Do you have a master in Science, and want to start a Post-Doc position directly? You can have it, in Padova (Italy), to work with me on the PHINDER project, an EIC-funded Pathfinder grantee.
I am offering a two-year position for research in nanophotonics-powered neuromorphic computing for particle detector development at INFN, Sezione di Padova. The call will open soon, so you should watch this space if you are interested.

Prerequisites to apply do NOT include having completed a Ph.D. The reason is that if you are a bright master graduate in science (physics, maths, statistics, data science, engineering), with competence in python and machine learning, you have all it takes already. But the position is a true post-doc and the salary level is competitive for Italian standards (admittedly lower than e.g. German or Dutch ones, but cost of living in Italy is similarly lower). Of course, if you do possess a Ph.D. title, that constitutes a title of preference, but the selection will not be based only on that.

What would you be asked to do during these two years is to help me develop a model of the data collection system for a granular calorimeter interfaced with sensing elements, and for the computing that those elements can perform by interpreting the time series of light pulses in a neuromorphic system. Sounds difficult, but in practice we will use well-known tools such as GEANT4 and SNNTorch. Plus, we already know how this can work, as the Masters thesis of a student of mine (Enrico Lupi) demonstrated how to assemble the pipeline. Results of that work are published in this article.

The successful applicant will be based in Padova (Italy), receive a net salary of about 2k euro after taxation, get retirement funds paid, and full health insurance. The job is supposed to start in July or August 2026. A selection based on titles, reference letters, and an oral colloquium will take place in June.

The PHINDER consortium is led by coordinator Lulea University of Technology Prof. Fredrik Sandin, and includes INFN, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, TU Eindhoven, University of Lund, Universidad de Oviedo, and Universidad of Cantabria. It will operate until March 2030. More details on the project will be available soon, but the gist of it is to exploit III-V nanowires as the sensing and computing elements in a nanophotonics reconfigurable circuit. Generative AI will be used to customize the neuromorphic-based computing of a network of nanowires, with applications to detector readout, proton therapy, and chemical reactions monitoring.

Do not hesitate to contact me at tommaso.dorigo (at) gmail.com for questions or more information on the opening!