Assistant Professor position at the Seismology

INSTITUTION:  Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences              

CITY:  Kraków                                                                                                                   

POSITION:  Assistant Professor position at the Seismology Department

DISCIPLINE:  Earth and environmental sciences

POSTED:  June 25th, 2025

EXPIRES:  July 25th, 2025

WEBSITE www.igf.edu.pl 

KEY WORDS:  seismology, earthquake forecasting, seismic hazard

JOB DESRIPTION

Postdoctoral Researcher – TrackPreQuake Project, OPUS 28, NCN
TrackPreQuake: Tracking Preparation Processes of EarthQuakes

We are seeking a motivated and skilled postdoctoral researcher to join the TrackPreQuake project, an interdisciplinary initiative focused on improving our understanding of the Earthquake Preparatory Process (EPP), particularly in the context of anthropogenic and swarm-like seismicity.

Role Overview:

The postdoctoral researcher will lead the development and application of seismic strain metrics as seismic strain dynamics (SSD) and the seismic regularity (dc), and integrating additional seismic parameters to develop these metrics and improve their performance. A major goal is to enhance our ability to characterize the spatial and temporal evolution of seismicity and assess its pattern in diverse geophysical settings.

Main Responsibilities:

  • Metric Development: Expand current metrics by incorporating parameters such as focal mechanism orientations (e.g., P and T axes), stress drop, waveform correlation coefficient, spatial distribution, and temporal evolution.
  • Sensitivity Analysis: Investigate the behaviour of the metrics under various tectonic and anthropogenic conditions, including stress regimes, fluid injection scenarios, and geological environments.
  • Optimization and Validation: Fine-tune algorithmic parameters (e.g., magnitude thresholds, spatial and temporal scales) to ensure robust and transferable performance across datasets.
  • Dataset Integration: Apply the methodology to a broad range of seismicity types, including both natural and anthropogenic cases, to evaluate the generalizability and reliability of the clustering factor.
  • Contribution to EPP Modelling: Collaborate with the project team to integrate findings into the evolving Earthquake Preparatory Process framework, supporting the development of seismic hazard indicators.

Requirements for candidates:

  • A PhD degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences, in the discipline of geophysics or a related field, awarded no earlier than 7 years before the start date of the employment contract for the project (this period does not include breaks specified in the NCN Council Resolution No. 130/2020 of 11 December 2020);
  • A PhD degree obtained from an institution other than the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IG PAS);
  • Experience in statistical seismology, focal mechanism analysis, seismic data processing, clustering techniques, anthropogenic seismicity, and programming skills;
  • Ability to combine teamwork with independent scientific work;
  • Excellent command of English (spoken and written).
  • Scientific and publication record.
  • Strong background in statistical seismology, focal mechanism analysis, and seismic data processing.
  • Experience with clustering algorithms and multi-parameter seismic analysis.
  • Solid programming skills (e.g., Python, MATLAB, R) and ability to work with large datasets.
  • Demonstrated ability to work independently while collaborating effectively within a research team.
  • Scientific publications in relevant fields.

Employment conditions:

1. Planned employment date 08/2025

2. Employment: full-time

3. Estimated remuneration: In accordance with IGF regulations, financing under the OPUS NCN TrackPreQuake project, amount PLN 140,000.00 gross per year

Required documents:

  • scan or copy of your higher education diploma,
  • can or copy of your doctoral degree diploma
  • CV with particular emphasis on information about scientific, educational and organizational achievements,
  • document confirming obtaining a doctoral degree
  • letter of motivation
  • other documents relevant to the case (at the candidate’s discretion)

Form of offers:

Application documents should be sent until July 25th,2025

to the email address: kariera@igf.edu.pl , by entering the subject of the message: “Assistant professor at the Department of Seismology”.

Please include the clause in the CV

I agree to the processing of personal data contained in my job offer for the needs necessary to carry out the recruitment process carried out by Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences with its registered office at 64 Księcia Janusza,01-452 Warsaw, Poland,  in accordance with art. 6 par. 1 lit. a Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (general data protection regulation). At the same time, I consent to the processing of my personal data for the purposes of future recruitment.                                 

Assistant Professor at the Department of Geophysical Imaging

 INSTITUTION: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences

CITY: Kraków

POSITION: Assistant Professor at the Department of Geophysical Imaging

SCIENTIFIC DICTION: Science and Technology, Earth Sciences

NOTICE DATE: 04.06.2025                                                                   

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BIDS: 30.06.2025

WEBSITE LINK: https://www.igf.edu.pl/kariera.php

KEY WORDS: Seismic data inversion, offshore seismic data, seismic imaging, velocity model-building

DESCRIPTION (topics, expectations, comments):

Job Description

The candidate will join the group carrying out the NCN SOATA BIS project – „Optimization of Ocean-Bottom Seismometer Acquisition for Enhanced Crustal-Scale Seismic Imaging”,  Agreement nr UMO- 2024/54/E/ST10/00204

The core scientific problem this project seeks to address is the need to evolve the current paradigm of how OBS data are acquired during academic seismic surveys and how they are routinely processed. A key limitation of these surveys (from the perspective of modern processing techniques such as full-waveform inversion – FWI) is the sparse receiver deployments, which result in insufficient illumination of the target, as well as a lack of multi-azimuthal coverage from typical 2D profiles. This situation persists despite the availability of well-established imaging algorithms supported by advanced computing power, which are capable of generating high-fidelity regional geological models but cannot be fully exploited without optimized OBS data. From a seismic survey perspective, “optimal OBS acquisition” refers to a set of key parameters – such as survey geometry, source/receiver configurations, etc. – that will allow for the best possible reconstruction of the target. Therefore, it must be tailored to the method, target, and available resources. But is it possible to determine these acquisition parameters based on limited a priori knowledge of the subsurface? How should the geometry of the acquisition change when considering ray-based traveltime tomography (TT) versus wave-based FWI? In what scenarios might a sparser 3D OBS deployment be preferable to a densely sampled 2D profile? What shot/receiver configuration would be most effective? Conversely, we can consider optimizing OBS acquisition at the data processing stage. Here, the objective is to fine-tune the processing approach so that it makes the best use of the existing dataset to reconstruct the target within the available computational resources. Therefore, is it possible to design a data-selection or data-weighting approach that achieves optimal or uniform subsurface sampling for a given processing method? How would this optimal sampling differ between ray-based and wave-based techniques? Moreover, could the dataset be “sparsified” to optimize subsurface sampling while minimizing the computational load of large-scale regional models? How much could compressive sensing and advanced regularization techniques help reduce the data volume that needs to be processed? Answering these questions and finding associated solutions are the primary scientific goals of this project.

Title of NCN competition

SONATA BIS

Requirements

  1. Doctoral degree in Earth sciences or related field, obtained up to 7 years prior to the start of work on the project.
  2. Knowledge of research topics related to seismic data acquisition and processing
  3. Knowledge of numerical and inversion methods used in seismic imaging
  • Proven practical programming skills
  • Experience in seismic wavefield modeling
  • Scientific publications in peer reviewed journals
  • Very good English language skills
  • Highly motivated and able to organize and self-manage a research programme

* In accordance with NCN requirements, only a person who has obtained a doctoral degree from an entity other than the one where the position is planned to be filled no earlier than 7 years prior to the year of employment in the project may be accepted for a post-doc position. This period may be extended by the time of being on long-term (more than 90 days) documented sickness benefits or rehabilitation benefits due to incapacity for work during this period. In addition, the number of months spent on leave for the care and upbringing of children granted under the terms of the Labor Code may be added to this period, and in the case of women – 18 months for each child born or adopted.

In addition, in accordance with the requirements of NCN, an employed person shall not, during the period of drawing this remuneration, draw other remuneration from funds granted as direct costs from research projects financed under NCN competitions, and shall not, during the period of drawing this remuneration, draw remuneration from another employer under an employment contract, including from an employer based outside the territory of Poland.

Conditions of employment:

1. Salary: 11667.00 PLN gross/month, (which is about 7500.00 PLN net/month)

2. Full-time employment

3. Period of employment – 24 months (with possible extension to maximum 48 months)

4. Employment beginning 01.10.2025

5. In accordance with the terms and conditions of NCN, during the period of employment, the post-doc may not receive any other remuneration in any form from NCN funds and remuneration from any other employer under an employment contract, including an employer based outside the territory of Poland.

6. First contract is signed for a minimum of six months.

Additional information

The project is focused on high-resolution crustal-scale velocity model-building from Ocean-Bottom Seismometer data. The research will be realized within the framework of long-term international collaboration of IG PAS with research institutes in France and Japan.

The work will be carried out under the supervision of:

Dr hab. inż. Andrzej Górszczyk prof. PAN

agorszczyk@igf.edu.pl

Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences

Ksiecia Janusza 64, 01-452 Warsaw, Poland

Required documents:

  • Cover letter
  • Document confirming a doctoral degree
  • CV relevant to the stated requirements
  • Information on scientific achievements (including a list of publications), awards and scientific internships
  • Electronic versions of the two most important publications (or typescripts of unpublished works) that the candidate considers representative of his/her scientific achievements
  • Other relevant documents

Applications for the Competition should be sent by 30.06.2025 to: kariera@igf.edu.pl writing the subject of the message: “SONATA-BIS GORSZCZYK Assistant Professor“.

Selected candidates may be invited for an interview via electronic means of audio and video communication.

The Institute of Geophysics PAS reserves the right to close the competition without selecting a candidate.

For more detailed information, please contact PI of the project:

Dr hab. inż. Andrzej Górszczyk prof. PAN

agorszczyk@igf.edu.pl

Please include the following clause in your documents:

I consent to the processing of my personal data by the Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences Księcia Janusza 64, 01-452 Warsaw, for recruitment purposes. Personal data will be processed on the basis of Article 6(1)(a) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation on data protection OJ. EU.L.2016.119.1 of May 4, 2016). At the same time, I consent to the processing of my personal data for future recruitment.