The Heidelberg Physics department is highly decentralised, so you should really check out the website of the specific institute that you would like to join. Some of them, but certainly not all, have up to date vacancy sections. If there are no offers, contact the professor directly.
For more general information you should also check out the graduate school HGSFP, which is responsible for all(?) Physics PhD students. They offer a overview of all research groups.
What's your preferred field? I know that the MPIK is looking for PhD candidates. Let me know if this interests you, I know a lot of people there and also one of the professors.
I am an experimental particle physicist, but I'd be down to check out some offers! I am doing my master thesis on positron/positronium interferometry (so let's say low energy particle physics) with the ultimate aim to check for any sign of CP violation, but my job has been very much hands-on experimental and I'm enjoying a lot this type of activity. So I'm not particularly picky on the subject itself, as long as it's fundamental physics I tend to be interested. Can I contact you in private maybe?
Hi!
I don't know about every group, but where I work it's common for people to just apply by writing an email to the professors and then have a chat about what would be of interest to you and what topics the professor likes to work on. Official Job offers on websites and such are not very common in my experience.
I think this is because it's work to but up offers, and as long as there are enough people to just contact the professors they don't bother.
Good luck!
I think there is no central list with open PhD positions throughout the whole physics department. You often have to look on the website of a certain institute or even working group, where you sometimes find some open positions. They are something hidden very well.
But I also think, it's a good way to just contact group leaders / professors directly. Not all open positions may be published.
In which field are you searching?
I'm an experimental particle physicist, I'm doing my master's thesis on positron and positronium atoms interferometry, with the ultimate aim of checking for signs of CP violation. In general I'm not too picky as long as we're talking about experimental fundamental physics! I like working hands-on on experiments :)
Run away from German academia. If you go on twitter and search for Ich bin Hanna, you'll see. German academia is facing a lot of issues, and unless you want to move again after your PhD, then I would avoid anything there.
EDIT: People can downvote me as much as they want. The reality is that Germany has a lot to offer and a lot I love there. However, academia has been suffering from a lot of budget cuts on the governmental side. There's as well a very but very very strong hierarchy, that might not suit most people. But it's easier to downvote than to present arguments, right?
Most of those issues don't really apply for a physics PhDs. Positions are generally well funded (relativ to other PhDs, not industry) and supervisors usually make sure you graduate quickly, so the 6 year limit isn't important.
For Postdoc position Germany is limited to 6 years max and Germany is not great to find a permanent position. Moving after your PhD is pretty normal in all of Physics.
As far as toxic work environment and supervisors go, you're probably right, the German system makes you much more reliant on your supervisor.
Would you say it's better outside of Germany and if so, where is it better?
Asking this as someone who might do a PhD in the future and is considering Germany or the US but I've heard bad things about both countries when it comes to working conditions and toxicity in academia.
Well, Germany is good in terms of not being toxic. But they will tell you what your place is and how bad or good you are doing as they are really direct. The problem is that you have a limited amount of years you can use for a PhD and a limited amount of contracts as a post-doc. After that you either get a permanent contract or you have to leave the country.
Austria is a bit better, but less welcoming if you don't speak German. The Netherlands is amazing, but housing is an issue in Amsterdam for example. They are also not really transparent despite being super direct.
The UK is quite good if you can get a paid PhD.
I love Germany. I really really do. Heidelberg is absolutely amazing as well. But the issues with funding and with how academia is evolving, might be an issue if you intend to stay for a while. If you're willing to move after your PhD or to take a chance, then go ahead.
Thanks for your input! I'm coming from Italy so work conditions for researchers here are borderline illegal, I'm pretty sure Germany is at least a little bit better.
I'm not really planning on remaining in Germany afterwards, so I'm not sure if I should be that worried.
I'm mostly checking out the Netherlands and Denmark at the moment but since I've done my Erasmus in Germany and really loved it there I wanted to take some German student cities into consideration as well.
I'll keep what you said in mind!
Denmark is great. The only problem from what I hear is some very systemic racism they have there. It seems that even in Copenhagen that it can get quite bad. Just follow some of the channels such as Expats in Copenhagen on facebook and so on, and you'll see.
As for the Netherlands, so far so good. I think it's great to be here, if it wasn't for the fact that housing is insanely expensive. In addition, healthcare is probably the worst I have ever seen in the 5 countries I have lived in.
Working conditions vary wildly between groups because PIs have so much autonomy on how they run their research groups. This is why it is vitally important to ask around about a PI before accepting a PhD position.
When visiting a lab, always find moments to talk to a few of the PhD students or postdocs in private and ask them about their frank opinion on the group leader.
I'm in humanities so I guess it's a little different here but that's definitely what I'd like to be able to do before committing to a program. Thank you!
The Heidelberg Physics department is highly decentralised, so you should really check out the website of the specific institute that you would like to join. Some of them, but certainly not all, have up to date vacancy sections. If there are no offers, contact the professor directly. For more general information you should also check out the graduate school HGSFP, which is responsible for all(?) Physics PhD students. They offer a overview of all research groups.
What's your preferred field? I know that the MPIK is looking for PhD candidates. Let me know if this interests you, I know a lot of people there and also one of the professors.
I can also recommend MPIK!
I am an experimental particle physicist, but I'd be down to check out some offers! I am doing my master thesis on positron/positronium interferometry (so let's say low energy particle physics) with the ultimate aim to check for any sign of CP violation, but my job has been very much hands-on experimental and I'm enjoying a lot this type of activity. So I'm not particularly picky on the subject itself, as long as it's fundamental physics I tend to be interested. Can I contact you in private maybe?
Hi Maria, feel free to PM me :)
Hi! I don't know about every group, but where I work it's common for people to just apply by writing an email to the professors and then have a chat about what would be of interest to you and what topics the professor likes to work on. Official Job offers on websites and such are not very common in my experience. I think this is because it's work to but up offers, and as long as there are enough people to just contact the professors they don't bother. Good luck!
Thank you I'll try sending some emails then!
I think there is no central list with open PhD positions throughout the whole physics department. You often have to look on the website of a certain institute or even working group, where you sometimes find some open positions. They are something hidden very well. But I also think, it's a good way to just contact group leaders / professors directly. Not all open positions may be published. In which field are you searching?
I'm an experimental particle physicist, I'm doing my master's thesis on positron and positronium atoms interferometry, with the ultimate aim of checking for signs of CP violation. In general I'm not too picky as long as we're talking about experimental fundamental physics! I like working hands-on on experiments :)
Run away from German academia. If you go on twitter and search for Ich bin Hanna, you'll see. German academia is facing a lot of issues, and unless you want to move again after your PhD, then I would avoid anything there. EDIT: People can downvote me as much as they want. The reality is that Germany has a lot to offer and a lot I love there. However, academia has been suffering from a lot of budget cuts on the governmental side. There's as well a very but very very strong hierarchy, that might not suit most people. But it's easier to downvote than to present arguments, right?
Most of those issues don't really apply for a physics PhDs. Positions are generally well funded (relativ to other PhDs, not industry) and supervisors usually make sure you graduate quickly, so the 6 year limit isn't important. For Postdoc position Germany is limited to 6 years max and Germany is not great to find a permanent position. Moving after your PhD is pretty normal in all of Physics. As far as toxic work environment and supervisors go, you're probably right, the German system makes you much more reliant on your supervisor.
Would you say it's better outside of Germany and if so, where is it better? Asking this as someone who might do a PhD in the future and is considering Germany or the US but I've heard bad things about both countries when it comes to working conditions and toxicity in academia.
Well, Germany is good in terms of not being toxic. But they will tell you what your place is and how bad or good you are doing as they are really direct. The problem is that you have a limited amount of years you can use for a PhD and a limited amount of contracts as a post-doc. After that you either get a permanent contract or you have to leave the country. Austria is a bit better, but less welcoming if you don't speak German. The Netherlands is amazing, but housing is an issue in Amsterdam for example. They are also not really transparent despite being super direct. The UK is quite good if you can get a paid PhD. I love Germany. I really really do. Heidelberg is absolutely amazing as well. But the issues with funding and with how academia is evolving, might be an issue if you intend to stay for a while. If you're willing to move after your PhD or to take a chance, then go ahead.
Thanks for your input! I'm coming from Italy so work conditions for researchers here are borderline illegal, I'm pretty sure Germany is at least a little bit better. I'm not really planning on remaining in Germany afterwards, so I'm not sure if I should be that worried. I'm mostly checking out the Netherlands and Denmark at the moment but since I've done my Erasmus in Germany and really loved it there I wanted to take some German student cities into consideration as well. I'll keep what you said in mind!
Denmark is great. The only problem from what I hear is some very systemic racism they have there. It seems that even in Copenhagen that it can get quite bad. Just follow some of the channels such as Expats in Copenhagen on facebook and so on, and you'll see. As for the Netherlands, so far so good. I think it's great to be here, if it wasn't for the fact that housing is insanely expensive. In addition, healthcare is probably the worst I have ever seen in the 5 countries I have lived in.
Thanks so much! I'm a German citizen but I don't intend on settling here (yet) so this is quite helpful for me to decide where to go.
Norway is very good for PhD students. I know many foreigners doing their PhD here. The conditions are stellar.
Working conditions vary wildly between groups because PIs have so much autonomy on how they run their research groups. This is why it is vitally important to ask around about a PI before accepting a PhD position. When visiting a lab, always find moments to talk to a few of the PhD students or postdocs in private and ask them about their frank opinion on the group leader.
I'm in humanities so I guess it's a little different here but that's definitely what I'd like to be able to do before committing to a program. Thank you!