Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Radio Astronomy

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Researcher in Radio Astronomy at the Physics Department, University of Oxford. The successful applicant for this position will work with Professor Fender, Dr Heywood (SKAO, long-term visitor at Oxford), Professor Smirnov (Rhodes University, South Africa) and colleagues in Breakthrough Listen. They will develop software to allow systematic searches for astronomical proper motions in radio images from the MeerKAT radio telescope, over the 8+ year baseline of its observations. There are multiple science goals including searching for the nearest (isolated) black holes and neutron stars to the earth, a census of nearby radio-active flare stars, and searches for anomalous high proper motion radio sources which could be technosignature candidates. Once the software is developed, it will be deployed on the entire available MeerKAT archive, and possibly to other radio arrays. Working together with teams at Oxford and Rhodes, candidate systems will be followed up with new observations, and one or more publications (reports on individual interesting systems) will be published in addition to a software/methods-oriented paper and a summary/catalogue of results. The postholder has opportunity to teach.

You should hold a PhD (or close to completion) in astrophysics or a related field. Experience with astrophysical transients including black holes, neutron stars, flare stars and radio astronomy is essential. Candidates are expected to demonstrate good communication skills and to be suited to working in a large team.

Please direct enquiries about the role to Prof. Rob Fender (Rob.Fender@physics.ox.ac.uk).

Location: Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, Oxford

This is a full-time post, fixed term for 2 years.

The closing date for applications is noon GMT time on Friday, 12th June 2026.

You will be required to upload a CV (maximum three pages, including a publication list or a NASA ADS link) and a 2-page supporting statement of research interests and experience. The supporting statement must explain how you meet each of the selection criteria for the post using examples of your skills and experience.

You should arrange for your 2 referees to send your reference to leanne.odonnell@physics.ox.ac.uk before the closing date.

Contact Person: Recruitment Team | Contact Email: recruitment@physics.ox.ac.uk | Vacancy ID: 186361 | Pay Scale: RESEARCH GRADE 7 | Salary: Grade 7: £39,424-£47,779 per annum