Thank you Richard and ChrisW for your helpful posts, it's much appreciated.

I will also be living and working in Lausanne so I guess my situation is similar to yours ChrisW.

I just checked my provisional contract and the salary conditions. The deductions breakdown as you both describe, except I seem to have to make income tax and Impôts à la source contributions:

AVS 5.05%
Unemployment insurance 1%
Income tax 6.75%
Impôts à la source 14.6%
-------------------------
Total = 27.4%

Since my expected salary will be less than CHF120k and I do not own property, am I right in thinking I should only pay through impôts à la source?

Please excuse my stupidity if I'm being dense, I think my brain is fried from too much thesis writing!

With regard to academic salaries in the UK. Up until last year (I think that's when they changed the pay scales) starting postdocs were paid a pittance (~£18-20k), but the situation has improved slightly with some institutions now offering £26k+. But either way, I'm really looking forward to starting in Switzerland and would never pass up the opportunity for monetary reasons.

Finally, when I visited Lausanne in September I didnt notice it being any more expensive than the UK.

Cheers.