ESO Studentships and Internships

Stays at the European Southern Observatory for

• astronomers and students of astronomy and related fields
• engineers, technicians and students of engineering in fields relevant to the construction and maintance of large telescopes

Short summary of relevant informations

• 6-12 month stay at ESO (Chile, Germany), with the possible extension of another year
• oficial pages of the programme at MEYS (in Czech)
• the default beginning of the stay is September 1st, however, exact dates can be negotatied
• the deadline for applications is May 31, 2019 for the first round (call) of this programme
• the stay at ESO should be beneficial to the professional growth of the applicant and be relevant to ESO
• ESO pages

Detailed information

The program of stays at ESO was agreed upon between the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MEYS) in March 2019 (the full version of the agreement). The first applicants can start their stay in ESO on September 1st, 2019; another (later) term can be negotatied.

The call for proposals ends in May 31th, 2019.

What is ESO

• European Southern Observatory is one of the largest and most influential astronomical observatories in the world
• it operates the Very Large Telescope in Chile (four 8.2m telescopes) plus many others
• ESO is a partner in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
• it builds the future largest optical telescope in the world (ELT with the 39m diameter)
• observatories are located in the Chilean desert Atacama in the Andes, headquarters are in Garching (Germany)

Who can apply?

• students: enrolled at an educational establishment in the Czech Republic in a Master or PhD programme in astronomy, astrophysics, project management or engineering in a technical area relevant to ESO.
• young interns: professionals with a graduation of PhD from an educational establishment in the Czech Republic, or with affiliation to a research institute resided in the Czech Republic, in one of the fields mentioned above. The age limit is 32 years at the beginning of the stay.

Scientific and engineering areas relevant for the programme

• the list of research topics offered to PhD students in ESO
• any other astronomy topic benefitting from or using ESO telescopes
• engineering and project management projects are listed in the agreement, they include software engineering (control of telescopes or instruments, development of high-level applications), control engineering (including cryogenic and vacuum control), electronic engineering, mechanical engineering.

How can one apply?

• an application must contain 1) name, contact adress and category (student/intern); 2) CV and a list of publications (if relevant); 3) a motivational letter describing goals and topics of the stay, 4) copies of university diploma(s); 5) letter of reference from the home institute supervisor
• application must be send to the following address (MEYS): MŠMT - odbor výzkumu a vývoje, ESO stáž, Karmelitská 529/5, 118 12 Praha 1
• the Czech committee will evaluate the candidates and send the selected ones to ESO. ESO will make the final selection

What is the financial support from MEYS?

• includes the basic monthly allowances 1500-2000 Euro plus the support for travelling

If you have any question, please ask  Dr. Jan Buriánek (MEYS, the administrator of the project, email: jan.burianek at msmt.cz) or Dr. Soňa Ehlerová (Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, email: ehlerova at asu.cas.cz).