Open Positions

PhD student position in experimental astroparticle physics 

The Laboratory of Cosmic Particles (LCP) of EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, invites applications for a PhD student position in experimental astroparticle physics. 
 
The successful candidate will join the DAMPE and HERD international collaborations, dedicated to high-energy cosmic-ray and gamma-ray observations from space.
 
The main focus of the PhD project will be Monte Carlo simulations for HERD, used to model particle interactions in the detector and to estimate the expected electron + positron flux. The work will involve developing the analysis framework for the HERD data expected from 2028, and the candidate will later take a leading role in their analysis once the data become available. Depending on the candidate’s interests, there will also be opportunities to contribute to the development and testing of scintillating-fibre tracking detectors for space applications.
 
The position, which includes teaching duties at the Bachelor’s or Master’s level, will start at the earliest convenient date for the selected candidate, and preferably no later than March 1, 2026.
 
The selected PhD student will be required to enrol in the Physics program (EDPY) of the EPFL Doctoral School, and employment is offered for a total duration of up to four years. Information on the doctoral school and employment conditions at EPFL can be found online [1–3]. Applicants are expected to hold a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Physics at the start of employment. The ideal candidate is strongly motivated for fundamental research and has a solid background in particle physics. Experience in data analysis, detector simulations, and scientific programming is an asset.
 
Candidates should submit a single PDF file containing the following documents, in the order listed below:
  1. A motivation letter,
  2. A curriculum vitae,
  3. The names and email addresses of two referees who have agreed to provide reference letters,
  4. A transcript of grades for both the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
The compiled PDF should be sent to Prof. Chiara Perrina at [email protected] by December 2, 2025.
 

Applicants are encouraged to inform their referees in advance so that they can send their letters to Prof. Chiara Perrina at [email protected] by December 2, 2025.

 
 
 

PhD student position in experimental particle physics (charm physics at LHCb)

The High Energy Physics Laboratory [1] of EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, invites applications for a PhD student position in experimental particle physics. The successful candidate will join the LHCb collaboration in which our lab is strongly involved. LHCb [2] is a particle-physics experiment running at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and dedicated to flavour physics.

The lab’s LHCb activities have been expanded through an SNSF-funded programme focused on charm physics very recently. The successful candidate will join this programme (consisting already of one postdoc, another student and the PI), and contribute to the measurements of CP-violation in decays of charm mesons with the recently upgraded LHCb detector. The candidates will focus on radiative decays and those involving neutral pions. Their PhD thesis concerns physics analyses of the LHC Run 3 dataset, which includes the study of experimental biases, and on the development of reconstruction techniques that can be applied in Run 4 of the LHC, when the experiment’s PID detectors have been upgraded.

The position, which also involves teaching responsibilities at the bachelor’s or master’s level, becomes available on February 1st, 2026. A delayed start is possible, but preferably not after May 1st, 2026. The selected PhD student will need to enrol in the Physics program (EDPY) of the EPFL doctoral school [3], and the employment runs up to a total of four years. Doctoral school information and employment conditions at EPFL may be consulted online [3-5]. Applicants are expected to hold a master’s degree (or equivalent) in physics at the start of employment. The ideal candidate has a strong motivation for fundamental research, and has received education in Particle Physics. Experience with data analysis, computer programming and/or track reconstruction is an advantage.

Applicants should prepare a motivation letter, CV, scans of the higher-institution grade records, and contact information of three references willing to write a recommendation. The application should be submitted to the EPFL Doctoral Program in Physics (EDPY) following the instructions in [6] by the deadline of October 31st, 2025. Please indicate at least particle physics as scientific interests, as well as Laurent Dufour under Potential host laboratories.  Note that the letters of recommendation should be submitted by the references by the same deadline following the request they will receive.

More information can be obtained from Prof Laurent Dufour ([email protected]).

[1] https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lphe
[2] https://lhcb-outreach.web.cern.ch
[3] https://www.epfl.ch/education/phd/programs/edpy-physics
[4] https://www.epfl.ch/education/phd/doctoral-studies-structure/doctoral-students-salary
[5] https://www.epfl.ch/about/working/working-at-epfl/employment-conditions
[6] https://www.epfl.ch/education/admission/admission-2/phd-admission-criteria-and-application