Academic Career Development

The Faculty of Law’s academic career development encompasses all levels of the educational pyramid, from student assistants to assistant professorships, with academic career development being promoted in both research and teaching.

It takes place primarily in the subject groups and at the professorial chairs.

The subject groups make every effort to provide junior researchers with a permanent contact person to assist them with career planning, obtaining funding, involvement in teaching, publications and conference participation.  The institutionalized doctoral colloquia and the promotion of international networking are a further important element.

Junior researchers also receive support in the various faculty research centers and the cross-faculty UZH Graduate Campus platform.

The Vice Dean and the Management Office of the Vice Dean provide advice on the financing of academic careers (cf. PDF entitled “Financing PhD and Postdoctoral Research”) and regular information about various relevant offers that come to their attention (call for papers, grants, etc.).

The following funding is available to junior researchers at the Faculty of Law. The Management Office of the Vice Dean will be happy to provide information in this regard.

• Awarding of mobility contributions, e.g. within the framework of the LERU PhD exchange program (Fact sheet in German and English)
• Grants for translations and proofreading of PhD theses, habilitations, essays, third-party funding submissions, etc., if the authors are not writing the texts in their native language (Application form).
• Reimbursement of expenses  related to participation in conferences and congresses. From 2024, a Conference Fund will be available to assistants, doctoral candidates and research and teaching employees. The general conditions for the contributions are based on the Information Sheet on the Conference Fund for doctoral candidates (PDF, 144 KB):  Who is eligible, what can and how must be settled. Expense Claims Form (PDF, 214 KB), Expense Claim Instruction (PDF, 304 KB)
• Contributions for the printing of outstanding PhD theses, financed by the Otto Schnabel Fund, if the doctoral candidate cannot bear the publication costs him/herself.
• Support of events and initiatives of junior researchers

The Vice Dean Professor Helmut Heiss is also available as a contact person in case of conflict between junior researchers and their supervisors, if these cannot be solved bilaterally.

Consultations in cases of sexual harassment are available with Professor Brigitte Tag and with MLaw Sina Staudinger. Link.  Professor Brigitte Tag is the person responsible for investigations into cases under the RSB (“Regulations for Protection against Sexual Harassment at UZH”) and MLaw Sina Staudinger is executive director of the RSB Link Committee