Postdoc in Germany

In this post, we gathered everything about Postdocs in Germany. The information is collected from the personal experience of our editorial team in Germany.

Germany is one of the top 5 countries in the world in terms of GDP and it is the second country in the world in the number of PhD graduates per annum. Germany’s big economic benefits a lot from high-quality education and that is why the government (the major funder of research in the country) supports research throughout the country. In the following parts, we will try to explain all you need to know about Postdocs from different aspects.

Everything about Postdoc duties and daily job in Germany

Postdocs in Germany are hired by institutions (Universities and Research centers) for a fixed period of time ranging from 1 to a maximum of 5 years. The typical duty of a Postdoc in Germany is teaching (20-30%) and Research(70-80%). The latter will be split to also supervise undergraduate and PhD students, too. However, the expectation of that would be for those who are doing Postdoc via Scholarship (DAAD, Humboldt Fellowships, etc.) or Self-funding.

In that case, Teaching will not be part of the duty of the Postdoc and the only Postdoc should assign to any teaching activity by mutual agreement with the mentor as a volunteering job. Moreover, doing a Postdoc in the research center is not generally involved any teaching (e.g Max Plank Institute, Helmholtz centers, etc).

Postdoc Salary in Germany

The salary of the Postdoc in Germany is regulated by the state through TVL-E 13. The typical contract of a Postdoc is 100% which means a full-time salary. However, that is not a rule, you might get a Postdoc position that is only half or 75% funded. The current gross salary (before tax) of a fresh Postdoc is 3837 Euro per month. The take-home money, however, depends on the personal circumstance of the postdoc.

For a single (not married) postdoc the net monthly salary will be 2300 Euro while the married Postdoc salary will be 2613 Euro per month. As you see, the tax in Germany very much relates to a personal situation. You can read detailed information about the Salary of Postdoc in this Link.

Language requirement

Although German is the official language of the country, almost every institute welcomes Postdocs with an international background who are not able to speak German (assume that the Postdoc is able to speak English). The exception is for the post where the Postdoc is expected to teach in German.

Living expenses

Living as a Postdoc is very similar to living as an employee of a company. As the annual salary of a Postdoc is higher than the average income of the people in the country, you should not be worried about any financial issue (assuming you are hired on a 100% contract). It is not easy however to give a general estimation of the living expenses across the country as the cost depends on the city where you live.

In cheap cities such as Berlin, Dresen, Leipzig, Kiel, etc. the average rent cost of a flat with a single bedroom is 600 Euro per month whereas the same flat in expensive cities (e.g. Munich, Stuttgart, Cologn, etc) can cost more than 1200 Euro per month. However, the other costs (Food, leisure, clothes, Internet subscription etc) for a single will be between 400-600 Euro per month. You can read some further details in this link.