DirecciónEUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
Young Graduate Trainee in Computational Biology
Young Graduate Opportunity in the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality
ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.
This post is classified F1 on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale.
Location
ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Our team and mission
The Advanced Concepts and Studies Office ensures the overall coordination, coherence and performance of programme and studies in support to the preparation of the Agency’s future activities, in line with its long-term strategic objectives and priorities. This includes discovery activities (www.esa.int/discovery) via the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) and the Advanced Concepts Team (ACT), ESA’s in-house research think tank.
The ACT monitors, performs and fosters beyond-the-horizon multidisciplinary research for space, exploring new approaches to space-related R&D (including competitions, prizes, games), research for disruptive innovation, developing an expert network at academic level and providing a capability for fast first look analysis of problems, challenges and opportunities. The ACT engages in collaborative research with university institutes and research centres, focusing on advanced research topics of potential strategic interest to the space sector and in experimenting with new forms of teamwork. To achieve this goal, a multidisciplinary research environment is provided, in which young scientific and engineering post-doctoral and post-graduate researchers carry out work on emerging technologies and innovative concepts.
More information on the team is accessible on the ACT website (www.esa.int/act).
You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int
Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship
As a Young Graduate Trainee, you will develop most of your activity in the field of Computational Biology, intended as the use of data analysis, mathematical modelling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and their relationships. The field has close ties and is expected to bring benefits to other scientific fields well established in ESA and in the ACT, such as biomimetics, evolutionary computation, and astrobiology research.
While you are encouraged to propose your own projects in the field, you may also choose to work on any of the following projects:
- Dynamics and stability of ecosystems,
- Non-equilibrium thermodynamics in biology,
- Agent-based and complex systems modelling of biological systems,
- Population genomics in interstellar travels,
- Programmable biology such as dna computing and storage, and non-neural cellular computing.
You will be a member of the Advanced Concepts Team (https://www.esa.int/act) and therefore expected to contribute to the development and the assessment of new concepts and technologies for space applications. This will be done in close interaction with ACT researchers who work on a broad range of disciplines including, informatics, artificial intelligence, climate modelling, energy systems, fundamental physics, biomimetics, computational management science and mission analysis. Based on your detailed background and interests and the opportunities and needs of the team, you will be involved in a number of other ACT initiatives (including studies conducted via the Ariadna scheme, http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/index.html) and participate in reporting and communicating results of the team (internally and externally).
Technical competencies
Behavioural competencies
Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking
Education
You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your Master’s degree in Computational Biology, synthetic biology or related fields.
Additional requirements
You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team.
You should also show a genuine interest in applied academic research, together with sound analytical skills, avid curiosity and a natural aptitude to self-motivation and teamwork.
The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.
During the interview motivation and overall professional perspective/career goals will also be explored.
Other information
For behavioural competencies expected from ESA staff in general, please refer to the ESA Competency Framework.
For further information on the Young Graduate Programme please visit: Young Graduate Programme andFAQ Young Graduate Programme
At the Agency we value diversity and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further please contact us email contact.human.resources@esa.int.
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Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus as European Cooperating States (ECS).
According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will first be given to candidates from under-represented Member States*.
In accordance with the European Space Agency’s security procedures and as part of the selection process, successful candidates will be required to undergo basic screening before appointment conducted by an external background screening service.
*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.
