Staff Scientist in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics

The Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Umeå University is offering a Staff Scientist position within the project “Extremal problems for multicoloured graphs and locally dependent percolation”. The position is full-time for eight months, with starting date 1 May 2025. Application deadline: 6 December 2024.

Work Description 
The staff scientist’s primary assignment will be to contribute to the Swedish Research Council-financed project “Extremal problems for multicoloured graphs and locally dependent percolation”. Half of this project will be devoted to multicolour Turán-type problems, and the other half to extremal problems for locally dependent random graph models. In the former half, the goal is to generalise the foundational Alekseev—Bollobás—Thomason theorem to multicoloured graphs. In the latter case, the aim is to resolve a decade-old problem of Bollobás and Balister on 1-independent percolation on high-dimensional integer lattices. Both topics are connected to active research in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics, and the project is expected to lead to a number of new tools and techniques with the potential for broader application. As part of their employment, the employee may be required to assist with preparing the olympiad-training outreach programme run by the department.

The research group
The project will be carried out in close cooperation with docent Victor Falgas-Ravry, within the Discrete Mathematics research group at Umeå University. The research group currently consists of 1 full professor, 7 associate professors, 1 assistant professor, 5 postdocs and 7 PhD students, and has a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The group holds a weekly seminar, and hosts workshops and frequent research visits from its international collaborators. Its research covers a wide range of areas including extremal, probabilistic, algorithmic, game theoretic, computational, topological, geometric, and algebraic combinatorics. 

Qualifications
Applicants are required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. For this particular project, the successful candidate should have a strong background in extremal and probabilistic combinatorics. Well-documented expertise in cutting-edge tools in the area such as for example container theory, semi-definite programming, spectral methods, discrepancy theory, cluster expansion, spread measures or discrete isoperimetric inequalities will be deemed highly meritorious. Involvement in mathematics competitions, whether as a contestant or as a lecturer/organiser is deemed meritorious. A further requirement is the ability to perform research independently and as part of a team. Good knowledge of oral and written English is required.

About the position
The position is a temporary full-time employment for the time period 2025-05-01 to 2025-12-31. You are expected to work on-site at the department and participate in the daily activities within the research environment.

Application
A full application should include:

• Curriculum vitae (CV) with a list of publications.
• Verified copy of a doctoral degree certificate.
• Verified copies of university diplomas.
• A short (at most 5 lines) description of maximum 5 publications most relevant to this project.
• Contact information of at least two people willing to act as references.

The application should be written in English or Swedish and be made via our e-recruitment system Varbi. Application deadline 6 December 2024.

More information
Enquiries about the position may be sent to Victor Falgas Ravry (email address: victor.falgas-ravry@umu.se).

For more information about the Umeå Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, please visit: https://www.umu.se/institutionen-for-matematik-och-matematisk-statistik/