Marie-Curie Fellowship for early-stage researchers

Background
The Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics research (INFN) is the Coordinator of a Marie Skłodowska Curie European Action Innovative Training Network (MSCA ITN) titled “Advanced Multivariate Analysis for New Physics Searches at the Large Hadron Collider” (AMVA4NewPhysics). The network includes 13 other institutions:
• Beneficiary partners: Università di Padova; University of Oxford; Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas at Lisbon; Blaise Pascal University; Université Catholique de Louvain; Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications, University of Athens; Centre Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire – CERN;
• Other partners: University of California Irvine, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, B12-consulting, SDG group, Yandex, and Mathworks.
In the course of the next 12 months the beneficiary partners will be hiring ten early-stage researchers (ESR) to study the Higgs boson and search for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider, employing advanced statistical learning tools.

Description
The Padova section of INFN offers one ESR position in the network. The selected candidate will be enrolled in the three-year Ph. D. programme offered by the Department of Physics of the University of Padova. Besides following the mandatory courses of the Ph. D. Programme, the ESR will participate in the research program of AMVA4NewPhysics, performing data analysis in collaboration with the Padova members of the CMS experiment at CERN. The research topic envisioned for the ESR, who will be hired by INFN with a 36-months full-time contract at the Padova section of INFN, focuses on the detailed study of the Higgs boson using advanced Machine Learning methods for signal extraction and measurements.
AMVA4NewPhysics foresees a very rich training programme for the ESR, which includes the participation to several international doctoral schools, workshops, and conferences, as well as visiting periods to CERN and to other European institutions belonging to the Network, plus a three-month secondment at a non-academic institution, attending to a stage centred on industry applications of Machine Learning tools.
We strongly encourage the application by female students and researchers as AMVA4NewPhysics applies affirmative-action measures to ensure gender equality in the recruitment process.

Conditions
The gross salary amounts to euro 3318.37 per month; in addition, a gross mobility allowance of euro 600 per month is provided for, as well as a gross family allowance of euro 500 per month if applicable.
The cost of the doctoral courses, as well as all expenses related to travel to schools, workshops, and network-organized events, will be planned and sustained by the network. The ESR will be provided with office space at the department of Physics of the University of Padova, and access to a cluster of computers for his research work.

Eligibility criteria
There are strict eligibility requirements for the ESR positions in MSCA-ITN. Please ensure to be qualified before applying, as ineligible candidates cannot be considered.
– Applicants should not have resided or performed their main activity (work, studies, etc) in Italy for more than 12 months in the period December 1st, 2012 to November 30th, 2015 (short stays such as holidays are not taken into account).
– Applicants should be in the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctorate. This 4 year period is measured from the date of obtaining the degree which would formally entitle to embark on a doctorate.
– At the time of hiring applicants must have acquired an at least four years full-time university education degree in Physics, formally enabling them to embark in a doctorate program in the country where the degree was obtained or in Italy.