Vacation Studentships at the CDM
The CDM is accepting applications for Vacation Studentships from enthusiastic university students with excellent scholastic records who are in the last, or second last, year of their undergraduate or Honours/Masters degree in a relevant field. Preference will be given to Victorian-based students, as the Vacation Studentship will based at the Hawthorn campus of Swinburne University of Technology.
With six university Nodes, and many more partner institutes, the CDM is a diverse research environment to explore the myriad ways in which we are attempting to find dark matter. Our Vacation Studentship program aims to provide undergraduate students with some insight into how exciting research is and how it is conducted.
Students will join a research project under supervision, with project topics which explore one of the many areas of dark matter detection either:
1. Directly with detectors, including SABRE, or
2. Indirectly through astronomical means like lensing, or
3. Predicting dark matter properties with supercomputer simulations.
Projects can involve all aspects of dark matter research, from proposing or carrying out new experiments or observations, the building of detectors, analysing data, to conducting theoretical calculations or advanced simulations with the student shadowing one of our researchers on the project.
The Vacation Studentship is expected to run over eight weeks, between January and March 2022, with the timing to be negotiated between the student and their nominated supervisor. Vacation students are paid a stipend of $500 per week to cover expenses.
Please note: while we intend for the Vacation Studentship to be on campus, COVID restrictions may impact our ability to do this.
Applications are now being accepted and should be received before COB September 16th; they should include the following:
A cover letter (see below for further information);
A copy of your official academic record, including an explanation of the grading system used;
Your Curriculum Vitae;
Any supporting documentation of previous research.
Applicants should also ask a lecturer or supervisor at their current university to send a letter of recommendation. This should be sent by the lecturer/supervisor directly; applicants should not include reference letters in their own application.
Applications and reference letters should be emailed to Simon Parsons sparsons@swin.edu.au with the above information attached (preferably as PDF documents)
The cover letter is important and should
(i) set out why you are interested in undertaking a vacation studentship at CDM and
(ii) set out the kind of research project you are interested in working on (and your relevant experience in that area if any).