Tenure-Track Professorship in Theoretical Gravitational Physics Universität Wien

Job description:

The University of Vienna is internationally renowned for its excellence in teaching and research, and counts more than 7,500 academics from all disciplines. This breadth of expertise offers unique opportunities to address the complex challenges of modern society, to develop comprehensive new approaches, and educate the problem-solvers of tomorrow from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna invites applications for a

The position

We are seeking an outstanding researcher who advances the fundamental understanding of gravity through analytically rigorous, conceptually driven, or high-precision computational approaches. Expertise and research profiles are welcome in one or more areas of theoretical gravitational physics, with particular emphasis on exact and nonlinear general relativity, geometric and mathematical analysis of the Einstein equations, analytical and numerical approaches to strong-field dynamics, relativistic and mathematical cosmology, relativistic matter dynamics in curved spacetime, nonlinear waves, and the analytical and theoretical foundations of gravitational-wave physics.

The Tenure Track professorship will be affiliated with the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna and integrated into the Gravitational Physics group (https://gravity.univie.ac.at/), an active research unit engaged in fundamental theoretical questions of gravitation. The group includes faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and doctoral students working on analytical and conceptual aspects of gravitational physics.

The position is embedded in a broad research environment at the Faculty of Physics, which hosts a variety of theoretical research activities and fosters interdisciplinary exchange. The faculty provides access to seminars, international collaborations, and structured doctoral training.

Overall, the research environment offers strong support for the development of an independent research profile, the acquisition of third-party funding, and the supervision of early-career researchers.

Your academic profile:

• Doctoral degree/PhD
• Two years of international research experience during or after doctoral studies
• Outstanding research achievements, excellent publication and funding record, international reputation
• Gender and diversity competence
• Experience in designing of and participating in research projects, ability to lead research groups and acquire third-party funding
• Enthusiasm for excellent teaching and supervision at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral level

We expect the successful candidate to acquire, within three years, proficiency in German sufficient for teaching in bachelor's programmes and for participation in university committees.

We offer:

• the opportunity to obtain a permanent position and eventual promotion to full professor; the initial contract as Assistant Professor is limited to six years, after positive evaluation of a qualification agreement the contract becomes permanent as Associate Professor; Associate Professors can be promoted to Full Professor through an internal competitive procedure.
• a dynamic research environment
• a wide range of research and teaching support services
• attractive working conditions in a city with a high quality of life
• an attractive salary according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement for University Staff (level A2) and an organisational retirement plan

Application documents (in English):

1. Letter of motivation
2. Academic curriculum vitae
   
   • education and training (PhD Certificate, PDF)
   • positions held to date
   • career breaks (e.g. relevant parental, family or other care periods)
   • awards and honors
   • commissions of trust
   • previous and current cooperation partners
   • complete list of acquired third-party funding and, if applicable, of inventions/patents
   • list of most important scientific talks (max. 10)
   • teaching and mentoring
   • supervision experience (Master and PhD), if applicable
3. List of publications
   
   • link to your own publicly accessible ORCID record, with a complete and current publication list
   • three key publications as electronic full text version (PDF, max 30 MB)
4. Research statement
   
   • most important research achievements (max. 2 pages) and planned future research activities (max. 4 pages)
   • synopsis of three key publications with relevance to the position advertised
   • publication strategy
5. Teaching and supervision statement
   
   • teaching and supervision concept, including a description of the previous and planned priorities in academic teaching and supervision (max. 2 pages)
   • teaching evaluations (if available, PDF)

If you have any questions, please contact:

berufungsservice@univie.ac.at
Only applications submitted through the link "Apply now" below will be considered.

The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We place particular emphasis on enhancing women’s representation among the academic and general university staff, particularly in leadership roles, and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

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​Application deadline: 04/22/2026
Reference no.: 5451

Apply now