Hi all,

I'm new here. I've just received my employment contract for a postdoc at the ETH in Zurich. I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that the duration (dauer) is 1 year. I was expecting 2 years.

Is it common? Was I wrong to expect a 2-year contract?

I looked online but didn't find anything solid, until I stumbled into this forum. I'd really appreciate any feedback.

Thanks in advance

It's it written on it that it is a one year contract, renewable once?

It's the norm, normally.

It's pretty normal in ETH and UZH to have yearly contracts which means that a new contract can be negotiated for the next year....

Agreed that one year is standard for ETH postdoc contracts. Contracts are renewable for 6 years as a postdoc + 6 years as an Oberassistent, though the total time spent as a postdoc/Oberassistent is no longer than 9 years. Also note that your probation period is usually 3 months.

Why it cannot be more than 9 years?

You can't be a postdoc/Oberassistent for longer than 9 years total because it's an ETH rule. After this period, you must be given a permanent position, such as a lecturer or a senior scientist.

Or sent packing (most cases)

At EPFL the rule is a maximum of 4 years so the German side is lucky

Yes, sent packing is definitely the most common outcome (though with yearly contracts, 9 years isn't a given either).

EPFL is 4 years? That's crazy!

That's what I've been told. But some people seem to stick around for longer somehow.

I think it's a good rule. If you're doing a post doc for more than 4 years then you're are in danger of getting stuck in the post doc rut.

UNIL is 4 years as well...

Is there an exception for maternity leave? Many of us female postdocs at the ETH have children during this time, and a four month leave would be a big setback. Unfortunately, as we're all in our thirties when we start (more or less), it's pretty much now or never.

My old university in Scotland has limited the amount of time for doing a PhD to 4 years. If you aren't submitted by then then tough no PhD for you

Wow. I sincerely hope that such a timeline puts pressure on the advisor to get people out of there sooner rather than just punishing the student!

Well in the UK and Europe between 3-5 years is the norm to be fair. Over 4 years is considered a touch on the tardy side (ask me how I know )

I know a girl that started her PhD at the same time as me and finished and defended in less than 3 years. Her motivation for finishing was no money for an extension and she couldn't afford to be unemployed. Seems to work.

At UNIL, having a baby during your contract means an additional year to your contract. I'm actually benefitting from it

As for PhD, the 'norm' seems to be 3 years for our neighbours at EPFL. In arts, where I am, a very long PhD is still required, and the fastest finish in 6 years. 7-8 seems more normal though. But as no university contract will last that long, you need to juggle with your savings and scholarships to finish. There again, that's my present situation: contract finishing, but not my phd...

Wow, thanks to all who replied! My concern regarding the duration stems mainly from this:

https://www.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz...Postdok_EN.pdf

This is an example employment contract (translated into English) that I found it in the ETH's website:

https://www.ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zuric...mployment.html

I work in science and can't say I've seen many, if any at all, PhDs finish in 3 years at EPFL. Most are between 3-4 years I'd say.

not all sciences are equal: if you are in biology or other sciences where experimental setup takes a lot of time or linked to field work/observations then it can be longer than 4 years. For EE, Computer Science it's 3 years.

I work quite closely with people from IMT in Neuchatel which is quite EE oriented and I'd say 3 years would be the exception. As I said before between 3-5 is the norm.