Postdoctoral Position in Multimessenger Astrophysics and Stellar Evolution Near Massive Black Holes

About this position

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CAMK PAN) in Warsaw with a deadline of November 15, 2026 .

The postdoctoral researcher will join the project “Stars Near Massive Black Holes as Electromagnetic Sources and Future Gravitational-Wave Targets for LISA” , led by Dr. Aleksandra Olejak. The successful candidate will also work in close collaboration with other researchers at CAMK PAN, including Dr. Abbas Askar and Dr. Verónica Vázquez Aceves, as well as with international collaborators.

The main scientific focus will be on stellar EMRIs/IMRIs as a class of multimessenger sources for LISA . The position is particularly suitable for candidates with a background in one or more of the following areas: stellar and binary evolution; hydrodynamical simulations of stellar interactions; stellar oscillations and tidal interactions; modelling or observations of electromagnetic counterparts and tidal disruption events; gravitational-wave astrophysics .

Depending on the candidate’s expertise and interests, possible research activities include:

• developing detailed stellar and binary evolution models (e.g. with MESA ), or semianalytical frameworks, for stars interacting with intermediate-mass and supermassive black holes;
• modelling tidally excited stellar oscillations and tidal heating , and investigating their impact on the orbital and stellar evolution of extreme mass-ratio systems;
• developing hydrodynamical simulations of stellar interactions with massive black holes and connecting them with stellar-evolution calculations;
• modelling the gravitational-wave/electromagnetic signals of star–massive-black-hole systems and assessing their detectability with LISA and electromagnetic observatories;
• connecting theoretical models to observed classes of high-energy sources and transients, such as ULXs/HLXs, QPEs, QPOs , and exotic tidal disruption events ;
• contributing to population and event-rate predictions by combining detailed stellar models with dynamical formation scenarios for star–IMBH systems in dense stellar environments;
• publishing scientific results in peer-reviewed journals and presenting findings at international conferences and workshops.

While the main expectation of the position will be to contribute to and co-lead the exploration of stellar EMRIs/IMRIs as electromagnetic and gravitational-wave sources , the successful candidate will also be encouraged to pursue partly independent projects, develop their own research ideas, and bring complementary expertise to the group and the institute. Candidates with expertise in other relevant areas are also encouraged to apply if they can clearly motivate how their background could contribute to the project.