ZAH Guide

(Last update: Sept. 17, 2024)

Welcome to ZAH! We wish you much success and enjoyment in your work at our institute. This guide is intended to make it easier for you to get started.

• Before you arrive at the ZAH, it is very important to contact the secretary responsible for your employment contract. If you do not know who is responsible, ask your responsible work group leader. The responsible secretary is your most important contact long before you arrive in Heidelberg. Please note that your employment contract must be formally signed by you before salary payments can be made! Otherwise, you may miss out on a month's salary.
• Do not forget to find out well in advance whether you need a visa and/or work permit. If necessary, ask your responsible secretary or visit THIS website of the University of Heidelberg with information on visas and other entry formalities.
• Finding accommodation in Heidelberg and the surrounding area is not easy. If you are early enough, you may be able to get an apartment in the university guest house for the first few weeks/months (ask your responsible secretary). Apartment rents in Heidelberg are high. But if you look for something outside Heidelberg in neighboring towns (e.g. Dossenheim, Ziegelhausen, Leimen or Neckargemünd), the rents go down significantly. You can also ask your supervisor if he knows someone who is moving out soon; maybe you can take over that apartment. To find an apartment yourself, you can also use THIS website of the Student Union of the University of Heidelberg.
• In Germany, every person has health insurance. Therefore, all applicants for a residence permit must prove sufficient health insurance coverage before receiving such a permit for Germany. You can find more information on this topic on THIS website.
• The Welcome Centre of the University of Heidelberg is the central information and service facility for international researchers after their doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. It offers the necessary information, advice and individual support on all topics relevant to preparing a stay in Heidelberg and everyday life.
• The Graduate Academy is the central coordination point for all support services related to general advice, professional and academic development and financial support for doctoral students at the University of Heidelberg.
• For more information on international affairs, please visit the respective university's website.
• You may have noticed that you sometimes receive an email from the "Center for Astronomy" with the subject line "[ZAH Infothek2] ....." before you have actually arrived in Heidelberg. Please do not ignore such emails, as they contain important notices regarding your employment at the ZAH and/or your membership in a research group (including their email lists).

(Last update: Nov. 6, 2025)

The Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg in German) links together the Astronomisches Recheninstitut (ARI), the Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik (ITA) and the Landessternwarte (LSW). The ZAH has a managing director (one of the full professors of the ZAH - currently Prof. Dr. Ralf Klessen - and a scientific manager (Dr. Guido Thimm). The latter is your primary contact person for ZAH-related questions. Each of the three institutes also has a local managing director.

The ZAH is run by a directorial board consisting of ZAH's full professors:

at ARI: Prof. Dr. Eva Grebel, Prof. Dr. Björn Malte-Schäfer, Prof. Dr. Joachim Wambsganß, Prof. Dr. Dominika Wylezalek

at ITA: Prof. Dr. Cornelis Dullemond, Prof. Dr Ralf Klessen, Prof. Dr. Michela Mapelli, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Röpke (HITS associate)

at LSW: Prof. Dr. Norbert Christlieb, Prof. Dr. Andreas Quirrenbach, Prof. Dr. Saskia Hekker (HITS associate)

Associated to (but not part of) the ZAH is the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS). Its two astrophysics group leaders are also professors at ZAH (Prof. Dr. Saskia Hekker, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Röpke).

The ZAH is a separate institutional body within the university. However, all ZAH professors are also members of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. The ZAH also has several adjunct professors and other senior science staff. A full list of research groups and their descriptions can be found at http://www.zah.uni-heidelberg.de/zah/research/.

For all administrative matters (except for computer facilities, see section on computers) please contact the local secretary in charge at your institute. Currently, the main secretarial/administrative support is (office hours: day of week and morning (a) or afternoon (p) presence indicated):

at ARI:

• Frau Schwalbe: Finance, Contracts, Employments (Mo-Fr (a, p))
• Frau Buchhaupt: Administration (Mo(a), Tue(a), Wed(a), Thu(a))
• Frau Grauer: Daily institute issues (Mo-Fr (a, p))
• Frau Mayer: General administration (Mo-Fr (a, p))
• Frau Pisch: Daily institute issues, procurement (Mo-Fr (a, p))

at ITA:

• Frau Sandra Klohr: ITA Administration (Mo(ap), Tue(ap), Wed(ap),Thu(ap), Fr(ap))
• Frau Daniela Strand: ITA Administration (Tue(ap), Wed(ap), Thu(a))

at LSW:

• Frau Müller-Wolkenstein: LSW Administration
• Frau Farr: Daily institute issues
• Frau Wright: Secretary to Group Christlieb

(Last update: August 27, 2025)

A map showing the location of ZAH's and other research institutes holding astrophysics and related research groups can be found HERE (Google Map).

(Last update: Sept. 17, 2024)

If you want to start doctoral studies at ZAH you have to apply for admission to the Heidelberg Graduate School for Physics (HGSFP), which handles the admission and administration of all PhD researchers for the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Heidelberg University, or to the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD).

IMPRS-HD is an independent part of the HGSFP and the IMPRS-HD application form is equivalent to the application form of the HGSFP. However, the IMPRS asks you for some additional specific astronomy/astrophysics-related input, which is important for the evaluation of your application. All astronomy/astrophysics applications at IMPRS-HD and HGSFP will be evaluated by the same IMPRS-HD evaluation committee.

(Last update: July 1, 2024)

Every day, the physics and astronomy community in Heidelberg offers various seminars, colloquia and talks about a wide range of astrophysical topics. We have a central database to check for all these events: the Heidelberg Physics Seminar and Talk Organizer (HePhysTo). This is your go-to source of respective information. You can in fact even register for automatic announcements by email, and you can insert automatic calendar events into your electronic calendar.

(Last update: July 16, 2024)

IMPORTANT NEWS

The state of Baden-Württemberg has concluded a new agreement for travel bookings with the City Air Terminal Travel Agency (CAT), Lufthansa City Center, Terminal 1, Stuttgart Airport, effective January 1, 2025. This agreement replaces the previous contract travel agency GBT. Further information on booking and processing will be available shortly be available HERE (no news yet on Nov. 30).

At ZAH, the procedure to handle business trips to conferences, workshops, meetings, observatories etc. is described below. We ask you to follow these instructions strictly in order to avoid problems later on, e.g. with your travel reimbursement. See also here for official information provided by the university (only available in German).

How to get travel authorization

Generally, business trips need to be approved by the managing director of your institute or his deputies. This holds true even if you were given your own budget by third party funds. Please note that in addition to financial aspects, the travel authorization is also important for insurance reasons. Without proper authorization, your trip is from an insurance perspective regarded as a private trip.

You need to acquire travel authorization FIRST before booking your trip.

The following steps and aspects have to be taken into account:

1. The travel authorization form (English version or German version, last update May 22, 2025, only German version valid, English version ónly explanatory) has to be submitted to your local administration prior to your planned trip. The earlier you do that the better. If flights are involved, which you'll want to book quite a bit earlier, please hand in the authorization form at least 1.5 to 2 months ahead of the trip to ensure that you can still get a low price for the ticket. On the form, you should specify which grant of funding source is to be used for the reimbursement.
2. For "purpose of travel", do not just write "Conference" or "Collaboration meeting", but give the title and the dates of the conference or append a document describing the collaboration meeting (this can be a printout of the web page of the collaboration meeting or a letter inviting you for such a meeting).
3. Along with the form you have to provide a cost estimate of the trip (flight+additional transport, accommodation, conference fees, etc.). If you are part of a group, authorization by your your supervisor is also required.
4. Together with your travel authorization form you have to apply for a "Proof of Social Security" (which in German is called "A1-Bescheinigung") for travels abroad within the European Union and a few additional countries (for a list of countries see e.g. HERE ), no matter how short your trip will be. Please note, that for UK an A1 form is also required. The procedure to apply for A1 is as follows:
   
   4.1 Together with your travel authorization form you fill out an "A1 application form", which unfortunatly is only available in German. Depending on your employment status and destination (EU member state or not) you have to fill out different forms:
   
   - all scientist except for those who are "Beamte" use THIS form for trips to EU-member states.
   - all scientist except for those who are "Beamte" use THIS form for trips to NON EU-member states.
   - "Beamte" use THIS form for trips to EU-member states.
   - "Beamte" use THIS form for trips to NON EU-member states.
   
   4.2 Pass both forms (travel authorization and A1 application) to your local administration. They will check your request and pass it to the appropriate director for approval. To fill out the A1 application form your personal ID number (Personalnummer) is required. You can find it on your payroll sheet.
   
   4.3 Both approved forms will be scanned and sent to you via mail. You should then on your business trip carry along a printout of these documents unless you have received the regular "Poof of Social Security" which you will then use instead of the A1 application form (see below).
   
   4.4 Our administration will forward your A1 application form to the respective authorities ("Landesanstalt für Besoldung und Versorgung Baden-Württemberg" or the "Deutsche Rentenversicherung" for civil servants). These will check, approve and send back to you the "Proof of Social Security" which looks like THIS. After receipt, you have to provide a copy of this document to your local administration.
   
   4.5 There is also the possibiity to apply online for the A1-form in urgent cases. Please contact the ZAH scientific mamager to get some assistance. Experience has shown that you will receice the approved form within 2 days.
    
5. Please note that the regular A1 application process can take up to 4 weeks!
6. THIS is an interesting FAQ-site regarding the A1-issue. Have a look.

How to get travel advances

In case of expensive business trips you can apply for advance. The informal advance application has to be submitted to your local administration together with the approved travel authorization form. You have to append documents showing the costs of your accommodation, transportation, etc. If there are unusual expenses (e.g., you are travelling alone but are booking a double room) you need to justify and document that (e.g. you may be booking a double room for single usage because all single rooms are booked out already). Please note that if you are requesting an advance it is important to hand in the travel authorization form well ahead of your trip!
 

Combining business trips with private stay

In order to adapt the processing of flight travel costs with an integrated private trip to the legal framework, business travelers are asked to enclose at least three comparative offers of the flight costs from the same airline and the same travel agency when submitting their travel expense report. For business trips that are combined with a private stay, the travel expense reimbursement is to be calculated as if only the business trip had been carried out without a private stay. It must therefore be proven that no additional costs were incurred as a result of the private stay. To ensure this, the travel expense application must include a comparative offer of a flight with the actual business travel period (round trip) as additional proof. If no meaningful comparative offer is available, the ZAH administration must unfortunately halve the submitted flight costs. To summarize:

• If you want to combine a business trip with a private stay, do specify that on your travel authorization form.
• Also hand in an application for vacation with the respective form if work days are affected.
• Enclose at least three comparative offers of the flight costs when submitting your travel expense claim with integrated private travel.
• The travel expense application must contain a comparative offer of a flight with the actual business travel period (outward and return flight) as additional proof. This additional offer must be obtained  for the same airline from the same travel agency together with the actual booking.
• If no meaningful comparative offer is submitted with the reimbursement form, ZAH administration unfortunately has to halve the submitted flight costs. See also Caroline 7/24, page 4.
• Please also note that the private part should not exceed 5 working days.
• If your private part exceeds 5 working days, then the costs of your flight or train tickets cannot be reimbursed. Of course your accommodation during the business part of the trip will be.
   

Who is approving your travel authorization

At ZAH, the following people are responsible for approving travel requests:

at ARI: Eva Grebel, Björn Schäfer, Joachim Wambsganss, Dominika Wylezalek

at ITA: Michela Mapelli, Cornelis Dullemond, Ralf Klessen

at LSW: Norbert Christlieb, Andreas Quirrenbach
 

How to apply for travel reimbursement

!! You must submit travel expense reports within 6 months of the end of your business trip. The entitled person's right to reimbursement of travel costs expires at the end of this so-called exclusion period (in German "Ausschlussfrist") if no application has been submitted within this period. An extension of the deadline is not possible by law. This regulation is so strict that it doesn't even matter whether someone was unable to meet the deadline through no fault of their own, such as illness, ignorance or work overload.!!

During your travel, make sure to keep tickets, hotel bills, conference fees, boarding cards etc. You do not need to keep receipts for food, instead you get a "per-diem" (fixed amount of money per day) to cover such costs. 

Please tack all tickets that are not A4 (Paper) size onto an A4 paper, for easier handling.

Next, download the travel reimbursement form (last update July 16, 2025, only available in German; if you can't read German a mock English translation might help you to understand the German version, which is to be used to apply for reimbursement).

Fill it out electronically by using an PDF viewer/editor. Sign it and  attach tickets, bills etc. It would be helpful if you indicate the funding source for your business trip, e.g. your DFG grant or your supervisor's overheads.

Now pass this package to the administration of your department.

It may take some time before you receive your reimbursement. If it takes too long, you can ask your administration about the status of the reimbursement process.

Please note that travel expense reports of all kinds (including billing of the BahnCard) must be submitted to the employment authority (University Administration, Dept. 5.1) within a preclusive period of 6 months. This period begins on the day after the end of the business trip. The counting of the six months as well as the start and end of the period are also regulated in detail in the German Civil Code (see Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch §186ff). Here are some examples:

• If a business trip ends on Saturday at 00:30 a.m., the 6 months period begins on Sunday at 00:00 a.m.

• If the six-month period ends on a Monday, the exclusion period expires on the following Tuesday at 00:00.

• If the Monday at the end of the six-month period is a public holiday (e.g. Pentecost Monday), the exclusion period ends at the end of Tuesday, i.e. Wednesday, 00:00.

• If the six-month period ends on Good Friday, the exclusion period ends at the end of the first following working day (excluding Saturday), i.e. the Tuesday after Easter Monday, specifically Wednesday at midnight.

"Deadline calculators” like the one provided be the "Techniker Krankenkasse" (see HERE) offer help in calculating submission deadlines in accordance with the law, e.g. conditions mentioned above.

Furthermore, when ordering, approving and carrying out business trips, the principle of economy must always be observed!

(Last update: January 5, 2023)

How do I get a doctor's appointment in Heidelberg?

If you are looking for a doctor to treat your disease, you will often be disappointed in Heidelberg. For example, if you call a dentist's office, you may hear that they can no longer accept new patients. In addition, many doctors and their secretaries surprisingly often speak very poor English, which could create additional obstacles for your treatment.

The Welcome Center of Heidelberg University has compiled a list of English-speaking doctors in Heidelberg, which we provide you HERE. There you should be able to overcome at least one language hurdle and usually get a treatment appointment, because the respective doctors are aware of your special situation.

However, what is always possible is that you go directly to a doctor of your choice. Basically, the physician has no obligation to treat, but the chances to be treated are better once you are on site.

However, something else may apply with regard to the obligation to treat acute pain. In this  case, it is an emergency, which is the case, for example, if your heavily suffering (e.g.  severe toothache). A doctor must  not send you away with such pain. He is then even obliged to treat you.

(Last update: Febr. 17, 2021)

The directorate of the ZAH has noticed that there are various versions of how people refer to their institute in scientific publications. This is problematic e.g. for compiling citation statistics. Furthermore, there should be a "corporate identity" of the ZAH. We are therefore asking you to use the guidelines described here.

(Last update: Sep.16, 2025)

Students at ZAH are actually students at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. Anything related to their study should be discussed with the relevant authorities at the faculty:

- For Bachelor and Master students this would be the student secretariat at the INF227 building (Elisa Andriuolo and Birgit Jacob), the administrator of the physics and astronomy study (Dr. Ostrowski), the chairman of the examination office (Prof. Dullemond) or the dean of studies (Prof. Christlieb)

- For PhD students this would be the Dean's office or the HGSFP office.

Please keep in mind that students are themselves responsible for abiding by the procedures and rules of the faculty related to their studies.

Furthermore, the Graduate Academy is the central coordinating body for all support services related to general advising, professional and academic development and financial assistance for doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University. On their website, you will find information about e.g. special courses offered by the Graduate Academy or about sources of funding for doctoral candidates.

The Graduate Academy offers a variety of funding opportunities to doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University through the heiDOCS 2.0 program. Students can apply for grants within the following funding lines:

• Travel grants
• Bridging grants
• Publication grants and project grants
• Doctoral initiatives

Applications are open for all funding lines and can be submitted at any time for the following three deadlines during the year: February 15  |  June 15  |  October 15

For all program details and application procedures, please visit the Graduate Academy's website: https://www.graduateacademy.uni-heidelberg.de/foerderung/heidocs_main_en.html

Academic personnel has a certain teaching load depending on employment status and contractual regulations. In particular, there is a high demand in tutors for exercise groups which supplement various lectures and courses offered by the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. PhD-students and some staff members usually fulfill their teaching load as tutors in exercise groups which accompany regular lectures in astronomy or physics.

HERE you find a general overview about lectures and courses with such a demand for tutors and a registration platform it you want/need to support our lecturing activities.

(Last update: August 18, 2025)

In order to ease communication within ZAH and to avoid flooding everyone's incoming mail boxes with messages, we have created several email-list. The most important one are summarized below.

An overview about all lists currently available can be found HERE (note: only accessible from a computer inside the ZAH or via VPN).

Most important email-lists at ZAH:

• All Scientists at ZAH: science(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• Scientists with permanent staff positions: sciencestaff(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• Postdocs on fixed-term contracts: postdocs(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All ZAH students, incl. PhD-students:
• Only PhD-students:
• Only PhD-students at ARI: ZAH-ARI-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS(at)listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students at ITA: ZAH-ITA-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students at LSW: ZAH-LSW-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• ZAH administration: verwaltung(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at ZAH: all(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at ARI: all(at)ari.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at ITA: all.ita(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de
• All people working at LSW: all.lsw(at)uni-heidelberg.de

These e-mail-lists are maintained from our internal data base. Members of the ZAH can reach these aliases from their eMail-account. Email-groups associated with somebody are displayed whenever you click the persons' name on this list.

Heidelberg has 6 astronomy-related institutes scattered across town. Three of them are part of the ZAH (ARI and ITA in Heidelberg Neuenheim, and the LSW on the top of the Königstuhl mountain). The other three are the HITS (on the north slope of the Königstuhl mountain), the MPIK (on the west slope of the Königstuhl mountain) and the MPIA (on top of the Königstuhl mountain next to the LSW). 

For more detailed information, please check out "Astronomy and Physics in Heidelberg".

There is a Science Bus service (Bus 30) that shuttles between the Universitätsplatz in town and the institutes on the Königstuhl. There is also Bus 39 from Bismarckplatz to the Königstuhl. Please consult the RNV website for the schedule.

The University has various services to help you cope with special circumstances. These include family support issues such as childcare / daycare, advice on issues related to equal opportunity, mediation, and even a concierge service to help you combine work and family responsibilities. You can find all the information about these services on the website of the equal opportunity office.

(Last update: July 10, 2025)

For most ZAH-scientists their contract is drawn up in accordance with the german collective  labour agreement for people working in public services (TV-L). Using this income calculator your individual income can be calculated.
Your income depends on various parameters (marital status, experience level, number of children, etc.). Some typical examples are:

• Ph-student, no children (Experience level 2)
• Postdoc, no children (Experience level 2)
• Postdoc, one child (Experience level 3)

Depending on your income you also have the choice between a private or public health insurance. However, if your gross income is below 4.800,- EUR per month you can only opt for the public health insurance. This insurance is obligatory in Germany.

We had a couple of cases when non-german citizens brought their private health insurance from their home countries. But even in this case you have to have a public German health insurance. If you have further questions regarding this issues you can contact the ZAH scientific manager for further assistance.

For an overview about Health Insurance Options in Germany see https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/healthinsurance.html or e.g. https://www.settle-in-berlin.com/health-insurance-germany/.

While you work in Germany a pension fund will be set up for you and parts of your income will automatically transferred to this fund. This pension insurance scheme is called "Deutsche Rentenversicherung".

If you will at a later stage take up another job outside Germany or back in your home country it is possible to have access to this German fund via your local pension agencies. When you are going to retire you apply for pension in your country of residence. Your local agency will then contact the german pension fund and the amount of pension you have obtained during your employment in Germany will be paid together will pensions from other employments in Europe or abroad.

(Last update Febr. 16, 2021)

Success in research and education can only be accomplished in a cooperative environment that values respectful conduct and fair competition as a basis for a positive working and learning environment. Heidelberg University is committed to fair conduct; it safeguards equal and respectful treatment of and between its members on all levels, and supports measures to build and sustain a climate which fosters such conduct. Within its purview the University thus takes on the responsibility for protecting the personal rights and dignity of all its members.

If you would like inform yourself about topics revolving around questions relating to sexual harassment, bullying, stalking and discrimination a summary of university related measures can be found in the Senate Guideline on Fair Conduct.

In addition, student representatives of the Heidelberg Graduate School for Physics (HGSFP) in conjunction with the Directorate of the School have compiled Supervision Guidelines of the HGSFP which give an outline for securing adequate planning, comprehensive advice and supervision.

The Graduate Academy is the central coordinating body for all support services related to general advising, professional and academic development and financial assistance for doctoral candidates at Heidelberg University. They not only provide additional information regarding Fair Conduct but also regularly offer course which help to improve skills on different levels of working in academics. It is useful to study their Course Register of past courses. This may provide an overview about respective courses.

(Last update April 26, 2023)

At the Ricoh print center "copy, print @nd more", you can have term papers, manuscripts, bachelor/master/doctoral theses, dissertations, readers and flyers, etc. cheaply printed and bound. On the print center's digital printing systems, you can select two-hole or four-hole punching and various stapling options to be performed in a one-step printing process, as well as choose from a range of finishing options according to your needs. Materials can be printed single-sided or double-sided in black and white or in color. There are multiple processing options available for printed materials including various paper weights and colors, transparent plastic covers and different types of binding.

The documents for printing can be sent in a common file format (preferably as a PDF file, but also as a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file) or on a storage device (USB drive, CD-ROM or DVD). To ensure faster processing, all files should be merged into a single document. If you belong to a Heidelberg University institute and want to submit a print order to the print center digitally you can do so with a web form.

You also have the option to print conference posters via university services. All information about submitting a poster file or size and quality options are provided at https://www.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/en/service-catalogue/printing/poster-printing.

Please note it is only possible to issue print orders if the billing can be done via one of the institute accounts. For this purpose, a department key ("Dienststellen-Schlüssel") and a cost account ("Kostenstelle") must be specified in the web form. Your local administration will be happy to provide you with respective information.

(Last update: October 13, 2025)

German language courses free of charge

The International Study Center (ISZ) at Heidelberg University is offering free German courses for regularly enrolled international students. All Bachelor's, Master's and Staatsexamen students can participate. The ISZ offers courses for beginners and advanced learners. All important information about the courses and registration can be found at https://www.isz.uni-heidelberg.de/en/zsbk

Microsoft 365 for Students Now Free of Charge

All students can use a wide range of Microsoft 365 Office products, apps and online services for their studies free of charge via the university's Microsoft license portal. For more info see

https://www.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/microsoft-365-for-students-now-free-of-charge

Reporting Spam-Mails to the Heidelberg University Computing Centre
If you think have received Spam Mails please follow instructions given HERE.

Vaccination if travelling abroad

Info to be added

We are aware that when you are new citizen in Heidelberg and member of ZAH, perhaps from a different country and different culture, you may have many questions that are not answered by this "manual" of ZAH. In this case, please feel free to contact your local secretaries with these questions and ask for help. Our ZAH scientific manager, Dr. Guido Thimm, is also happy to answer any questions you may have.