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Information on the European job market in philosophy?

Brian Leiter

A philosophy PhD student, concerned about the political situation in the US, writes:

My questions about the European market are pretty basic: I’d want to know where jobs/post-docs are posted, whether there is any discernable hiring season, if the materials that European applications require are very different from what is required in the US, and so on.

I imagine the answers may vary between countries and regions, so please post information and links for the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, etc. 

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11 responses to “Information on the European job market in philosophy?”

  1. Leo Menges

    German Speaking Countries (not complete)

    No hiring season. I don't know enough about the materials that you need in the US, but what you need here is typically: letter, CV, writing sample, certificates (BA, MA, PhD), sometimes teaching evaluations, sometimes a letter of reference.

    German Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP): you can become a member (not very expensive), then you get an email every week with most jobs that are offered in German speaking countries: https://gap-im-netz.de/en/membership.html

    German Society for Philosophy (DGPhil): https://www.dgphil.de/jobs-events-cfps/uebersicht#c304

    You can apply to the German DFG (https://www.dfg.de/en), the Austrian FWF (https://www.fwf.ac.at/) or the Swiss SNF (https://www.snf.ch/en) for third-party funded projects (typically 2-4 years). You need a host at a university in the country who supports your application.

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  2. Preston Stovall

    Philos-L is the go-to resource for professional opportunities in Europe. It is not uncommon for post-doc positions to begin at the start of the calendar year rather than in September or August. Also, here at the University of Hradec Králové (two hours east of Prague by train) we're currently looking for a visiting scholar for the fall semester. We're an intellectually diverse department, with strong showings in the philosophies of mind and language, ancient philosophy, and non-human cognition (biosemiotics). Anyone who's interested is welcome to email me for more information: preston.stovall[at]uhk.cz.

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  3. AS

    Not a philosopher, but experienced academic job seeker here, so pardon me if I am missing some discipline-specific job boards, but these are the major ones that cover all disciplines including philosophy:
    The usual place for UK jobs is jobs.ac.uk.
    EU has a job portal at https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs (in my experience, all French and Italian jobs will show up here).
    Times Higher Ed has many international jobs: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/searchjobs.
    Also https://academicpositions.com/ and, for Germany, https://www.academics.de/.

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  4. Brad

    I can say a bit about the job market in Scandinavia. I will start with post-doc positions. These are not on a fixed schedule. Post docs are almost always supported by external grants, and they are tied to a specific project directed by a PI (who secured a grant for the project). As a consequence, the number of qualified applicants tends to be lower than for a typical American job. You really need to be doing something related to the project because you are going to be asked to contribute to the project in a substantive way. But, if you are a good fit, then you should certainly apply. The applications ask for very specific material, including, usually, a "project description", an account of what you would like to work on (and this had better relate to the larger project). So these can be labour intensive to apply to, but if you are qualified, your chances are better than for typical American jobs. In Scandinavia you will also get a good salary (the labour laws ensure this), and you will also have access to a decent travel budget. So they can be very nice jobs. There is no central place where such jobs are advertised – some of them find their way onto PhilJobs. But you may have to check the HR pages at the various universities (or sign up for HOPOS list serve, where many are announced). I hope this helps.

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  5. sahpa

    Just to add to the above with which I agree: the Philos-L listserv is invaluable for learning about jobs (especially postdoc positions) and conferences. It is based in the UK, but you get info on opportunities from all over Europe. I would say it has a solid but not exclusive analytic bent.

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  6. UK-BASED

    In the UK, if you intend to apply to "traditional" postdoc positions (e.g., Leverhulme or British Academy), there is one application round per year. You need to check both with the funding body and with the university you intend to apply to (you'd need a sponsor) about dates.

    Applications don't require lots of documents. Basically, a CV and a short research project will do. But these are incredibly competitive positions. So your project needs to be ambitious (oftentimes people promise to complete a major monograph) and it is almost impossible to be successful if one doesn't have at least two VERY strong publications.

    On the positive side, pedigree and letters count for much less. If you published top stuff and have good ideas, you have a chance and universities will be happy to support you!

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  7. Nicholas Denyer

    Here are details of Italian posts, in all disciplines. https://academicjobsitaly.com

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  8. AGT

    This is a nearly impossible question to answer since there are so many differences. I think there will be plenty of responses re the UK, so I won't repeat that info. In general terms, the Philos-L email list is good, not comprehensive, but most analytical jobs will be on it. As for countries, in Norway, there is jobbnorge.no. Not only academic jobs are there but they too, and it is compulsory for state employers, so if there is a job, it will be there. German jobs, also some of the professorships will be on Philos-L, Italian and French jobs almost never, for those you have to find the relevant state outlets in the given country (the universities are mostly public, and they have to advertise their jobs in the official state publications). Language is an issue, I suppose, for the OP. In most cases, sooner or later – but as nationalism spreads, sooner rather than later – the applicant has to be able to master the local language to a decent extent. These days, and especially in Southern Europe and France, this will be a requirement from the get go (in fact, you cannot find the jobs unless you know where to look, which in turn requires language competence. This regarding professorships, postdocs, based on projects, are a different issue.). There is no hiring season in any European country, in my experience. Other information will be provided by others, I suppose. There is a lot more to say, but frankly, the OP should specify which country is on their list because one can write a book if one wants to cover the various job markets across Europe. (I have myself worked in Sweden, Germany, the UK, Norway, Hungary, and Italy, both as postdoc, as associate prof, and as full prof.)

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  9. Nicholas Denyer

    Here are tips about junior research fellowships in Oxford and Cambridge colleges: https://www.careers.cam.ac.uk/junior-research-fellowships-jrfs

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  10. Italian here

    Italian jobs are advertised all year long. The official government website where are jobs are posted is https://bandi.mur.gov.it/jobs.php/public/cercaJobs (the website appears to be only in Italian).

    In recent years, the Italian job market has given timid signs of opening up also to outsiders and several non-Italian philosophers have secured jobs at Italian universities. I can tell you that many universities are thinking of starting English programmes so international candidates are likely to be welcome in the years to come.

    A bit of necessary background information. Philosophy is divided into 5 areas: PHIL-1 "Theoretical philosophy", PHIL-2 "Logic/Philosophy of Science", PHIL-3 "Ethics", PHIL-4 "Phil of Language/Aesthetics", PHIL-5 "History of philosophy" (which includes the subfields ancient phil and medieval phil).

    Anyone with a PhD can apply for a RTT job (basically, an assistant professorship). Associate professorships and full professorships are advertised here: https://bandi.mur.gov.it/profcalls.php/public/cercaJobs, but you can only apply if you have your "abilitazione scientifica" in hand (you can still apply for an abilitazione scientifica here: https://abilitazione.mur.gov.it/public/index.php, but it's a burdensome application and you'll get your answer in 4-5 months).

    This is the essential background. Please do talk to an colleague to get to know better how to apply for a "concorso", if you are really interested in moving to Italy.
    For reference, a full prof. makes about 3.5-4.5 eur/mo. (13 times/year), an associate professor typically between 3k-4k/mo., an assistant professor about 2.4k eur/mo., but with tax advantages for expats you start from 3k for assistant profs, 3.7 for associate profs., and 5k for full profs. check out numbeo.com to see how that compares with your location.

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  11. France-based

    In France, the official gouvernement website for applying for permanent jobs at universities is called Odyssée (the link was too long to copy paste). Another website called Galaxie provides background information on the types of positions and on the required application materials: https://www.galaxie.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/ensup/cand_recrutement.htm

    For permanent positions at Universities there is a hiring season, which ended today this year (it's called "session synchronisée"). However universities can also advertise a job outside of the "session synchronisée" (but the deadlines tend to be earlier in this case). Temporary teaching positions can be advertised almost all year round (either on a website called ALTAIR, or on the universities' websites). To apply for an Associate Professor position one needs to obtain a "qualification" first (the application is usually in the Fall). It's mandatory for candidates with a French PhD, but I'm not sure whether candidates with a PhD from outside of France also need it. Application materials have to be in French.

    The CNRS offers (very few) research-only positions in philosophy every year: https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/launch-2025-external-researcher-competition-campaign The deadline for applications is usually December or early January.

    For postdocs the aforementioned euraxess is a good source and some positions are advertised on the e-metis mailing list: https://listes.univ-paris1.fr/wws/subscribe/emetis

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