This site links to programs that offer grants or post jobs for PhD students, postdoc and faculty positions in the field of ecology. Please use comments to report broken links or additional sites that could be of interest!
Overviews, databases, and general advice on scholarships and grants
- DAAD scholarship database (lists most scholarship programmes for Germany)
- Research in Germany – overview page from the ministry
- Hochschulkompass (Overview of German Universities)
- See how to apply for a PhD advice at the end of this page
Job offers for ecologists (PhD to faculty)
General ecology
- Nature Jobs
- Job board of the Ecological Society of America (ESA)
- Job board of the German Ecological Society (GFOE)
- Job board of the German Zoological Society (DZG)
- Job database of the Society for Conservation Biology
- ECOLOG
- Evoldir
- EURAXES (EU job Database)
- EcoEvo faculty jobs google doc (hopefully stable link), 2016/17,2015/16, 2014/15
- Researchgate Jobs
- FindAPhD (theoretically worldwide, practically probably a bit UK centered)
- Academic Job Wiki – for all disciplines
- The Chronicle – Vitae
Especially for theoretical / computational ecology
- ESA Theory section job wiki
- YOMO job list: the young modelers in Ecology network runs a quite active job list for PhD and post-doc positions related to ecological modeling.
- AK Computational Ecology mailing list
- BES quantitative ecology twitter feed
Practical
- The conservationjobboard advertises jobs mostly related to conservation.
- Jobs at the German federal office for Nature Conservation (non-academic)
- GreenJobs
Scholarships and grants for ecologists
National funding bodies (Germany)
- DFG – the DFG (German Research Foundation) is the self-governing organisation for science and research in Germany, similar to NSF in the US. Various programs for funding. However, you usually need a PhD to apply, and some link to Germany.
- DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation – various programmes to promote exchange between German and international Scientists. Incoming scholarships for PostDocs and Faculty.
- Volkswagen Foundation
- Robert Bosch Foundation
National funding bodies (other countries)
European funding bodies
- Marie Curie Actions: probably the best known post-doc grants from the EU, good overall conditions, but also quite competitive.
- European Research Council (ERC): The ERC is a relatively new funding body within the EU. It offers highly attractive grants for experienced researchers (Advanced Grants) up to 3.5m Euro for up to 5 Years, and starting grants for young researchers amounting to up to 2m Euro for up to 5 years
- Joint Research Centre: The JRC, another possible employer of scientists, provided scientific advice to the European Comission and the member states of the EU. It is distributed in 6 centers across Europe, the most logical place for ecologists would be the JRC in Ispra.
- ESF: The European Science Foundation (ESF) supports various projects and activities, however, typically not on the level of individual researchers.
Special Programs
This is a very random selection – the DAAD scholarship database above has much more options
- Harvard Fellowships in Sustainability Science
- Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship (for PhD positions, proposal written by potential advisor)
- Omidyar Fellowship at the Santa Fe Institute
- Wallenberg Academy Fellows, a private initiative to support young researchers in Sweden
Traveling grants
- Bilateraler Wissenschaftleraustausch des BMELV
- DAAD cooperation grants such as PPP (Programme des Projektbezogenen Personenaustauschs)
- BES grants
- BayFrance (cooperation Bavaria-France, students + researchers)
For Faculty
- Feodor Lynen-Stipendium – Das Auslandsstipendium für deutsche Professoren und Postdocs
- Semester at sea
Teaching and workshops
- ERASMUS Intensive programmes – An Intensive Programme (IP) is a short programme of study which brings together students and teaching staff from higher education institutions of at least three participating countries. It can last from 10 continuous full days to 6 weeks of subject related work.
- ERASMUS Staff Mobility Teaching staff mobility enables staff to spend a teaching period between 1 day – or at least 5 teaching hours – and 6 weeks at a higher education institution in another participating country.
- OECD – workshops and travel grants
Frequently asked questions / situations
- I want to do a PhD: make sure you know why you want to do a PhD (career goal), how a PhD works (google, read experiences), and what you want to do (topic). If you have this sorted out, it makes sense to contact relevant people directly, but make sure that you can clearly explain the points above. See hints 1.
- I am German / European resident and I am looking for a PhD / Postdoc in Germany – most links below should be quite relevant for you.
- I am from a developing / emerging country, and I would like to do a PostDoc / research stay in Germany – look at the section “National funding bodies”. DAAD or AvH are the most likely option. You need a German host.
- How do get a faculty position? Advice for US: 1, 2, Germany 1, 2,
Important hints
- How to contact people you would like to work with: when looking for a job, you will have to contact people you don’t know. Consider that these people are usually quite busy. Don’t send “standard email templates”. If you want to make a successful first contact, you need to demonstrate that you have familiarized yourself with the scientific work of your recipient, and that there is a realistic connection (see point 2).
- Contact only relevant people: academia is highly specialized. There is very little chance that a group will hire PhD candidate / researcher without prior experience on their topic. In some cases this happens because particular expertise is needed, but you should find out if that is the case. Don’t waste the time of people with unrealistic proposals.