Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Jimma University is one of the largest academic departments of this field around the world covering different areas through an interdisciplinary medium. There are 2 BSc, 4 MSc, and 6 PhD programs. The Department has strong international connections with research groups in Europe and North America. As a part of our joint projects, we have a postdoc position for a computational materials science/engineer.

You would work with an international team, as the Department staff are all international people coming from quite different countries. Depending on the joint project, you may need to stay a few months in our partner groups in Europe or North America.

Successful candidate should have a PhD in materials science & engineering or a closely related field. Skills, knowledge, and experience in computational science and/or theoretical studies is mandatory.

For further information about the department visit http://mse.ju.edu.et

We have a unique strategy in leading the team. Thus, please carefully read the job description before applying. and also check our group strategy at http://director.nias.us/group/selection-criteria.html

Job Features

❃ This is part of a chair system in which assistant/associate professors work under supervision of a chair, and you will be officially appointed as an assistant professor. This is indeed equivalent to the popular postdoc model in the United States and other countries.

❃ You will work in a team of 15 – 20 postdoc fellows coming from different countries.

❃ Due to the team structure, flexibility to be supervised is one of the main criteria.

❃ Contrary to many postdoc fellowships, the present position is not focused on a specific research project. Instead, the postdoc fellows are involved in different tasks from research to academic affairs. The main theme is to empower the team members with various academic skills.

❃ Your workflow including research will be directly assigned by the supervisor. As quoted above, our preliminary goal is to prepare better scholars for leading research projects in the future. If you do not trust the group planning, DO NOT apply.

❃ The postdoc fellows should necessarily start to work on a new research topic (different from their past experiences), and normally involved in literature review during the first six months. The goal is to publish review article or book.

❃ We are looking for people who are ambitious and want to take this step as a jump in his/her academic career to build a world-class research group. There is no room for people who are interested in routine jobs for today.

❃ Due to our training mission, a significant part of this position is teaching duties.

❃ Each member should be committed to the team promotion internationally. Skills for networking are critically important.

❃ The salary is about $24,000 – $30,000, which is quite high considering the cost of living (i.e. four times higher than local full professors). Housing and flights will be covered. On the other hand, we are looking for those who are interested in the potentials of this position rather than a routine job with high salary.

❃ Jimma city is probably different from your imagination about Africa. The nature is greener than Europe, and the weather is always at excellent condition (18 – 25 C).

Criteria of Selection

➠ The main criterion of selection is the motivation and passion for cutting-edge research. We are generally interested in applicants who wish to work in a leading research group as a transition to continue their scientific career in top universities, rather than applicants who look for routine jobs in their scientific career.
➠ Our strategy is result-oriented research with tangible progress of projects in planned direction.
➠ Candidates must be committed to team work, and follow planned duties precisely.
➠ Candidate's attitude for being supervised in direction of the group missions.

Application Steps

➊ Applications should be submitted online via http://jobs.nias.us/1033225/postdoc-fellowship-in-computational-material ONLY. DO NOT submit applications by email, as the process is through the online system.
➋ Applications will be immediately reviewed to examine basic criteria of selection. Shortlisted candidates will be normally notified within a week after submission.
➌ After receiving the letters of recommendation, candidates will be interviewed by the Department Head.
➍ The final step is a friendly chat with the department/group members over skype. In this stage, candidate can get full information about the workplace, duties, strategies, social life, etc directly from prospective colleagues. Since we are committed to democracy, the final selection is based on votes of the department/group members.

In addition, arrange at least three letters of recommendation should be mailed/emailed (electronic submission is preferred) to