A Newcomer's Guide to the German Research Scene

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CAREER GUIDE GERMANY A NEWCOMER’S GUIDE TO THE GERMAN RESEARCH SCENE How to navigate the country’s diverse academic landscape.

BY HRISTIO BOYTCHEV publicly funded science and research institu- The Max Planck Society is a network of insti- tions. Among them are more than 300 universi- tutes that focus on basic research. Although aúl Rojas, an artificial-intelligence ties. In contrast to other countries — such as the publicly funded, the society operates inde- researcher at the Free University of Ber- United Kingdom with the University of Cam- pendently of the government. The institutes lin, came to Germany from Mexico more bridge and University of Oxford, or the United are a prominent example of the fact that in Rthan 35 years ago. “I wanted to study in Europe, States with its Ivy League schools — the best Germany, strong research is often conducted and Germany seemed like an interesting place, research isn’t clustered in just one or two excep- outside universities. Additional examples of especially Berlin,” he says. “I came to do my PhD tional institutes. “There are good universities in this include the Helmholtz Association, which at the Free University but never planned to stay all of the German states,” Rojas says. focuses on large-scale, infrastructure-intensive here.” However, before even completing his doc- High-quality research takes place even in projects such as aeronautic development, and torate, Rojas was hired by the GMD National smaller, less well-known places. In the town the Fraunhofer Society, which combines basic Research Center for Information Technology of Jena in the east of Germany, for example, and applied research. Other important pub- to work on machine learning. “One contract led research on photonics and optics is clustered. lic institutions include the federal academies to another, and before you realize, you’ve built Dresden is becoming a centre for biomedi- of sciences and humanities, academic socie- your career in another country.” cal research, and some of the oldest and most ties (which in particular fund research in the A lot has changed since Rojas arrived in West prestigious universities are situated in smaller humanities) and institutions that work directly Germany in 1982, a country that would exist cities such as Heidelberg, Würzburg, Freiburg for the government, such as the Robert Koch only for another seven years until the fall of the and Göttingen. Institute in Berlin, which focuses on disease Berlin Wall. “There were not many research- “A weakness is maybe the fact that the control and prevention. ers from other countries [back then]; that has amount of resources available for university In 2016, public and private investment in changed now,” he says. projects is much higher in elite American uni- research and development (R&D) in Germany Germany offers a vast and varied research versities,” Rojas adds. “Only the Max Planck came to more than €92 billion (US$105 landscape, with more than 1,000 public and Institutes in Germany can compete with those.” billion) — or more than €1,000 per capita.

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GERMANY CAREER GUIDE

Only the United States, China and Japan “THE GERMAN of permanent Many faculties and institutes in Germany are invested more. In terms of R&D spending senior posi- still hierarchical in their organization, and relative to gross domestic product, Germany UNIVERSITY tions means junior principal investigator positions are on is seventh in the world. SYSTEM IS VERY that late-career- limited-term contracts. “In my experience, The country’s product-innovation sector stage scientists institutions may advertise positions that generated a turnover of €719 billion in 2016, HIERARCHICAL; should be pre- appear to offer scientists a tenure track, but more than 12% of the most-cited scientific pared to look the contractual fine print can reveal they are papers are produced in Germany and the ONLY PROFESSORS for research not equivalent to the secure positions available nation ranks highly for innovation. HAVE A POSITION opportunities in in the United States, for example.” The German federal and state governments industry, he After 10 years in the United States, and from finance almost 30% of research. The govern- FOR LIFE.” adds. a tenured position, Ohler decided to come ment also provides direct, short- to medium- In 2017, re- back to Germany as a professor at the Max term funding for specific research projects search by the Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in and research conducted at federal research Federal Ministry of Education and Research Berlin, a research institute of the Helmholtz institutions, as well as for large-scale research revealed that around 93% of non-professorial Association. Senior positions in Germany projects in aviation, space, marine and nuclear academic staff at German universities were have advantages, he says. In particular, he research. Germany’s main funding body is the on fixed-term contracts, and about half of notes that his basic funding for staff is higher German Research Organization (DFG), which those contracts were shorter than one year. than in the United States, making it possible is financed by the German states and the federal Historically, tenure-track positions have not to have a larger group paid for by the institute government but works as a self-governed body. generally featured in the German university without exclusively relying on finding further In 2017, it had a funding budget of €3.2 billion. system. Although there have been initiatives research grants. The remaining two-thirds of German R&D to introduce more permanent positions over But although Ohler is German, it took funding comes from the private sector. A major the past two decades, the proportion of such him some time to adapt to the system after proportion of this goes into the manufacturing job openings still falls well short of that in he returned to the country. “I made myself industries — automotive manufacture alone other countries with more well-established answer e-mails in English, so people would receives nearly 35% of industry funding. tenure-track systems. think I wasn’t German and help explain the This is one of the reasons why compu- system to me,” he says. “Learning how it works FINDING A LAB TO CALL YOUR OWN tational biologist Uwe Ohler decided to takes some time for outsiders.” The generous funding helps to ameliorate one temporarily leave Germany. In 2002, Ohler In the end, however, Ohler thinks that of the traditional weaknesses of the German completed his PhD at the University of communicating in German is crucial for those research system — its comparative lack of Erlangen–Nuremberg, but after that, the more looking to stay in the country for the long permanent positions. interesting projects in his field — as well as the term. “It’s tough to get a university teaching “The German university system is very possibility of a tenure-track position — lured position if you don’t speak the language. So my hierarchical”, Rojas says. “There are not many him to the United States. “There is a lack of advice is to get practising early on.” ■ tenured academic positions; only professors young independent positions with long- have a position for life.” The small number term perspectives in Germany”, Ohler says. Hristio Boytchev is a journalist in Berlin.

RESEARCHER RANKINGS GERMAN R&D UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Germany has the highest number of researchers working in science A self-ranked assessment of how public and private research and technology industries and academia in the European Union. organizations in Germany are funded and their research priorities.

Germany INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH United Kingdom ASSOCIATIONS France Italy Spain Poland Netherlands COMPANIES/ INDUSTRIAL Sweden LÄNDER FRAUNHOFER- RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS GESELLSCHAFT 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 Number of researchers NETWORKS UNIVERSITIES AND CLUSTERS Applied research

THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT LOVES SCIENCE FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS HELMHOLTZ In 2016, researchers working across the natural sciences received ASSOCIATION more funding than those in other academic disciplines. Basic research MAX-PLANCK- GESELLSCHAFT LEIBNIZ Natural sciences €5.7 billion ASSOCIATION Engineering & technology €3.5 billion Medical & health sciences €1.3 billion ACADEMIES Humanities €0.9 billion Social sciences €0.8 billion RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES Agricultural sciences €0.6 billion Public funding Private funding