Tasso Springer Fellowships - Six PhD Positions in Neutron Research
2026-03-18 08:00 - 2026-06-18 17:00 (Europe/Berlin)
Are you interested in performing exciting research with neutrons and working together with scientists from all over the world? The Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) develops and operates high-performance neutron scattering instruments at some of the best neutron sources worldwide. Our main outstation is located at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) in Garching near Munich, where we operate 11 instruments in a user program and for our own research in the fields of “Neutron Scattering and Soft Matter (JCNS-1)”, “Quantum Materials and Collective Phenomena (JCNS-2)” and “Neutron Analytics for Energy Research (JCNS-3)”. JCNS invites applications for the Tasso Springer Fellowship Program, named after the outstanding neutron scientist who in his career was bridging neutron research in Jülich to Garching and Grenoble. The PhD fellowships aim at educating the next generation of researchers in neutron scattering. The successful candidates will be jointly supervised by scientists based at the outstation in Garching and at the JCNS institutes in Jülich.

Phd Position: MXene-based bijels for functional materials
2026-04-08 08:00 - 2026-05-01 17:00
In this PhD project, we will develop MXene-based bijels aimed at electromagnetic shielding functionality. The research project will start with material formulation. Subsequently, a fundamental study of the factors governing the bijel microstructure, including temperature and external flow fields, will be performed. Subsequently, the relations between bijel microstructure and electrical properties of the resulting materials will be investigated. Selective localization of the MXene particles at a liquid-liquid interface will lead to hierarchically structured materials for which the properties can be engineered by means of the microstructure in combination with the particle organization at the interface. With these conductive MXene particles, the particle-filled interface has the double functionality to provide mechanical stability to the bijel as well as to generate electrically conductive pathways through the material. Therefore, it will be investigated how various material formulation and processing conditions affect the viscoelastic and dielectric properties. At the end, the aim is to generate bijels with electromagnetic shielding functionality. The main techniques that will be used in the project are particle synthesis, bulk rheology, microscopy, dielectric characterization and electromagnetic shielding characterization.

Research Assistant / PhD Student (all genders) Structuring of Nanoparticles in Polymer Brushes
2026-07-24 08:00 - 2026-08-07 17:00
As part of the research training group GRK2516 (https://grk2516.uni-mainz.de/), we are seeking a motivated PhD candidate at the Technical University in Darmstadt.
The project aims to investigate composite materials made of stimuli-responsive polymer on solid substrates, using adsorbed polymer microgels or polymer brushes as coatings and nanoparticles (NP) as doping agents. The NP serve as sensors, making the composite sensitive to specific outer stimuli.
The project comprises preparation and analysis of the composite materials by the PhD candidate. As experimental techniques, atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) and dip coating for preparation and atomic force microscopy as well as X-ray and neutron reflectometry on large-scale research facilities are, among other lab techniques, foreseen for characterisation.
More details and the application process can be found at
https://www.career.tu-darmstadt.de/tu-darmstadt/job/56078
