Assistant professorships
At ETH Zurich, positions at the assistant professor level are aimed at promoting the careers of young scientists and at giving them the opportunity to gain further scientific qualifications in view of an academic career.
Assistant professors are granted substantial funds for personnel and infrastructure, which allows them to carry out independent research.
For assistant professors, an appointment at an early career stage is sought. When comparing the performance of candidates, the respective net academic age as the period since the doctoral examination that was spent for scientific work is taken into account. This period should not exceed eight years at the time of application.
Assistant professorships come with or without tenure track.
Further information regarding assistant professorships and the tenure procedure can be found in the Guidelines for the Assistant Professor System at ETH Zurich.
- Download vertical_align_bottom Guidelines for the Assistant Professor System at ETH Zurich, as issued by the President, 1 February 2015
- Download vertical_align_bottom Principles for calculating the net academic age of assistant professors at ETH Zurich, 26.11.2024 (PDF, 99 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Guidelines to mentoring assistant professors at ETH Zurich, 26.11.2024 (PDF, 105 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Guidelines concerning the leadership development of assistant professors at ETH Zurich, July 2023 (PDF, 119 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Evaluation Criteria and Content of the Candidate’s Self-Report for Evaluations of Assistant Professors at ETH Zurich, 3.12.2024 (PDF, 136 KB)
Particularly brilliant assistant professors with tenure track have the possibility to go through a direct multistage tenure procedure, which examines the suitability of the assistant professor for a permanent position.
The decision to initiate the tenure procedure has to be taken by the department, considering the achievements of the assistant professor. The tenure procedure can be applied to any ETH assistant professorship with tenure track, financed through the ETH budget. The tenure procedure cannot be applied to assistant professorships that are financed by third-party funds (for example from SNSF or ERC).
The President appoints an ETH-wide Tenure Committee, which assists and advises him in the assessment of the applications handed in by the departments and namely guarantees the compliance with ETH-wide standards.
Tenure Committee Meetings 2025
Thursday, 27 March 2025
Thursday, 5 June 2025
Thursday, 11 September 2025
Thursday, 4 December 2025
Documents
- Download vertical_align_bottom Guidelines for the Assistant Professor System at ETH Zurich, as issued by the President, 1 February 2015
- Download vertical_align_bottom Gesch?ftsordnung des Tenure Committee (in German only) (PDF, 177 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Guidelines on How to Avoid Implicit Biases in the Assessment of Assistant Professors (PDF, 33 KB)
- Download vertical_align_bottom Specifications for compiling the tenure dossier (in German only) (PDF, 319 KB)
- protected page lock Sample tenure review letter (DOCX, 32 KB)
- Download lock Summary form for the evaluation of assistant professors (DOCX, 48 KB)
- protected page lock Members Tenure Committee
The Swiss National Science Foundation (?SNSF) as well as the European Research Council (ERC) enable junior researchers with several years of recognised research experience to make a significant step forward in their academic careers. The funding covers the salary of the applicant (at the assistant professor level), a contribution to research costs (incl. collaborators) and a contribution to infrastructure costs. These funds help the establishment of an independent team to implement a research project. A proposal for assistant professorship without tenure track for the hereby funded scientists may be handed in to the ETH Board, provided that certain requirements are met.
Formally, they are equal to assistant professors financed by ETH budget funds. In general, the assistant professorship is limited to the running period of the corresponding funding instrument.
Information on the ETH-internal application procedure as well as support with the application is provided by the ETH Grants Office.
For general questions:
Advice on national/international funding programmes:
Further information:
Advice / information on assistant professorships with and without tenure track as well as externally funded assistant professorships (e.g. by SNSF and ERC):
Dr. Andreas Heinle
Information on the internal ETH application procedure and support with the application is provided by the ETH Grants Office.
For general questions:
Advice on national/international funding programmes:
Contact
ETH Zurich
Office for Faculty Affairs / Stab Professuren
R?mistrasse 101
8092 Zürich
Switzerland
Contact / team members