PhD studentship on ATLAS Inner Detector trigger development and Electroweak SUSY searches (2020)

What you get

You will receive:

• fully funded tuition fees for 3.5 years (at the UK/EU rate)
• a tax-free bursary for living costs for 3.5 years. For 2019/20 this is £15,009 per annum.
• funds for computing, books, open access publishing, attendance at conferences and workshops.

You may also supplement your income with paid teaching (with your supervisor’s agreement).

Type of award

Post Graduate Research

PhD project

A studentship is available to work on the characterisation of the ATLAS Inner Detector (ID) Trigger and on the analysis of ATLAS data, looking for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics at the ATLAS experiment. The student will work on the development, testing and commissioning of ID trigger algorithms to efficiently select electron-, muon- and tau-triggered events at the start of (and during) Run3  of the ATLAS experiment. This is a task for which the Sussex group have leadership in the experiment. The Sussex group is also one of the leaders in the search for BSM physics in Electroweak SUSY. The student will search for SUSY in ATLAS data, with specific emphasis on final states with one or more tau events in VBF (2taus + 2 jets + missing energies) and ISR (2taus + jet + missing energy) scenarios, which are going to hold competitive sensitivities for SUSY in the Large Hadron Collider Run 3 data. The student will be studying new techniques (ML, MVAs, etc) and/or new variables for the analysis, as well as possible new triggers to select these events in ATLAS data.

 

Funding is available to UK and EU nationals for a September 2020 start.  Funded studentships cover a tax-free bursary (£15,009 per annum in 2018/19) and home/EU fees for 3.5 years. Additional financial support is provided to cover short-term and long-term travel. Interviews of shortlisted candidates will be held in February and March. We also welcome applications from self-funded non-EU students interested in our experimental programme.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must:

• be a UK/European Union (EU) student.
• have (or expect to achieve) a First or Upper Second Class Masters degree in Physics, or a related subject.
• Meet the English langugage requirement as detailed here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/degrees/physics-phd 

• We also welcome applications from self-funded non-EU students interested in our experimental programme.

Deadline

29 February 2020 0:00

How to apply

Apply through the postgraduate application system and select the full time PhD in Physics with a September 2020 start date

Applications will be considered until the position has been filled.

When you apply, you should include:

• the supervisor’s name (Prof Fabrizio Salvatore) in the ‘Suggested supervisor’ section
• 'PhD studentship on ATLAS Inner Detector trigger development and Electroweak SUSY searches' in the Award Detail Section
• a research proposal/personal statement which describes your suitability for the project
• 2 academic references
• your transcripts from any previously obtained degrees. If you have not yet completed your undergraduate degree, you can provide an interim transcript or record of any marks obtained so far.

The position will be filled as soon as a suitable candidate is found so you are encouraged to apply as soon as you are able to. 

Due to the high volume of applications received, you may only hear from us if your application is successful.

Contact us

For more details about the project, please contact Prof. Fabrizio Salvatore: P.F.Salvatore@sussex.ac.uk.

For practical questions about applications and/or eligibility for funding, please contact mpsresearchsupport@sussex.ac.uk

For academic questions please contact the coordinator of EPP PhD admissions, Dr. W. Clark Griffith: W.C.Griffith@sussex.ac.uk