Postdoctoral Research Opportunities at the Observatory

Scientists at LMU Observatory are driving research in many areas of modern astrophysics, such as extragalactic astronomy, large-scale structure cosmology, numerical astrophysics, extrasolar planets, stellar physics and statistical data analysis incl. artificial intelligence. Our five chairs and more than 10 individual research groups can provide a diverse and stimulating environment for your research. Furthermore, you will be able to benefit from LMU observatory's close ties with other astrophysical research insitutes in and around Munich and its active membership in many international collaborations.

You can find out more about our individual research groups and their activities through this link. In the following, we are listing a number of ways through which you can join our community as postdoctoral researcher. If you are looking for a PhD position, please consult this page instead.

How you can join us as a postdoctoral researcher

At around September of each year we open a call for applications for one or several Fraunhofer-Schwarzschild Postdoctoral Fellowships (with the call closing towards the end of October).

Scientists with a PhD degree and first postdoctoral experience, and recent PhD graduates with an exceptional record of scientific independence in physics, astrophysics, or related fields are encouraged to apply. The fellowship is intended to provide funding for at least four years and support you in the development of an independent and innovative research program.

Find this year's call on the AAS Job register.

There are many ways to join LMU observatory via 3rd party funding. In the following we list a number of relevant funding programs. If you want to apply to any of these in order to do research at the Observatory, please get in touch via the contact details listed at the bottom of this page and we will be happy to discuss how we can support you with such an application. Information about support by LMU's central management is also available through this link.

DFG individual research grants
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft offers individual research grants to postdoctoral scientists who want to pursue research in Germany. See here for further information.
Other DFG funding programs
Apart from individual research grants, the DFG offers several programs to support postgraduate researchers at different levels of seniority, such at the Walter Benjamin program, the Emmy Noether program and the Werner Heisenberg program.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships
If you are looking to move to Munich from a different European or third country as postdoctoral researcher, the EU Commission's Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions may support your proposed research. See here for further information.

There are currently no additional postdoctoral research positions available at the Observatory. Please consult the tabs on Fraunhofer-Schwarzschild Fellowships and on external funding.