Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation

Child Safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy.

The Opportunity

• Do you have a PhD in Computer Science, Astrophysics/Physics, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering or a similar discipline?
• Does the challenge of making images of black holes and peering close in on them to understand foundational physics thrill you? 
• Does providing novel solutions to image classification and reconstruction problems using Machine Learning/Deep Learning sound exciting to you?

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system.
 
The CERC Fellow will develop new and independent image reconstruction methods based on deep learning methods and the theory of interferometry to determine the spacetime warping and morphology around the event horizons of black holes. A planet-sized network of telescope arrays using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is needed to image close in on the event horizons of supermassive black holes, which is extremely challenging because the telescopes must be accurately calibrated for delays and attenuations in the signal paths, and the spatial information sampled by the telescopes contains only sparse and incomplete information. The independent end-to-end image reconstruction technique addressing these challenges will be applied to real data obtained from VLBI networks, including primarily the recent and famous example of the supermassive black holes at the centres of our Milky Way and M87 galaxies by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).
 
This independent approach to interferometric imaging will provide a powerful constraint on the structure of spacetime warping near black holes. It will be instrumental in testing fundamental physics such as the theory of General Relativity and will also reveal the relativistic astrophysics at the black hole site. In parallel, this project will benefit both radio astronomy and deep learning, computational astrophysics in general, as well as interferometric imaging problems in other domains such as medical imaging and seismology.
 
The CERC Fellow will work in close collaboration with the principal investigator Dr. Nithyanandan Thyagarajan (Space & Astronomy), and co-principal investigators Dr. Ivy Wong (Space & Astronomy) and Dr. Foivos Diakogiannis (Data61) and have the opportunity to utilise state-of-the-art GPU infrastructure both at CSIRO and National facilities like Pawsey Supercomputing Centre's High Performance Computing facility, Setonix, for this project, giving a competitive advantage.

Your duties will include:

• Developing and implementing machine learning / deep learning solutions to interferometric imaging problems where sparsity of information and precise calibration of the data collected by the interferometric elements are the primary limitations to image reconstruction quality.
• Effectively translating machine/deep learning techniques to interferometric imaging problems in radio astronomy using CSIRO high-performance computing facilities.
• Effectively translating machine/deep learning techniques from radio interferometry to other fields that use interferometry for imaging such as medical imaging, seismology, etc.
• Publishing results and methods in relevant international journals (and conferences) and releasing solutions onto public repositories such as GitHub.
• Collaborating with members of a diverse project team and external partners to ensure research leads to lasting application impact.

Location:   Kensington, Western Australia

Salary: AU$92k - AU$101k plus up to 15.4% superannuation

Tenure: Specified term of 3 years

Reference: 93599

To be considered you will need:

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) in a relevant discipline area, such as Computer Science, Astrophysics/Physics, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering or similar. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full-time equivalent) of postdoctoral research experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing ML frameworks and workflows. 
• Demonstrated expertise in high-level programming language(s) such as Python or similar.
• High level written and oral communication skills in English with the ability to represent the research team effectively internally and externally, including the presentation of research outcomes at national and international conferences.
• A sound history of publication in peer reviewed journals and/or authorship of scientific papers, reports, grant applications or patents.

For full details about this role please view the Position Description

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or you must either hold, or be able to obtain, a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Candidates are expected to commence employment by 31 January 2024.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

CSIRO is committed to values-based leadership to inspire performance and unlock the potential of our people.

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs, whether we are undertaking research, engaging with the public or nurturing future scientists in person or online. Source – CSIRO Child Safe policy 2023

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

31 August 2023, 11:00pm AEST