Garching Paranal La Silla APEX 14 positions  Vitacura 16 positions

Garching Five Fellows per year Three years (one + two years) Develop scientific career at a leading observatory Contacts to instrumentation operations archives software development

Garching (cont.) Excellent scientific environment Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Ludwig-Maximilians University Technical University Munich

Vitacura Five Fellows per year Four years (one + two + one year) work at the VLT on Paranal, La Silla or APEX Four years (one + two + one year) fourth year at an institution within an ESO member state or Chile first three years with duty work at the observatory (80 nights per year) Develop scientific career at a leading observatory

Vitacura (cont.) Exciting opportunities in operations telescope and instrument handling contacts to the astronomical community Excellent scientific environment Universidad de Chile (Cerro Calán) Pontificia Universidad Católica Santiago

Opportunities 95% of all former ESO Fellows are working in astronomy today (about 200 Fellows in 27 years) Good contacts into the European astronomical community Active environment both in Vitacura and Garching (ESO staff astronomers, Chilean institutes, MPIs in Garching)

Opportunities (cont.) Active seminar programmes in all places Regular workshops held in Santiago and in Garching Work within a unique organisation direct view of observational process and all that is involved exposure to front-line instrumental research international environment

Additional Information Deadline: 15. October Application forms and more information at http://www.hq.eso.org/gen-fac/adm/pers/vacant Check out the articles written by ESO Fellows in the recent issues of the Messenger