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December 2025

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CFA: Postdocs and PhD positions in Philosophy of Physics, Geneva
by Christian Wuthrich Dec. 20, 2025

Dec. 20, 2025

CFA: Postdocs and PhD positions in Philosophy of Physics, Geneva Open positions in philosophy of physics: 2 Postdocs and 2 PhD Fellowships Geneva Symmetry Group, Department of Philosophy, University of Geneva The Department of Philosophy, University of Geneva invites applications for four positions for Christian Wüthrich's ERC Advanced Grant 'EPIFRONT--At the epistemic frontiers of physics': - two 3-year Postdoc Fellowships, and - two 4-year PhD Fellowships. The project will be housed at the Geneva Symmetry Group, which is part of the Department of Philosophy of the University of Geneva (https://genevasymmetrygroup.wordpress.com/) The positions will start on 1 August 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. For a brief description of the project, please see below. The postdoc position is open to scholars with a PhD. At the time of starting the position, they must have held a doctorate or equivalent qualification for less than 5 years (2 years for candidates who are not citizens of Switzerland, an EU country, or an EFTA country). More senior candidates may be considered for employment as scientific collaborators, but given financial and legal constraints, success of such a hire is not guaranteed. Candidates must have a track record in independent research in philosophy of physics and ideally (though not necessarily) a solid background in both physics and philosophy. In particular, relevant background in philosophy includes philosophy of physics and general philosophy of science, as well as metaphysics and epistemology; in physics, it includes general relativity, quantum theory, and, if possible, quantum field theory and quantum gravity. PhD candidates must have completed an MA degree in philosophy or in physics. Successful candidates are expected to have a strong background either in philosophy of science or in advanced physics and some preparation to do work in the other field, for example in the form of previous coursework. Relevant background in philosophy is philosophy of physics, general philosophy of science, and metaphysics; in physics, it includes general relativity, quantum theory, and, if possible, quantum field theory and quantum gravity. It should be noted that candidates are not expected to contribute to *all* aspects of the project (see below). For all posts, candidates must have excellent communication skills in English. Proficiency in French is not necessary at the time of application (but PhD candidates will eventually have to pass a French exam before submitting their thesis). Applications from members of groups that are currently underrepresented in academic philosophy are strongly encouraged. The application dossier must contain the following in a single PDF file named simply '[your last name].pdf' to be sent to Prof. Christian Wüthrich at christian.wuthrich(a)unige.ch by 20 January 2026 in order to ensure full consideration: (A) Candidates for the postdoc position: ‐ cover letter detailing your research interests and experience - proposal of a length of about one page for research to be conducted in the context of EPIFRONT, indicating the direction(s) in which the work would be intended (i.e., (1), (2), or (3) in the description below) ‐ CV ‐ 1 pertinent writing sample ‐ 3 names and email addresses for potential academic references who would be prepared to send their letter on short notice should the candidate be shortlisted A candidate can be considered for multiple directions (1), (2), or (3) in the description below, but in this case multiple research proposals should be included in the submission, one for each direction of interest. (B) PhD candidates: ‐ cover letter explaining your research interests and experience - proposal of no more than one page for research to be conducted in the context of EPIFRONT, indicating the direction(s) in which the work would be intended (i.e., (1), (2), or (3) in the description below) ‐ CV ‐ Master thesis or a writing sample ‐ 2 names and e‐mail addresses for potential academic references who would be prepared to send their letter on short notice should the candidate be shortlisted A candidate can be considered for multiple directions (1), (2), or (3) in the description below, but in this case multiple research proposals should be submitted. *** Brief description of the project EPIFRONT: At the epistemic frontiers of physics Despite the impressive advances of empirical methods in fundamental physics, there is a growing sense that the domain suffers from a crisis in that these methods face serious epistemic limitations. EPIFRONT offers the philosophical scrutiny this potentially radical redirection in scientific methodology calls for at what may be the dawn of a post-empirical age of theory confirmation. Its ultimate aim is to develop a global perspective on the epistemology of fundamental physics. To this end, it builds on completed work studying whether quantum gravity's suggestion that our world may not be fundamentally spatiotemporal invalidates its theories as empirically incoherent and focuses on two different central cases in cutting-edge physics. First, it inquires into the extent, and the very legitimacy, of the empirical confirmation of central aspects of the behaviour of black holes through analogical reasoning and experimental testing in table-top models. Second, it challenges the extent to which theoretical considerations in cosmology, and particular inflationary cosmology, that explain how our world could have come to be so exquisitely fined-tuned as to sustain sapient life can deliver acceptable scientific explanations, produce valid predictions, and offer actual confirmation. The overarching goal of the project is to evaluate non-empirical means of theory confirmation in fundamental physics. Given the structure of the project, team member could be working on: - (1) the philosophy of black holes physics and/or analogue gravity (and particularly their connections to non-empirical confirmation), - (2) the philosophy of (inflationary) cosmology and/or fine-tuning (and particularly their connections to non-empirical confirmation), or - (3) a more general project on (non-empirical) confirmation in fundamental physics.

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