Join us!
Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in the Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 250 physicists and 80 technical staff work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together they perform theoretical and experimental research in particle and astroparticle physics.
KM3NeT is a next-generation neutrino telescope taking shape on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. Its primary scientific goals are to discover and study high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and their sources with the ARCA detector, and to investigate neutrino oscillations—including the determination of the neutrino mass ordering—with the ORCA detector. Both detectors also record enormous numbers of atmospheric muons from cosmic-ray air showers, and these muons carry information about particle interactions at energies far beyond the reach of any accelerator on Earth. In this project you will turn that signal into cosmic-ray physics: measuring the muon content of air showers, confronting high-energy hadronic-interaction models and helping to solve the long-standing “muon puzzle”. You will carry out your research in the KM3NeT group at Nikhef, which initiated and coordinates the cosmic-ray activities within the international KM3NeT Collaboration, and you will work in a friendly, supportive and international team.
This is what you will do
As a PhD candidate you will develop new ways to extract cosmic-ray physics from KM3NeT data. You will design and characterise reconstruction methods—both machine-learning-based and traditional—for the bundles of muons that reach the detectors, and apply them to data and simulations to constrain cosmic-ray composition and hadronic-interaction models. We support you with a rich international collaboration, extensive computing resources and close day-to-day supervision within the group.
Tasks and responsibilities:
- include developing reconstruction algorithms for the muon bundles recorded by KM3NeT;
- extracting air-shower observables such as muon multiplicity, lateral separation and energy;
- using these observables to constrain cosmic-ray composition and high-energy hadronic-interaction models, including the atmospheric dependence of the muon flux;
- publishing your results in peer-reviewed journals and presenting them at international conferences;
- contributing to the work of the KM3NeT Collaboration;
- contributing to teaching at the University of Amsterdam, for example by assisting in bachelor’s or master’s courses.
What we ask of you
Your experience and profile:
- MSc in physics completed by the start of the appointment;
- a strong interest in astroparticle and cosmic-ray physics;
- good programming skills;
- the ability and enthusiasm to work in a large international collaboration while advancing your own research;
- and a good command of spoken and written English.
Experience with data analysis in astroparticle, particle or cosmic-ray physics is an advantage Familiarity with machine learning may be useful, but is not expected.
This is what we offer you
We offer a temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week ranges between € 3.204 to € 4.051 (Scale P). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile PhD candidate is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.
The preferred starting date will be agreed with the successful candidate, but will be before December 2026. This employment should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.
The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.
You will work in this team
The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.
The Institute of Physics (IoP) of the University of Amsterdam is located in the center of the Amsterdam Science Park. The IoP – as part of the Faculty of Science –is housed in a modern building with excellent labs and technical facilities. Surrounded by several national research institutes and with our partners at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, the institute is part of a strong physics center of international standing.
Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in the Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 220 physicists and 80 technical staff work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. Nikhef is a partnership between six major Dutch universities and NWO-I Foundation, the Institutes Organization of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Among the research collaborations Nikhef participates in are the ALICE, ATLAS and LHCb experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the Virgo gravitational waves interferometer in Pisa, the Xenon-nT dark matter experiment in Gran Sasso, the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory in Argentina, and the eEDM research programme in Groningen. There are also scientific groups on Theory, Physics Data Processing and Detector R&D. Nikhef avails over excellently equipped technical departments in mechanics, electronics and computing.
The research is carried out in the KM3NeT group at Nikhef, which covers the full chain from detector construction and calibration to reconstruction and physics analysis. The group contributes to KM3NeT’s core neutrino programme: the search for high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and their sources with ARCA, and precision studies of neutrino oscillations and the neutrino mass ordering with ORCA. It also initiated and coordinates the cosmic-ray physics activities within the international KM3NeT Collaboration, using the atmospheric muons recorded by KM3NeT to study air showers, hadronic interactions and the cosmic-ray flux—the research of which you will be part.
Do you want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.
Are you interested in theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics? Have you always wanted to work with the KM3NeT next-generation neutrino telescope and do you enjoy working in an interdisciplinary research setting? Nikhef is looking for one ambitious PhD candidate. Your research is part of the KM3NeT-programme.
Join us!
Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in the Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 250 physicists and 80 technical staff work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together they perform theoretical and experimental research in particle and astroparticle physics.
KM3NeT is a next-generation neutrino telescope taking shape on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. Its primary scientific goals are to discover and study high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and their sources with the ARCA detector, and to investigate neutrino oscillations—including the determination of the neutrino mass ordering—with the ORCA detector. Both detectors also record enormous numbers of atmospheric muons from cosmic-ray air showers, and these muons carry information about particle interactions at energies far beyond the reach of any accelerator on Earth. In this project you will turn that signal into cosmic-ray physics: measuring the muon content of air showers, confronting high-energy hadronic-interaction models and helping to solve the long-standing “muon puzzle”. You will carry out your research in the KM3NeT group at Nikhef, which initiated and coordinates the cosmic-ray activities within the international KM3NeT Collaboration, and you will work in a friendly, supportive and international team.
This is what you will do
As a PhD candidate you will develop new ways to extract cosmic-ray physics from KM3NeT data. You will design and characterise reconstruction methods—both machine-learning-based and traditional—for the bundles of muons that reach the detectors, and apply them to data and simulations to constrain cosmic-ray composition and hadronic-interaction models. We support you with a rich international collaboration, extensive computing resources and close day-to-day supervision within the group.
Tasks and responsibilities:
- include developing reconstruction algorithms for the muon bundles recorded by KM3NeT;
- extracting air-shower observables such as muon multiplicity, lateral separation and energy;
- using these observables to constrain cosmic-ray composition and high-energy hadronic-interaction models, including the atmospheric dependence of the muon flux;
- publishing your results in peer-reviewed journals and presenting them at international conferences;
- contributing to the work of the KM3NeT Collaboration;
- contributing to teaching at the University of Amsterdam, for example by assisting in bachelor’s or master’s courses.
What we ask of you
Your experience and profile:
- MSc in physics completed by the start of the appointment;
- a strong interest in astroparticle and cosmic-ray physics;
- good programming skills;
- the ability and enthusiasm to work in a large international collaboration while advancing your own research;
- and a good command of spoken and written English.
Experience with data analysis in astroparticle, particle or cosmic-ray physics is an advantage Familiarity with machine learning may be useful, but is not expected.
This is what we offer you
We offer a temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week ranges between € 3.204 to € 4.051 (Scale P). This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile PhD candidate is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.
The preferred starting date will be agreed with the successful candidate, but will be before December 2026. This employment should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.
The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.
You will work in this team
The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 8,000, as well as 1,800 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.
The Institute of Physics (IoP) of the University of Amsterdam is located in the center of the Amsterdam Science Park. The IoP – as part of the Faculty of Science –is housed in a modern building with excellent labs and technical facilities. Surrounded by several national research institutes and with our partners at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, the institute is part of a strong physics center of international standing.
Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in the Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 220 physicists and 80 technical staff work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. Nikhef is a partnership between six major Dutch universities and NWO-I Foundation, the Institutes Organization of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Among the research collaborations Nikhef participates in are the ALICE, ATLAS and LHCb experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the Virgo gravitational waves interferometer in Pisa, the Xenon-nT dark matter experiment in Gran Sasso, the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory in Argentina, and the eEDM research programme in Groningen. There are also scientific groups on Theory, Physics Data Processing and Detector R&D. Nikhef avails over excellently equipped technical departments in mechanics, electronics and computing.
The research is carried out in the KM3NeT group at Nikhef, which covers the full chain from detector construction and calibration to reconstruction and physics analysis. The group contributes to KM3NeT’s core neutrino programme: the search for high-energy astrophysical neutrinos and their sources with ARCA, and precision studies of neutrino oscillations and the neutrino mass ordering with ORCA. It also initiated and coordinates the cosmic-ray physics activities within the international KM3NeT Collaboration, using the atmospheric muons recorded by KM3NeT to study air showers, hadronic interactions and the cosmic-ray flux—the research of which you will be part.
Do you want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.
If you feel the profile fits you, and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your application only through the Nikhef-portal. You can only apply at the Nikhef portal. We accept applications until and including 31 August 2026.
If you have any questions or do you require additional information? Please contact:
Applications should include the following information (all files besides your cv should be submitted in one single pdf file):
- a detailed CV including the start and finish months (not just years) when referring to your education and work experience;
- a letter of motivation;
- a list of publications;
- the names and email addresses of two references who can provide letters of recommendation.
The UvA and Nikhef attach great importance to the contribution of female scientists in research and education/ We particularly encourage women and candidates from other under-represented groups to apply/ We value diversity and encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply, even if you don't meet every requirement.
A knowledge security check can be part of the selection procedure (for details: national knowledge security guidelines). Only complete applications received within the response period via the Nikhef-portal will be considered.
