European Academic Career Opportunities in 2025

Over the last few weeks, I have been contacted by many of my junior colleagues in the US about current and upcoming opportunities to start an academic career in Europe rather than in the uncertain environment the US has become.  So here is my general advice. I'll try to update this regularly. 

Target audience: Finishing PhD students, Postdocs, Junior faculty (not-yet-tenured)

Postdoc in Europe

[TBC]

Junior Faculty positions in Europe

Germany.  I am currently a "Group Leader" in Tübingen, Germany since 2023, so I am becoming to have a good idea of how German academia works, and its pros and cons. 

• Pros: Protected and valued academia, high salary, excellent funding situation for AI-related research

• Cons: Overall lack of transparency of the tenure process (get a good mentor!), high bureaucratic complexity (make sure you have good support!), everything is highly negotiable (is it a Pro?)

Here is a general guide for academic careers in Germany (in English)

I can think of a few opportunities. First, depending on your time constraints, I think the best idea would be for you to submit an Emmy Noether proposal:

https://www.dfg.de/en/news/news-topics/announcements-proposals/2025/ifr-25-16

(The call is not open yet, but should open this summer or so. I am an Emmy Noether independent Group Leader, do reach out to me directly if you need advice or help about the Emmy Noether proposal process)

Essentially, Emmy Noether is a big package (~1.5M EUR) to start your independent group so no teaching duty until you become a professor. It gives you the time to discover and learn about German academia and where you'd like to be. I've been a group leader for 2,5 years and it's really a fantastic way to start an independent academic career without all the "duties" of a professor. Then, this is such a prestigious award that you will have no issues finding a tenured job.

The Technical University of Nuremberg is a newly founded AI University in Nuremberg and it will have dozens of positions opening in the next 10 years. Currently there are 2 openings: 

https://www.utn.de/en/career/professorships/

(deadline on March 20th)

In fact, many universities in Germany are hiring in our field and I believe this will continue for a while. 

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France. I am French and I did my PhD in France, but I have not worked as an academic in France. 

• Pros: High-level of research in AI for a long time, excellent students in mathematics, great and well-funded research institutes (INRIA, CNRS), active and booming AI scene, especially in Paris, many positions opening every year 

• Cons: Low salaries overall (tough it is compensated by other benefits to some extents), French language mandatory in some institutions (in particular Universities, not CNRS or INRIA).

Excellent opportunity open now: Open call for Independent CNRS position: Choose France call for CNRS: https://www.ins2i.cnrs.fr/en/cnrsinfo/choose-france-cnrs-ai-rising-talents

This is a bit like an Emmy Noether: 5 years contract with big start-up package (like 1M EUR+). They are willing to make competitive salary offers, so it mitigates the "Cons" above. It's also an internationally-friendly program, with complete geographical mobility (within France). 

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ELLIS units and ELLIS Institutes. 

The ELLIS network founded in 2018 has grown into a successful and prestigious cluster of excellence opportunities for AI in Europe. The PhDs and Postdoc funding opportunities can be found on the main ELLIS website. Structurally, ELLIS is simply a non-profit structure coordinating  initiatives in all European countries, including a PhD program across institutions and a postdoc program. It centralizes informations and allows to raised funds for dedicated activites such as summer schools. For the past couple of years, local institutes have been funded and are opening positions at all levels.

There are currently 2 institutes (publicly and privately funded):

• ELLIS Institute Tuebingen: https://institute-tue.ellis.eu/

• ELLIS Finnland: https://www.ellisinstitute.fi/

I am not aware of open calls at the moment but I would recommend to subscribe to the ELLIS newletter to get updated on opening opportunites (see bottom of ellis.eu)