Doctoral researcher

aalto; Espoo; On-site; EUR 30,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Aalto University invites applications for a Doctoral researcher position in the Department of Computer Science. You will model and interpret host stars' dynamo mechanisms, using fully compressible MHD in global and local frameworks, integrated with physics-informed ML and coronal/wind modelling.

The role includes supervising students and contributing to open-science data releases. We seek a motivated researcher with strong HPC experience and a background in astrophysical fluid dynamics,

Qualifications

• Master's degree completed in astrophysics, applied physics, computational science, or closely related field.
• Experience with HPC and GPU programming for large simulations.
• Solid knowledge of MHD or astrophysical fluid dynamics.
• Familiarity with radiative transfer in astrophysics and data analysis for physical sciences.
• Experience with machine learning applied to scientific data is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and interpret host stars' dynamo mechanisms and magnetic activity in global/local frameworks.
• Implement data-driven rotation constraints in dynamo models and calibrate against observations.
• Run and analyze large-scale global solar/stellar dynamo simulations on HPC resources.
• Couple radiative MHD models with GPU-accelerated radiative transfer and ML-based analyses.
• Collaborate with consortium partners and disseminate results in journals and conferences.

Skills

High-performance computing

MHD

GPU programming

Astrophysical fluid dynamics

Machine learning

Education

Master's degree

Tools

SWMF-like models

Job description

Doctoral researcher

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto has six schools with 14 000 students and a staff of 5000, of which more than 400 are professors. Our main campus is located in Espoo, Finland. Diversity is part of who we are, and we actively work to ensure our community's diversity and inclusiveness. This is why we warmly encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join our community.

The Department of Computer Science is an internationally-oriented community and home to world-class research in modern computer science, combining research on foundations and innovative applications. With over 40 professors and more than 450 employees from 50 countries, it is the largest department at Aalto University and the leading computer science research unit in northern Europe. Computer science research at Aalto University ranks high in several international surveys (7th in Europe and 1st in the Nordics (NTU 2023); and 88th worldwide in Times Higher Education subject ranking 2025).

Are you excited to help find and assess the most promising habitable exoplanets around solar‑like magnetically active stars?

Join us to build next‑generation GPU‑accelerated models of stellar dynamos and connect them to exoplanet discovery and space‑weather environments. You will work in Aalto's High‑Performance Computing Lab within the PEAS (Population of Exoplanets around Active Suns) consortium alongside leading teams in stellar astrophysics, exoplanets, and high‑performance computing.

Your network and team

Home unit: Aalto University, Department of Computer Science (Otaniemi campus, Espoo), High‑Performance Computing Lab (Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Maarit Korpi‑Lagg) Consortium collaborators include the University of Helsinki Stellar Astrophysics Group (Dr. Thomas Hackman, Dr. Mikko Tuomi), AI professor Teemu Roos from University of Helsinki, and international partners such as Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP).

Your role and goals

You will focus on modelling and interpretation of host stars' dynamo mechanisms and magnetic activity using fully compressible MHD in global and local frameworks, integrated with physics‑informed machine learning and coronal/wind modelling.

Key tasks and responsibilities:

• Develop and implement data‑driven differential rotation constraints in the global dynamo models (e.g., via relaxation terms in the Navier‑Stokes equation), calibrating against solar/stellar observations.
• Design, run, and analyse large‑scale global solar/stellar dynamo simulations capable of capturing both small‑scale and large‑scale dynamos in the same model with resolutions requiring at LUMI‑class resources.
• Perform model selection and pruning using observational constraints, extend best‑match runs over multiple stellar activity cycles, and prepare datasets for ML analysis.
• Contribute to coupling global and local radiative MHD models, including GPU acceleration of radiative transfer and high‑cadence data extraction; use ML tools to isolate active region progenitors and study eruptive conditions.
• Interface with SWMF modules (AWSoM/IA) to model stellar coronae and winds driven by dynamo‑generated surface magnetic maps.
• Disseminate results in journals and conferences; contribute to open‑science releases of data and code.

In addition to research work, persons hired are expected to participate in teaching following the standard practices at the department.

Your experience and ambitions

We are looking for a motivated, collaborative researcher with:

Required

• Master's degree completed before the contract starts (e.g., astrophysics, applied physics, computational science, or closely related).
• Relevant coursework (examples): Computational physics/scientific computing and numerical methods for PDEs
• High‑performance computing (parallel distributed programming, GPU programming)
• Astrophysical fluid dynamics and/or magnetohydrodynamics
• Radiative transfer in astrophysics
• Machine learning or data analysis for physical sciences

Preferred

• Demonstrated experience with MHD or fluid‑dynamics solvers and analysis of large‑scale simulations; experience on GPUs is a plus.
• Experience with physics‑informed ML for scientific data
• Familiarity with SWMF‑like models for stellar coronae and wind modelling.

What we offer

We will offer you an excellent and unique research environment in the capital region of Helsinki: our consortium conducts top‑notch work in the intersection of astrophysics, data, and computer science. This will give you a chance to develop a unique set of skills appreciated both in academia and ind