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Internal Research Fellow (PostDoc) in Space Environments and Effects

Job Requisition ID: 20885

Date Posted: 9 September 2026

Closing Date: 7 October 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication: External Only

Directorate: Technology, Engineering and Quality

Workplace:

Noordwijk, NL

Location

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Our team and mission

The Space Environments and Effects Section supports the development of ESA missions and programmes by investigating the space environments within which they will operate, assessing likely effects and defining mitigation methods. Environments addressed include high-energy radiation from radiation belts; solar particle events and cosmic rays; plasmas encountered in planetary magnetospheres; the solar wind and artificially generated charges and fields on spacecraft; micro-meteoroids and non trackable debris; planetary and lunar dust; and planetary atmospheres. The Section also initiates and manages a wide range of related modelling, software and hardware R&D activities.

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: https://www.esa.int/

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

A significant number of ESA missions fly in severe radiation environments that can have various effects on the spacecraft and their payload and instrumentation. Such effects include dose degradation in components, displace damage in solar cells, different types of single event effects in electronics, imaging instrument interference, internal charging and biological effects on astronauts. Detailed analyses of such effects, and possible ways to shield and mitigate against them, are typically conducted by using environmental prediction in combination with Monte Carlo radiation simulation toolkits such as Geant4 and its application, GRAS (Geant4 Radiation Analysis for Space).

ESA is a signatory member of the international Geant4 Collaboration together with CERN and a number of other institutes worldwide and has over the years contributed to a number of space-specific physics models and other software capabilities and applications to allow for accurate estimates of such radiation effects.

The goal of this Research Fellow position is to assess, test and further develop ionising radiation transport and effects analysis models and related software capabilities under the Geant4 and GRAS frameworks, together with the application of such developments to real-life cases of ESA spacecraft and missions. As part of this work in ESA's Space Environments and Effects Section, substantial collaboration with other parts of the Agency and with external partners in the radiation physics domain is expected.

Technical competencies

Knowledge relevant to the field of research

Research/publication record

Ability to conduct research autonomously

Breadth of exposure coming from past and/or current research/activities

Ability to gather and share relevant information

General interest in space and space research

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

Education

You should have recently completed (within five years), or be close to completion of a PhD in radiation, space physics and/or information technology.

Additional requirements

Experience in key space radiation environments and effects simulation software (Geant4/GRAS), general Monte Carlo techniques and relevant programming languages will be an asset.

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.

During the interview, your motivation, overall professional outlook and career goals will also be explored.

In addition to your CV and your motivation letter, please prepare a research proposal of no more than 5 pages. This proposal should be uploaded to the "additional documents" field of the "application information" section.

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment.