ZAH Guide

(Last update: Sept. 17, 2024)

Welcome to ZAH! We wish you much success and enjoyment in your work at our institute. This guide is intended to make it easier for you to get started.

• Before you arrive at the ZAH, it is very important to contact the secretary responsible for your employment contract. If you do not know who is responsible, ask your responsible work group leader. The responsible secretary is your most important contact long before you arrive in Heidelberg. Please note that your employment contract must be formally signed by you before salary payments can be made! Otherwise, you may miss out on a month's salary.
• Do not forget to find out well in advance whether you need a visa and/or work permit. If necessary, ask your responsible secretary or visit THIS website of the University of Heidelberg with information on visas and other entry formalities.
• Finding accommodation in Heidelberg and the surrounding area is not easy. If you are early enough, you may be able to get an apartment in the university guest house for the first few weeks/months (ask your responsible secretary). Apartment rents in Heidelberg are high. But if you look for something outside Heidelberg in neighboring towns (e.g. Dossenheim, Ziegelhausen, Leimen or Neckargemünd), the rents go down significantly. You can also ask your supervisor if he knows someone who is moving out soon; maybe you can take over that apartment. To find an apartment yourself, you can also use THIS website of the Student Union of the University of Heidelberg.
• In Germany, every person has health insurance. Therefore, all applicants for a residence permit must prove sufficient health insurance coverage before receiving such a permit for Germany. You can find more information on this topic on THIS website.
• The Welcome Centre of the University of Heidelberg is the central information and service facility for international researchers after their doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. It offers the necessary information, advice and individual support on all topics relevant to preparing a stay in Heidelberg and everyday life.
• The Graduate Academy is the central coordination point for all support services related to general advice, professional and academic development and financial support for doctoral students at the University of Heidelberg.
• For more information on international affairs, please visit the respective university's website.
• You may have noticed that you sometimes receive an email from the "Center for Astronomy" with the subject line "[ZAH Infothek2] ....." before you have actually arrived in Heidelberg. Please do not ignore such emails, as they contain important notices regarding your employment at the ZAH and/or your membership in a research group (including their email lists).

(Last update: July 1, 2024)

The Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg in German) links together the Astronomisches Recheninstitut (ARI), the Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik (ITA) and the Landessternwarte (LSW). The ZAH has a managing director (one of the full professors of the ZAH - currently Prof. Dr. Joachim Wambsganss - and a scientific manager (Dr. Guido Thimm). The latter is your primary contact person for ZAH-related questions. Each of the three institutes also has a local managing director.

The ZAH is run by a directorial board currently consisting of the ten full professors:

at ARI: Prof. Dr. Eva Grebel, Prof. Dr. Björn Malte-Schäfer, Prof. Dr. Joachim Wambsganß

at ITA: Prof. Dr. Cornelis Dullemond, Prof. Dr Ralf Klessen, Prof. Dr. Michela Mapelli, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Röpke (HITS associate)

at LSW: Prof. Dr. Norbert Christlieb, Prof. Dr. Andreas Quirrenbach, Prof. Dr. Saskia Hekker (HITS associate)

Associated to (but not part of) the ZAH is the Heidelberg Institut für Theoretische Studien (HITS). Its two astrophysics group leaders are also professors at ZAH (Prof. Dr. Saskia Hekker, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Röpke).

The ZAH is a separate institutional body within the university. However, all ZAH professors are also members of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. ZAH also has several adjunct professors and other senior science staff. A full list of research groups and their descriptions can be found at http://www.zah.uni-heidelberg.de/zah/research/.

For all administrative matters (except for computer facilities, see section on computers) please contact the local secretary in charge at your institute. Currently, the main secretarial/administrative support is (office hours: day of week and morning (a) or afternoon (p) presence indicated):

at ARI:

• Frau Schwalbe: Finance, Contracts, Employments (Mo-Fr (a, p))
• Frau Buchhaupt: Administration (Mo(a), Tue(a), Wed(a), Thu(a))
• Frau Grauer: Daily institute issues (Mo-Fr (a, p))
• Frau Mayer: General administration (Mo-Fr (a, p))
• Frau Pisch: Daily institute issues, procurement (Mo-Fr (a, p))

at ITA:

• Frau Sandra Klohr: ITA Administration (Mo(ap), Tue(ap), Wed(ap),Thu(ap), Fr(ap))
• Frau Klinger-Araifa: ITA Administration (Tue(ap), Wed(ap), Thu(a))
• Herr Fleuss: ERC ECOGAL Administration (Mo(p), Wed(ap), Fr(ap))

at LSW:

• Frau Müller-Wolkenstein: LSW Administration
• Frau Farr: Daily institute issues
• Frau Wright: Secretary to Group Christlieb

(Last update: Sept. 17, 2024)

If you want to start doctoral studies at ZAH you have to apply for admission to the Heidelberg Graduate School for Physics (HGSFP), which handles the admission and administration of all PhD researchers for the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Heidelberg University, or to the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD).

IMPRS-HD is an independent part of the HGSFP and the IMPRS-HD application form is equivalent to the application form of the HGSFP. However, the IMPRS asks you for some additional specific astronomy/astrophysics-related input, which is important for the evaluation of your application. All astronomy/astrophysics applications at IMPRS-HD and HGSFP will be evaluated by the same IMPRS-HD evaluation committee.

(Last update: July 1, 2024)

Every day, the physics and astronomy community in Heidelberg as a whole offers various seminars, colloquia and talks about a wide range of astrophysical topics. We have a central database to check for all these events: the Heidelberg Physics Seminar and Talk Organizer (HePhysTo). This is your go-to source of respective information. You can in fact even register for automatic announcements by email, and you can insert automatic calendar events into your electronic calendar.

(Last update: January 5, 2023)

How do I get a doctor's appointment in Heidelberg?

If you are looking for a doctor to treat your disease, you will often be disappointed in Heidelberg. For example, if you call a dentist's office, you may hear that they can no longer accept new patients. In addition, many doctors and their secretaries surprisingly often speak very poor English, which could create additional obstacles for your treatment.

The Welcome Center of Heidelberg University has compiled a list of English-speaking doctors in Heidelberg, which we provide you HERE. There you should be able to overcome at least one language hurdle and usually get a treatment appointment, because the respective doctors are aware of your special situation.

However, what is always possible is that you go directly to a doctor of your choice. Basically, the physician has no obligation to treat, but the chances to be treated are better once you are on site.

However, something else may apply with regard to the obligation to treat acute pain. In this  case, it is an emergency, which is the case, for example, if your heavily suffering (e.g.  severe toothache). A doctor must  not send you away with such pain. He is then even obliged to treat you.

(Last update: Febr. 17, 2021)

The directorate of the ZAH has noticed that there are various versions of how people refer to their institute in scientific publications. This is problematic e.g. for compiling citation statistics. Furthermore, there should be a "corporate identity" of the ZAH. We are therefore asking you to use the guidelines described here.

(Last update: October 1, 2024)

Students at ZAH are actually students at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. Anything related to their study should be discussed with the relevant authorities at the faculty:

- For Bachelor and Master students this would be the student secretariat at the INF227 building (Mrs Nerger or Mrs Hiemenz), the administrator of the physics and astronomy study (Dr. Ostrowski), the chair(wo)man of the examination office (Prof. Dullemond) or the dean of studies.

- For PhD students this would be the Dean's office or the HGSFP office.

Please keep in mind that students are themselves responsible for abiding by the procedures and rules of the faculty related to their studies.

Furthermore, the Graduate Academy is the central coordinating body for all support services related to general advising, professional and academic development and financial assistance for doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University. On their website, you will find information about e.g. special courses offered by the Graduate Academy or about sources of funding for doctoral candidates.

The Graduate Academy offers a variety of funding opportunities to doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University through the heiDOCS 2.0 program. Students can apply for grants within the following funding lines:

• Travel grants
• Bridging grants
• Publication grants and project grants
• Doctoral initiatives

Applications are open for all funding lines and can be submitted at any time for the following three deadlines during the year: February 15  |  June 15  |  October 15

For all program details and application procedures, please visit the Graduate Academy's website: https://www.graduateacademy.uni-heidelberg.de/foerderung/heidocs_main_en.html

Academic personnel has a certain teaching load depending on employment status and contractual regulations. In particular, there is a high demand in tutors for exercise groups which supplement various lectures and courses offered by the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. PhD-students and some staff members usually fulfill their teaching load as tutors in exercise groups which accompany regular lectures in astronomy or physics.

HERE you find a general overview about lectures and courses with such a demand for tutors and a registration platform it you want/need to support our lecturing activities.

(Last update: August 24, 2023)

In order to ease communication within ZAH and to avoid flooding everyone's incoming mail boxes with messages, we have created several eMail-list. The most important one are summarized below.

An overview about all lists currenty available can be found HERE (note: only accessible from a computer inside the ZAH or via VPN).

Most important eMail-lists at ZAH:

• All Scientists at ZAH: science(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• Scientists with permanent staff positions: sciencestaff(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• Postdocs on fixed-term contracts: postdocs(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All ZAH students, incl. PhD-students: ZAH-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students: ZAH-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students at ARI: ZAH-ARI-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS(at)listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students at ITA: ZAH-ITA-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students at LSW: ZAH-LSW-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• ZAH administration: verwaltung(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at ZAH: all(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at ARI: all(at)ari.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at ITA: all.ita(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at LSW: all.lsw(at)uni-heidelberg.de

These e-mail-lists are dynamically created from the personnel data base within the ZAH web page. Members of the ZAH can reach these aliases from their eMail account. Email-groups accociated with somebody are displayed whenever you click the persons' name on this list.

Heidelberg has 6 astronomy-related institutes scattered across town. Three of them are part of the ZAH (ARI and ITA in Heidelberg Neuenheim, and the LSW on the top of the Königstuhl mountain). The other three are the HITS (on the north slope of the Königstuhl mountain), the MPIK (on the west slope of the Königstuhl mountain) and the MPIA (on top of the Königstuhl mountain next to the LSW). 

For more detailed information, please check out "Astronomy and Physics in Heidelberg".

There is a Science Bus service (Bus 30) that shuttles between the Universitätsplatz in town and the institutes on the Königstuhl. There is also Bus 39 from Bismarckplatz to the Königstuhl. Please consult the RNV website for the schedule.

The University has various services to help you cope with special circumstances. These include family support issues such as childcare / daycare, advice on issues related to equal opportunity, mediation, and even a concierge service to help you combine work and family responsibilities. You can find all the information about these services on the website of the equal opportunity office.

(Last update: June 28, 2022)

For most ZAH-scientists their contract is drawn up in accordance with the german collective  labour agreement for people working in public services (TV-L). Using this income calculator your individual income can be calculated.
Your income depends on various parameters (marital status, experience level, number of children, etc.). Some typical examples are:

• Ph-student, no children
• Postdoc, no children (Experience level 2)
• Postdoc, one child (Experience level 3)

Depending on your income you also have the choice between a private or public health insurance. However, if your gross income is below 4.800,- EUR per month you can only opt for the public health insurance. This is obligatory in germany.

We had a couple of cases when non-german citizens brought their private health insurance from their home countries. But even in this case you have to have a public German health insurance. If you have further questions regarding this issues you can contact the ZAH scientific manager for further assistance.

For an overview about Health Insurance Options in Germany see https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/healthinsurance.html or e.g. https://www.settle-in-berlin.com/health-insurance-germany/.

While you work in germany a pension fund will be set up for you and parts of your income will automatically transferred to this fund. This pension insurane scheme is called "Deutsche Rentenversicherung".

If you will at a later stage take up another job outside germany or back in your home country it is possible to have access to this german fund via your local pension agencys. When you are going to retire you apply for pension in your country of residence. Your local agency will then contact the german pension fund and the amount of pension you have obtained during your employment in germany will be paid together will pensions from other employments in Europe or abroad.

(Last update Febr. 16, 2021)

Success in research and education can only be accomplished in a cooperative environment that values respectful conduct and fair competition as a basis for a positive working and learning environment. Heidelberg University is committed to fair conduct; it safeguards equal and respectful treatment of and between its members on all levels, and supports measures to build and sustain a climate which fosters such conduct. Within its purview the University thus takes on the responsibility for protecting the personal rights and dignity of all its members.

If you would like inform yourself about topics revolving around questions relating to sexual harassment, bullying, stalking and discrimination a summary of university related measures can be found in the Senate Guideline on Fair Conduct.

In addition, student representatives of the Heidelberg Graduate School for Physics (HGSFP) in conjunction with the Directorate of the School have compiled Supervision Guidelines of the HGSFP which give an outline for securing adequate planning, comprehensive advice and supervision.

The Graduate Academy is the central coordinating body for all support services related to general advising, professional and academic development and financial assistance for doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University. They not only provide additional information regarding Fair Conduct but also regularly offer course which help to improve skills on different levels of working in academics. It is useful to study their Course Register of past courses. This may provide an overview about respective courses.

(Last update April 26, 2023)

At the Ricoh print center "copy, print @nd more", you can have term papers, manuscripts, bachelor/master/doctoral theses, dissertations, readers and flyers, etc. cheaply printed and bound. On the print center's digital printing systems, you can select two-hole or four-hole punching and various stapling options to be performed in a one-step printing process, as well as choose from a range of finishing options according to your needs. Materials can be printed single-sided or double-sided in black and white or in color. There are multiple processing options available for printed materials including various paper weights and colors, transparent plastic covers and different types of binding.

The documents for printing can be sent in a common file format (preferably as a PDF file, but also as a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file) or on a storage device (USB drive, CD-ROM or DVD). To ensure faster processing, all files should be merged into a single document. If you belong to a Heidelberg University institute and want to submit a print order to the print center digitally you can do so with a web form.

You also have the option to print conference posters via university services. All information about submitting a poster file or size and quality options are provided at https://www.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/en/service-catalogue/printing/poster-printing.

Please note it is only possible to issue print orders if the billing can be done via one of the institute accounts. For this purpose, a department key ("Dienststellen-Schlüssel") and a cost account ("Kostenstelle") must be specified in the web form. Your local administration will be happy to provide you with respective information.

We are aware that when you are new in Heidelberg, perhaps from a different country and different culture, you may have many questions that may not be answered by this 'manual' of the ZAH. Please feel free to contact your local secretaries with these questions and/or ask for help. Our ZAH science manager (Dr. Guido Thimm) is also very happy to answer any questions you may have.