Postdocs
Postdoc welcome!
Are you a new postdoc at ETH? Welcome!
You are not alone. There are more than 1500 other postdocs and plenty of resources to help you out with research, career development, and many other issues. Some hints are given below.
The AVETH and the Grants Office jointly organise a Postdocs Welcome Event several times a year, an ETH orientation event for newly arrived postdocs.
The next event will take place on 28 November 2024. To register, please visit our protected page event website (ETH login required).
ETH's online Welcome Center is your entry point for all those everyday questions that matter most when you are new to ETH Zurich, be it accommodation, contracts and salaries, life in Switzerland, or family benefits.
The Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH) represents ETH's scientific staff politically, organises networking and social events, and offers various services such as counselling.
Here are some survival tips:
- Keep learning. Although depending on your field many postdoctoral activities may be all new to you, ETH offers a wealth of courses to assist you, e.g. on teaching, project management, or communication.
- Care about conflicts. Conflicts are natural - they only do damage if they do not get solved. If you cannot do it yourself, there are many places to ask for help, e.g. the ombudspersons (general conflicts), the trusted intermediaries (research integrity), or the advice and conciliation service Respect (bullying, harassment and discriminiation).
- Have a life. Scientists usually balance the high demands of their workplace with their own high motivation. But rather few people are motivated by just a single thing, so do not forget about the rest of your life. If you are into sports, external page ASVZ is bound to have interesting offers for you. AVETH organises a lot of social events for scientific staff and so probably does your department. Last but not least, even if you are just here for a short time, external page Zurich and external page Switzerland are great places to explore.
A postdoctoral stay is about research. But what will happen later? Here are some general hints.
If you are pursuing a career in research, one of your primary goals will be independence. At ETH Zurich, the Grants Office can give you advice on how to acquire funding of your own. A variety of supporting infrastructures is at your disposal, e.g. the technology platforms, the ETH Library (including data management and digital curation), or the Scientific IT Services.
If you rather see your future in industry or other sectors outside of academia, reach out early and consider making use of offers for Entrepreneurship, the external page Career Center, or courses by HR and external page Business Tools on project management, communication, or leadership. Many departments and disciplines have their own industry networking events, e.g. the external page Zurich Life Science Day.
Some general hints on career planning - whether in science or elsewhere - can be found at the HR page My Future.