eth phd salary

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Doctoral Student Salaries

• Counselling
• Diversity Seminar Series
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• Diversity Award
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• 1 – Preface and Introduction
• 2 – Finding a Doctoral Position
• 3 – Welcome to Zurich, Switzerland
• 4 – First Day at Work
• 5 – Being a Doctoral Student
• 6 – Life in Zurich
• 7 – Finishing the Doctorate
• 8 – Leaving ETH
• 9 – ETH Services and Clubs
• 10 – Help & Support
• Annual News
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• Cookie Policy (EU)

Timeline of salary discussions:

Announcement that there will be inflation adjustments for everyone except doctoral students. Julia Dannath, ETH vice-president meets with us and promises to create working group with profs and departments representatives to solve this. 

AVETH creates a dedicated internal taskforce with representatives from all departments to achieve 3 goals: – Immediate significant relief for students at rates 1 and 2. – Regular salary adjustments matching those of other ETH employees. – Equitable and sustainable strategy to reduce the wage disparity

D-BIOL and D-GESS departments with all PhD students at standard level give out bonus 1000 CHF payment to their doctoral students 

SNF 2.5% adjustment for all doctoral salaries

Jan – Oct 2023

Working group with AVETH, VPPL and departments discusses options for doctoral salary system. AVETH argues our case, prepares and distributes info posters (e.g. the one on the right), collects testimonies. Working group reaches agreement to help doctoral students at the lowest salary level.

Schulleitung finances centrally 5% adjustment for standard level for January 2024 and decoupling doctoral salaries from SNSF and coupling them to other ETH staff salaries ! Thank you !

We will continue to ensure that doctoral students’ voices are heard., To stay up to date on the developments of the working group, please fill in this form . For comments, questions or thoughts, please feel free to email us .

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AVETH – ETH Zurich SOL B 7 Sonneggstrasse 33 8092 Zurich

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+41 44 632 42 93

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Department of Mathematics

Thanks to its international focus, the Department of Mathematics offers doctoral students the best possible start to a career in academic or industrial research. A doctorate usually takes between three and five years.

The Department of Mathematics offers a broad spectrum of research areas for doctoral students ranging from pure mathematics, such as algebra, analysis, geometry, number theory or probability, to more applied mathematics, such as insurance mathematics, finance, mathematical physics, numerical analysis, operations research and statistics.

About twenty to thirty doctoral students complete their doctoral thesis at the Department every year: overview of upcoming and successfully passed doctoral examinations.

Research environment

Doctoral students work as scientific assistants and are employed for up to six years. They attend the external page Zurich Graduate School in Mathematics.

The benefits are:

• internationally highly respected professors
• research funded by the external page Swiss National Science Foundation
• offices in the ETH Zurich Main Building
• access to the Mathematics Library and the ETH Library , access to online publications
• conferences organised by the Forschungsinstitut für Mathematik to support the scientific exchange of ideas

Teaching activities

Passing on knowledge to future mathematicians, other scientists and engineers is a key part of doing doctoral studies at ETH Zurich. The teaching workload depends on the doctoral student's salary level. Teaching generally comprises:

• teaching exercise classes
• organising exercises for a lecture
• assisting in student seminars
• interacting with the lecturer and/or teaching assistants (undergraduate students)
• providing assistance for lectures ranging from basic mathematics for biologists to advanced lectures for mathematicians
• coordinating and correcting exams

Additional courses

Research lives from acquiring knowledge about current theory and discussing it with experts. During the regular doctoral studies, at least 12 ECTS credits must be acquired to cover the following objectives:

• Deepening of knowledge in the research field of the doctoral thesis and expansion of knowledge beyond the original discipline
• Acquisition of transferable skills
• Integration into the scientific community  

Courses and seminars:

• wide variety of high-level lectures, minicourses and student seminars: see ETH Zurich Course Catalogue or external page graduate courses offered by the Zurich Graduate School in Mathematics
• Reseach seminars organised by professors and research groups where experts from different mathematical fields give talks and exchange their knowledge
• The FIM - Institute for Mathematical Research and the Institute for Theoretical Studies invite academic guests for scientific exchange

Life in Zurich

• largest city in Switzerland with a top ranking for quality of life
• charming medieval old town very close to the ETH Main Building and the Department
• fantastic water activities, winter sports or hiking because of the lake and the Alps within close proximity
• variety of cultural events and night life, very cosmopolitan  

Further activities

• The external page Zurich Graduate School of Mathematics (ZGSM) organises language courses and social events such as barbecues and fondue dinners.
• The Association of Scientific Staff at ETH (AVETH) and the Association of Academic Staff at the D-MATH (VMM) represent the interests of doctoral students and organise events.
• The external page Academic Sports Association Zurich (ASVZ) offers a wide range of sports that fulfil every wish.

More Information

• chevron_right ETH Zurich – Doctorate
• chevron_right Student portal – Doctorate
• chevron_right Welcome Center
• chevron_right Continuing education in university teaching
• external page call_made German courses (ZGSM)
• external page call_made Language center

Legal matters

• chevron_right Ordinance on Doctoral Studies at ETH Zurich
• chevron_right Rector’s Implementation Provisions for the Ordinance on Doctoral Studies 2021

Associations

• protected page lock VMM – Association of the academic mid-level faculty at D-MATH
• chevron_right AVETH – Association of Scientific Staff at ETH
• chevron_right AVETH – Survival Guide

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Department of Computer Science

Doctoral studies.

Computer science at ETH Zurich stands for innovative research in an exciting, fast-moving, and diverse field. Located in one of Europe's most attractive cities, ETH offers two doctorate programs geared towards quality education and numerous career opportunities.

Doctoral Study Programme

To students holding a Master's degree with a strong background in computer science or a closely related field, the Doctoral Study Program offers the opportunity to directly join one of our internationally renowned research groups. More information

Direct Doctorate in Computer Science

Students with a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a closely related field with a strong interest in research have the chance to directly enroll as a doctoral student through the Direct Doctorate in Computer Science. The program combines coursework with original research and allows students to explore a broad range of areas in computer science before starting their doctoral dissertation. More information

ETH AI Center Postdoctoral Fellowships

100%, zurich, fixed-term.

This unique fellowship program is intended to give highly motivated Post-​Docs with excellent track records the opportunity of conducting “research with impact” to shape the future of AI.

The ETH AI Center promotes trustworthy, accessible, and inclusive AI systems. For this goal, we bring together interdisciplinary research teams of AI foundations, applications, and implications across all departments and look at AI from many different angles like mathematical principles, medicine, architecture, robotics, and social sciences / future of work. We enable research of high quality, industry innovation, and AI entrepreneurship.

Project background

Job description.

• you either already hold a PhD or are less than 12 months before completion of the PhD thesis
• you have a background in relevant AI fields or in one of the following: computer science, machine learning, statistics, physics, engineering, or applied mathematics.
• your level of English allows you to discuss your topics with your colleagues and report your findings in writing.
• you look forward to working with an interdisciplinary team that longs to find solutions together.

The ETH AI Center seeks to increase the number of women in areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. Furthermore, the ETH AI Center is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages respective applications.

We offer 5 - 8 post-doctoral positions and the occupation normally runs for two years. Starting date is flexible but typically in September. A post-doc is experienced by many as a great stepping stone into R&D lab leadership in industry, a start-up or a faculty position. It is a valuable time to sharpen your profile.

• The positions are for two years with a flexible starting date.
• Transparent salary: CHF 92'200 in first year, CHF 96'900 in second year. The advancement from first to second year is automatic.
• Co-mentorship by two excellent PIs of different fields
• Generous support is provided for training and continuing education activities 
• Vacation: 5 weeks vacation/year
• ETH Zurich offers subsidies for childcare
• Eight dedicated daycare centers for kids close to the campus
• Support to find a suitable childcare service (kita, nanny…)
• 4 months paid maternity leave/10 days paid paternity leave
• Up to 5 days paid leave for care of sick in own household
• Up to 5 days paid leave for educators for school matters
• Medical clarifications with children < 16 years

Curious? So are we.

Before applying, please read carefully our  Downloadofficial guidelines for the ETH AI Center Post-Doc Fellowships (PDF, 59 KB)  and visit our  FAQs . Applications for the 2025 post-doctoral fellowship cohort are open until 19 November 2024. Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered.

More detailed information on the application process can be found on the  guidelines page  which also contains a list of the faculty member and their research interests.