Reasons to Move to Germany as a Researcher

Citing "open-mindedness" with respect to migrants as a reason to move to Germany as a researcher unfortunately sounds pretty strange in the current political situation...

Also, funding for research might be increasing significantly, but it's starting at low levels. In addition, funding for education in Germany is way below the OECD average [1], in 2017 Germany spent only 4.2% of its GDP on education compared to e.g. 6.7% in Norway or 6.2% in the USA.

It is also quite difficult to find a tenured position in academia in Germany. You are expected to change the institution you work at several times during your career - for many "Juniorprofessur" positions (equivalent to assistant professor), there is no tenure track, so you have spend a lot of time to apply for a tenured position at another institution during the six years (this is the upper limit) of your employment as Juniorprofessor instead of spending that time on research and teaching.

As a PhD student in CS, the situation is rather good, however. The competition for the best students with industry results in PhD students usually having a 100% paid position (TV-L E13 pay grade, ca. 4000 Eur gross/month, see [2]). However, I have regularly heard recommendations to come to Germany as a PhD students but to leave as soon as you got your PhD... also, in other areas of science (e.g. biology), it is common to only have a 50% or 25% paid position as a PhD student (but you're expected to work full-time nevertheless, of course).

[1] https://de.statista.com/infografik/15423/bildungsausgaben-ge...

[2] https://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/c/t/rechner/tv-l/west?id=t...