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: July 1, 2024)

The Center 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. Joachim Wambsganss - 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 currently consisting of the ten full professors:

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

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 Institut für Theoretische Studien (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. 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 Klinger-Araifa: ITA Administration (Tue(ap), Wed(ap), Thu(a))
• Herr Fleuss: ERC ECOGAL Administration (Mo(p), Wed(ap), Fr(ap))

at LSW:

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

(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: Jan 02, 2023)

System administrators

At ARI and ITA, the primary computer system administrators are Sven Weimann and N.N. (soon to come). You can contact them via email to admin(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de. Please always use this email address, do not address just to one of the admins alone. For the LSW the local administrators are Ingo Stilz und Florian Rothmaier.

Accounts for ITA and ARI

Please note that In order to get your ARI/ITA account, your employment/stay at ZAH must be listed in our  internal personnel database, including your E-Mail address. If this is the case, you will receive an automatic mail from our system with instructions about how to apply for an account. If you don't receive such an email, please ask your supervisor or at your local administration to make sure the listing in the personnel database exist and includes your mail address. If this is the case and you still don't receive such a mail, please contact the admins at admin(at)zah.uni-heidelberg.de.

Uni-ID

When you have a working contract with the  University or are an enrolled student, you will (should) automatically get a Uni-ID, i.e. a university-wide identification number (e.g. "uh320") that is your key to all university computational and data services. Usually, you will receive it via postal mail several days after you have signed your contract. If you think it may take too long, please contact the ZAH system administrators (see below). If you are an external long term guest, please contact your local secretaries or the admins on how to get account for you. Please make sure to have a safe password on your Uni-ID, since it unlocks everything. For employees, the Uni-ID will be valid for 49 days after your employment ends. During this time, you can still login to your account, e.g. to configure an Auto-Reply. After this grace period, the account will be terminated and can not be further extended without a formal working contract at the university.

Email

The Uni-ID gives you access to an email account at the university computer center ("Uni-RechenZentrum - URZ"). You can find it at https://sogo.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/. An overview of email servers and their usage is given here. At LSW, a local independent email system is used. Ask the system admin at LSW for details. At ARI and ITA we only use university mailservers. Please also have a look at https://www.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/en/email-and-groupware.

Important note: Forwarding your mail to another external address after your contract expires is not  allowed per the e-mail regulations of the university (german only link).  However, you can set up an auto-reply with a new address that will be active until the end of the next calender year after your exit from the university (e.g. if your contract expires at some point in 2023, this autoreply will be active until the end of 2024). How this is done depends on the type of mail account you use (Cyrus/Sogo vs. Exchange). Please see the link above for detailed instructions.

WWW

The ZAH webpage is managed by Guido Thimm. The underlying content management system and webservers are managed by the system admins. The institute web pages are managed locally. You can set up your own webpage for your professional profile. Please ask the system admins. The ZAH webpage features a "news" section. If you have a new discovery, press release, or have other news that you think would be nice to feature on the website of the ZAH, please contact Guido Thimm.

VPN, eduroam, wireless

The University has services that are only accessible from inside the university network. That can be annoying if you are at home with your laptop. The solution is the VPN service of the URZ.  This VPN solution also allows you to access all electronic journals that the University is subscribed to! 

The University is part of eduroam URZ:https://www.urz.uni-heidelberg.de/de/eduroam, which is superb if you are on travel: most universities worldwide now have joined eduroam, so that you do not have annoying issues with getting online while on your business trip. On the entire university campus you can access the University wireless network via Eduroam, but this needs special configuration on your client (see link above). If  you don't want or can't install this configuration for your system for some reason, you  can use the UNI-WEBACCESS network instead, but this requires you to enter your Uni-ID credentials in a so called captive portal after you have logged in.

ZAH IT Guide

Please also check out the ZAH IT Guide, which gives you an overview about our internal services.

Many groups have their own computer servers. For access to those, please ask your supervisor. 

The University participates in the bwForCluster computer clusters (including the BinAC cluster). You need a Uni-ID for access, but even then: you first have to request access. Consult your supervisor, and/or admin@zah.uni-heidelberg.de and/or the following webpage:

https://www.bwhpc-c5.de/wiki/index.php/BwForCluster_User_Access

Typically your supervisor (if you are a student or postdoc) will have a project ("Rechenvorhaben") at BwFor, and you can request access to BwFor (including BinAC) via that project by asking your supervisor the ID of the "Rechenvorhaben" and the password.

Note that the access request will have to be approved by the ZAH-Director. Once you requested access, the ZAH-Director will automatically get an eMail from the system for confirmation. This should be reasonably quick. If not, please ask admin@zah.uni-heidelberg.de.

More details about ZAH computing ressources can be found at<link ari/internal-information/it-guide/ - moz-txt-link-freetext> </link>http://www.zah.uni-heidelberg.de/ari/internal-information/it-guide/ (Note: only accessible from within the ZAH.

(Last update: July 1, 2024)

Every day, the physics and astronomy community in Heidelberg as a whole 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: Nov 30, 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. Further information in German is provided on the official travel website of the university.

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) 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

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 April 6, 2023, 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: August 1, 2024)

The new service agreement on teleworking (Dienstvereinbarung zur Telearbeit, access requires login via Uni-ID) will apply from August 1, 2024. This service agreement is now the basis on which you can work temporarily or regularly at home. It applies to all employees of the university, including the employees of the ZAH.

Below, you find a a summary of the most important conditions, under which working from home - also called teleworking - will also be possible in the future. You will also find a guide to the application process. However, please bear in mind that Heidelberg University continues to rely on personal exchange in all areas. For this reason, working in presence will continue to be an essential part of the cooperation in the future. The recommendations for working in home office are intended to create a framework that ensures transparency, traceability and collegial justice for all parties involved.
 

What should be considered in the new regulations for teleworking?

The decisive criteria for the agreement of telework are the individual competence of the employees and the suitability of the activities without quantitative and qualitative compromises in teleworking.

• Two models of telework are offered: regular and temporary telework. Regular telework is carried out on fixed days at fixed times at the place of teleworking (your home office). Temporary teleworking can be flexibly arranged for short-term needs.
• The decision whether and to what extent telework is agreed is made in consultation between you and your responsible superior, i.e. institute director or your group leader.
• In view of the special tasks and necessities in a research university, the Chancellor proposed a scope of usually up to 40% of the individual weekly working time for telework. In fact, however, up to 100% of the working time is possible, provided that the conditions for this are met.
• A period of 24 working days per year in temporary telework should normally not be exceeded.
• Teleworking agreements shall be valid for a maximum of three years. If the conditions are still met, they can be always extended.
• Before the agreement and, if necessary, extension, an employee appraisal takes place, in which the framework conditions for the implementation of successful telework and the topics of occupational safety, as well as data and IT security are discussed. A risk assessment for the teleworking workplace must also be carried out by using THIS FORM.
• The institution provides the IT resources and IT equipment needed to carry out the official activity at your teleworking place. But you have to provide equipment with furniture, lighting and IT access (e.g. router).
• On the basis of work results and feedback, superiors check whether teleworking performs the same as in presence.
• You have to ensure the usual accessibility in teleworking as in the context of your work in the department. This is usually the case by email or by rerouting your desktop telefone at the institute.

How do I apply for temporary or regular home work?

The application is made in three steps:

1. You first submit an "application for the granting of teleworking" to your superior, e.g. your group leader, provided by the staff council of the university. This serves the documentation and gives you the opportunity to participate in the staff council in accordance with the rules in the event of a rejection or restriction of the scope requested by you. With this application, you formally ask for a personnel interview, which must be carried out promptly in accordance with the service agreement. This application also refers to "necessary documents". This refers to the forms provided by the university, which you have to fill out in the second step. You can also ask in this form that your superior helps you fill out the second form required (see below). You can also ask the ZAH Scientific Manager (Guido Thimm).
2. Your supervisor conducts your personnel interview. This must take place when an agreement is concluded for the first time, but also with each extension. In the discussion, the framework conditions for the implementation of successful telework are a central topic, but also includes things that may have to be taken into account in the home office when dealing with business information and personal data. How this conversation has be conducted is not specified.
3. As part of the teleworking service agreement, you must in this third step fill out a second form based on the content of your personnel interview with your superior. For this so-called "framework agreement on a teleworking place", there is an application form for "temporary teleworking", e.g. a week that you spend at home to complete a paper, and the "Reguläre Telearbeit", if you e.g. regularly on a certain day of the week perform the official business from the home workplace. You must have the respective form signed in duplicate by your supervisor. He has to send a copy to the personnel management office at Heidelberg University. For employees of the ZAH this is usually Ms. Cornelia Striebinger (cornelia.striebinger(at)zuv.uni-heidelberg.de). For ZAH civil servants ("Beamte"), this is Mrs. Iris Wick (iris.wick(at)zuv.uni-heidelberg.de). In both cases, the address is "Seminarstr. 2, 69117 Heidelberg".

After these three steps, the procedure for authorising telework is completed.

What else  do I have to consider?

• The agreement on regular working hours is concluded for a period of up to three years. It can be extended if the conditions or framework conditions have not changed. For this purpose, the corresponding form in accordance with step 2 must be completed again, approved by the supervisor and sent to the HR department.
• The telework agreement can be terminated without notice, e.g. if requirements have been omitted. If this dismissal is made by the supervisor, the respective employee can involve the staff council.
• I have attached a simple EXCEL table which you may use to keep track of your working hours at home.
• General information on the university's working time regulations can be found at www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/telearbeit (login via UNI-ID required).

Every employee on a contract (not those on stipends) has a holiday card. You have a certain number of holidays you can freely choose. However, they have to be approved by your employer. Simply ask the secretary. There are also a number of official fixed holidays (Christmas, Easter etc). You can find these official holidays on e.g. http://www.schulferien.org.

(Last update: January 5, 2023)

How and when to inform your institute that you are ill

If you fall ill and for this reason cannot come to your institute or work in home office, you must report sick. This is your statutory duty. There are no formal requirements for reporting your sick leave. It is sufficient if you inform the responsible institute secretariat + group leader  about your illness by phone or e-mail. If possible, this should  be done before you would start working.

You can also ask someone (e.g. a family member or your partner) to take over if your state of health does not allow it.

You do not need to give any information about the cause of your illness.

If you are unable to work for up to three calendar days in a row, but come back to the institute on the following working day and report back to the institute (secretariat + group leader), there is nothing further to do afterwards.

If you are unable to work for more than three calendar days, you must have your incapacity for work confirmed by a physician on the following working day, i.e. on the fourth day of illness. This is also known as "sick leave". As a rule, it will be issued from the day you call in sick at the institute.

Please note that since January 1, 2023, legally health insured employees no longer receive their incapacity for work certified in paper form by their physician. He instead issues a so-called "electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU)" (elektronische Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung (eAU)) and transmits it to your health insurance agency. The university, in turn, calls  up the corresponding sick note electronically from your health. So you no longer have to send a certificate of incapacity to work neither to your health insurance agency nor to hand it in to your institute.

However, since the ZAH institutes do not have access to the eAU it is still your duty to inform your institute (secretariat + group leader) immediately about the duration of the incapacity for work determined by your doctor.

Will anything change for privately insured persons?

For privately insured persons nothing changes for the time being. They will continue to receive their certificates of incapacity for work in paper form and must send them themselves as before to  their institute  (secretariat + group leader) by post or e-mail (scan/photo of the sick leave) and, if necessary, send them to their private health insurance agency (this often is possible electronically via the portal of the respective health insurance).

At what point in time you need a certificate of incapacity for work

As already mentioned, you must have your incapacity for work confirmed by a physician if you cannot work for more than three calendar days in a row, i.e. on the fourth day of illness.

Unfortunately, many are mistaken in the fact that only working days count in the deadline for sick leave. In fact, however, the calendar days apply to the calculation of the deadline. So if you fall ill before a weekend, you have to take Saturday and Sunday into account in the submission deadline. By the way, bank holidays are also included. 

For example, if you are sick on Monday, you will have to get an eAU on Thursday; if you have been ill since Thursday, Sunday is considered the fourth day of illness. In this case, however, it is sufficient if you have the incapacity for work confirmed on the following Monday and inform your institute immediately. Here are three more examples for better understanding:

Example 1: Employee legally insured
1st day of illness Monday
- informal (phone/e-mail) information to secretary + group leader
- if a longer duration of illness is foreseeable, the employee will also inform about the expected duration of illness.

2nd day of illness Tuesday
- information not necessary, if already informed about a longer duration of illness.

3rd day of illness Wednesday
- info not necessary, if already informed about a longer duration of illness.

4th day of illness Thursday
- visit physician
- physician confirms the inability to work digitally
- informal information to secretary + group leader about the  sick leave

Example 2.  Employee legally insured
1st day of illness Friday
- information to secretary + group leader

2nd sick day Saturday
- no action required

3rd day of illness Sunday
- no action required

4th day of illness Monday
- visit physician
- physician confirms the inability to work digitally
- information to secretary + group leader about the sick leave

Example 3: Employee privately insured
1st sick day Friday
- information to secretary + group leader

2nd sick day Saturday
- no action required

3rd day of illness Sunday
- no action required

4th day of illness Monday
- visit physician
- physician confirms the incapacity for work and gives you the certificate with
- you immediately send the certificate to your insurance company and inform your secretary + group leader about the sick leave  

I am still sick, can I extend my sick leave?

Yes, but the subsequent certificate of incapacity for work must be issued at the latest on the working day following the last day of your previous eAU certificate. Working days comprise all calendar days that are not Sundays or public holidays. It is  a good idea to visit your physician again on the last day of your sick leave. The fact that your certificate of incapacity for work is seamlessly confirmed may be important  for receiving sickness benefit in the event of a long-term illness.

Can I return to the Institute before my sick leave expires?

Yes, this is possible. You can also return to work before the sick leave or sick leave has expired, even without an additional certificate from the doctor. You will still have accident and health insurance. But then you should tell your group leader the medical diagnosis so that he or she can assess risks. He has a duty of care to you and your colleagues: If you go to work sick, you risk infecting colleagues and not curing yourself sufficiently for example.

I was sick on vacation. Will I get my vacation days back?

Yes, because on the day of the medical sick leave the holiday ends and the vacation days not used during the illness will be credited to you. But you can't just hang them back on holiday without permission. As usual, a request of holiday leave then is required.

What happens if I am sick for several weeks?

The new eAU is intended  to relieve you and the statutory health insurance companies and to document  your  inability to work completely with the health insurance company in the future. This is particularly important when it  comes to the payment of so-called sick pay. For up to six weeks, the university will continue to pay your salary in full, even if you are ill.

As a person with statutory health insurance, you can then get so-called sick pay after six weeks. However, this is less than your salary, usually 70 percent of your last gross salary.

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(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: October 1, 2024)

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 (Mrs Nerger or Mrs Hiemenz), the administrator of the physics and astronomy study (Dr. Ostrowski), the chair(wo)man of the examination office (Prof. Dullemond) or the dean of studies.

- 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 24, 2023)

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 currenty 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: ZAH-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• Only PhD-students: ZAH-DOCTORAL-STUDENTS@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
• 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 dynamically created from the personnel data base within the ZAH web page. Members of the ZAH can reach these aliases from their eMail account. Email-groups accociated with somebody are displayed whenever you click the persons' name on this list.

(Last update: January 12, 2023)

The Heidelberg University Library provides you access to all classical astronomy & astrophysics journals, various literature services and of course a variety of books on physics and astronomy. Such books are partly organized in a separate entity called "Bereichsbibliothek Physik und Astronomie (BPA)" (a sort of sub-library). Part of the BPA are the libraries of ARI, ITA and the LSW.

If you want to search for journals, books etc. available e.g. in the field of physics, astronomy or computer sciences you might consider the university online library system HEIDI. Books available at the ZAH libraries are part of this database as well. Many books are also available online.

Recently (1/2023) two new journals have been added to our portfolio of Physics & Astronomy science journals. These are

• NATURE Astronomy (https://ezb.ur.de/detail.phtml?bibid=UBHE&jour_id=252580&lang=de)
• Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (https://ezb.ur.de/detail.phtml?bibid=UBHE&jour_id=33491&lang=de)

To get a complete overview of all respective electronic journals available for members of Heidelberg University see our

• Electronic Journals Library (https://ezb.ur.de/fl.phtml?bibid=UBHE&colors=7&lang=en&notation=U&notation=U)

The key to all services of the Heidelberg Universiy libraries is your "UNI-ID". Please contact the scientific manager (Guido Thimm) in case of questions regarding online access to your favourite journals.

(Last update: Oct. 24, 2023)

I would like to inform you about another change in the way major astronomy journals are changing their publication models and what costs you will incur if you want to publish in the corresponding journals. Most of you who publish regularly may already know this, but for some of you it might still be worth knowing.

• From January 1, 2024, the entire Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) journal portfolio, i.e. MNRAS and MNRASL, will be fully open access (OA) . All articles published within these journals will then be immediately accessible without restriction. The journals will no longer have subscription charges, instead being supported by Article Processing Charges (APCs) of EUR 2.700,- per article.
   
• The entire AAS journals portfolio, i.e. ApJ, ApJS, AJ and APJL, was already made freely accessible as of January 1, 2022. All content of past, present, and future issue is openly accessible, i.e. anyone can read and download anything in the portfolio and there are no subscription fees or paywalls. Instead of subscription fees the AAS calculates article publication charges using an approach that counts “digital quanta”. Digital quanta can include words, figures, tables or data components. A single quantum is e.g. 350 words, one figure or one table (see HERE for more info). Costs for most (84%) of all articles is between EUR 1.100,- and EUR 2.500,-.
   
• NATURE and NATURE Astronomy offer a mixed model. On one hand they have the traditional subscription publishing model, i.e. articles are made available to institutions and individuals who subscribe to NATURE or NATURE astronomy or who pay to read specific articles. On the other hand they offer "Gold Open Access", i.e. the author/s or funder/s also pay an Article Processing Charge. The final version of the published article is then free to read for everyone. The APC to publish Gold Open Access in Nature or NATURE Astronomy is EUR 9.750,-.
   
• If you struggle with these costs I would like to remind you that Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A) is a leading community journal sponsored by a board of member countries. While subscriptions fund the publishing costs of the journal, the editorial costs are funded both by the contributions from member countries, and page charges for authors of non-member countries. There are no charges to publish in A&A if the first author is affiliated with an A&A member country.

If for certain reasons you still consider to publish your research papers in one of the paid journals, the University of Heidelberg Library OA Publishing Fund offers support for open access publication costs of up to EUR 1.000,-.

But you nevertheless also need to make sure to have enough money in your grant to cover the rest or all of the publication expenses.

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: June 28, 2022)

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
• 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 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 insurane 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 agencys. 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 May 29, 2024)

At ZAH, your "Pilot of trust" (Vertrauenslotse) and internal ombudsperson of ZAH will act as confidential and impartial advisor and mediator to whom employees and students (and their supervisors) can turn in case of any problems they may encounter in their professional relationship with their supervisor or any other context rearding their duties at ZAH. The role of the ZAH Pilot of trust and internal ombudsperson is currently held by our ZAH scientific manager Dr. Guido Thimm, and staff member Dr. habil. Anna Pasquali.

Questions or problems can be initially submitted to them by email or post. The ombudspersons will then contact the applicant to evaluate the problem and to find a solution. If neccessary, they will together with the applicant determine which offices or authorities may contribute to finding a solution according to the University GUIDE-Concept (see below).

In some cases, a simple advising session may be sufficient to resolve the problem. In other cases, the ombudsperson could e.g. with the permission of the applicant arrange a mediation session with the other parties involved. The "Pilot of trust" and internal ombudsperson has the authority to make recommendations regarding further action. The implementation of these recommendations, however, is up to the parties involved.

Contacts

Dr. habil. Anna Pasquali (internal Ombudsperson)
E-Mail: pasquali(at)ari.uni-heidelberg.de
☎ 06221 54 1872

Dr. Guido Thimm (Pilot of Trust / Vertrauenslotse)
E-Mail: thimm(at)uni-heidelberg.de
☎ 06221 54 1805

We would also like to draw your attention to

- GUIDE - the Heidelberg University Professional Handling of Conflicts and Misconduct
- the Concept for the use of trust guides in the facilities of the University of Heidelberg (in German)
- the Heidelberg Graduate Academy's Ombuds-Person Site


In the event of suspected academic misconduct, also one of the three Senate-appointed ombudsmen – one for the humanities and social sciences, one for natural sciences, and one for life sciences – or the chair of the commission serves as the initial point of contact.  Chain of command is irrelevant. For natural sciences this contact person is Prof. Dr. Günter Helmchen (Phone +49 6221 54-8421, G.Helmchen@oci.uni-heidelberg.de).

It is particularly important for us to maintain confidentiality in communication with those affected. In contrast to e.g. WhatsApp or e-mails, which in principle do not allow secure and confidential communication, the use of the university's own system, heiCHAT respective data protection. heiCHAT provides an instant messaging service with capability to send end-to-end encrypted messages, offered by the Uni-Rechen-Zentrum (URZ) of Heidelberg University. It is not necessary to register with the service in order to use it. You can log in using your Uni-ID.

The User-ID of our "Pilot of trust" (Vertrauenslotse) and ombudsperson are @hq122:matrix-im.uni-heidelberg.de (Dr. Guido Thimm) and @dy123:matrix-im.uni-heidelberg.de (Dr. Anna Pasquali), respectively . For first contact, please send a short email to pasquali@ari.uni-heidelberg.de or thimm(at)uni-heidelberg.de to notify that a heiChat message awaits them as they will not have heiChat always turned on. The confidential message should, of course, be inserted only in the heiChat message, not in the E-Mail.

(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 4, 2023)

At ZAH the largest group of scientific personnel comprises PhD-researcher and postdocs. Each group has its own specific needs which are manifold related to academic demands or the individual working environment.

To improve the flow of information between these groups and the ZAH directorate, ZAH status group representatives act as mediators. In additon to the ZAH ombuds person they are  trustable spokes and peer persons which ZAH members could approach in any cases regarding their working environment or specific demands which could only be solved on the ZAH executive level.

Issues will be handled confidentially, and/or (if you so wish) will be raised with the appropriate board/authority of the ZAH. ZAH representatives participate in meetings of the ZAH Internal Scientific Council. For each status group and each of the three ZAH institutes one elected person acts as peer representative.

At list of ZAH representatives will soon be provided.

(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.

We are aware that when you are new in Heidelberg, perhaps from a different country and different culture, you may have many questions that may not be answered by this 'manual' of the ZAH. Please feel free to contact your local secretaries with these questions and/or ask for help. Our ZAH science manager (Dr. Guido Thimm) is also very happy to answer any questions you may have.