31
$\begingroup$

Most academic jobs involve some amount of teaching. Post-docs generally do not, but they are only short-term positions.

Question: in which countries can one obtain a research-only permanent position in mathematics? Please provide a link to a relevant website if possible.

Please mention only one country per answer, and since there is obviously no best answer, this is a community-wiki question.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
7
  • 16
    $\begingroup$ Postdocs in math "generally do not" involve teaching? That depends on the country. The percentage of permanent positions in academia with zero teaching -- even when averaged only among institutions with good resources -- is so tiny as to be negligible. Can you clarify the reason for your interest in this question? $\endgroup$
    – nfdc23
    Commented Jun 24, 2017 at 18:34
  • $\begingroup$ Well, I sort of guessed this was the case, but was wondering if that imbalance between the research+teaching and the research-only positions really reflects the tastes of most mathematicians, or if it is a question of planning by science agencies & universities. (For instance, instead of giving a very large salary to a research+teaching person they might have chosen to split this into two averagely-paid positions, one with no teaching and the other with lots). Thus, an example of a country where research-only positions were plentyful would have been interesting to study. $\endgroup$
    – Butini
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 19:02
  • 17
    $\begingroup$ The idea in your parenthetical comment would be encounter many difficulties in practice. A primary reason that the research+teaching paradigm is ubiquitous in many places is because the need to teach math to students in other fields is the only way most universities can justify having a non-tiny # of senior faculty positions and # of positions for math PhD students. The principle is conveyed nicely by what a wise math professor once said: "applied math is the only reason mathematicians are paid more than poets". Also check out how the funding of faculty worked even in Riemann's time. $\endgroup$
    – nfdc23
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 20:14
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ I pity the students of the next generation who will be deprived of the opportunity to learn from someone brilliant enough to deserve a permanent research-only position. $\endgroup$
    – Zach Teitler
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 13:13
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @ZachTeitler : Well I know a country where there are a lot of "research only" positions and I'm happy many of these people are not teaching at all. They would put off students away from mathematics if they had to teach. $\endgroup$
    – Libli
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 19:13

19 Answers 19

Reset to default
61
$\begingroup$

In the US, you could try to follow in the footsteps of Gödel and land a job at the Institute for Advanced Study.

But do keep in mind what Richard Feynman thought about such research positions without teaching duties:

When I was at Princeton in the 1940s I could see what happened to those great minds at the Institute for Advanced Study, who had been specially selected for their tremendous brains and were now given this opportunity to sit in this lovely house by the woods there, with no classes to teach, with no obligations whatsoever. These poor bastards could now sit and think clearly all by themselves, OK? So they don't get any ideas for a while: They have every opportunity to do something, and they are not getting any ideas. I believe that in a situation like this a kind of guilt or depression worms inside of you, and you begin to worry about not getting any ideas. And nothing happens. Still no ideas come.

Nothing happens because there's not enough real activity and challenge: You're not in contact with the experimental guys. You don't have to think how to answer questions from the students. Nothing!

From: "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! – Adventures of a Curious Character"

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • 36
    $\begingroup$ These poor bastards didn't have MO back in the 1940s. $\endgroup$
    – Uri Bader
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 7:04
  • 24
    $\begingroup$ The problem with this answer is, I can't tell how many of the upvotes are for the Institute and how many are for the Feynman quote. $\endgroup$
    – Kimball
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 7:28
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Kimball to obtain a reasonable approximation of the number of upvotes for the quote only, just subtract the maximum number of upvotes for other answers (none of them have any quotes). Uncertainty comes from the unknown amount remaining to be subtracted to reflect advantage of IAS over any other similar institution across the world. $\endgroup$
    – მამუკა ჯიბლაძე
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 9:28
  • 21
    $\begingroup$ I'll bet Feynman was thinking of physicists more than mathematicians, e.g., when he says "not in contact with the experimental guys". $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 17:26
  • $\begingroup$ He may have had physicists in mind, but I think it probably does apply to mathematicians as well. $\endgroup$
    – Hollis Williams
    Commented Oct 13, 2020 at 20:59
34
$\begingroup$

More modestly, the CNRS in France. There are about 12 positions each year, roughly at the level of 3 years after Ph.D. But be aware that the competition is fierce.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ Inria has a similar system (Inria does research in computer science, but employs some mathematicians). $\endgroup$
    – Fredrik Johansson
    Commented Jun 24, 2017 at 19:17
18
$\begingroup$

There are such positions at several pure research institutes in Russia and most of the other countries of the former Eastern Block. As far as I know, nowadays salarywise these positions are generally considered inferior to those at the universities (whereas in the Soviet era it was the opposite).

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I am not sure whether this applies to the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. (impan.pl) $\endgroup$
    – Tomasz Kania
    Commented Jun 24, 2017 at 19:10
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ These positions were never considered "inferior" at least in Poland and Ukraine, of which I have the first hand knowledge. Moreover, they never object if one wants to teach at the university while keeping this research position. One can also have graduate students if one wishes. Same situation prevails in Weizmann institute. $\endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 19:33
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @AlexandreEremenko As for me, I have some information from Czech republic, Hungary, Baltic states and Russia. As for Georgia, - in addition to lower salaries, there is certain tension between faculty staff and research institutes; the problem is that the state pays for students to the universities and any additional people who want to teach or have grad students are viewed as competitors. $\endgroup$
    – მამუკა ჯიბლაძე
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 21:28
16
$\begingroup$

In France again, IHES (Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques), maybe a kind of Princeton's IAS "à la française".

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
15
$\begingroup$

In Israel, there is the Weizmann institute of science.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ The Weizmann institute has a grad school and professors can have grad students. They can teach, if they choose to do so. Professors' salaries are standardized in Israeli universities, including the Weizmann inst. $\endgroup$
    – Uri Bader
    Commented Jun 25, 2017 at 20:32
13
$\begingroup$

In India, there are three such institutes

  1. Institute of Mathematical Sciences(Chennai) https://www.imsc.res.in
  2. Tata Instute(Mumbai) https://www.math.tifr.res.in/
  3. Harish Chandra Institute(Allahbad) https://www.hri.res.in

At all these places there is a graduate program; but teaching is voluntary, and there are some people who don't teach at all, however from what I have seen the very best people like MS Raghunathan, Mahan Mj or VS Sunder generally teach in both semesters.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ I think Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi centre is also such an Institute. $\endgroup$
    – Akshay Hegde
    Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 8:55
  • $\begingroup$ ^They have MStat program $\endgroup$
    – user105374
    Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 8:57
13
$\begingroup$

The Netherlands has CWI - Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (Centre for Maths and CS), Germany has a number of institutes within Max Planck system; they do employ mathematicians in research-only permanent positions, albeit is small numbers.

https://www.cwi.nl

https://www.mpim-bonn.mpg.de

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
12
$\begingroup$

In Seoul, there is the Korea Institute for Advanced Study.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
12
$\begingroup$

In Spain there is the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas). Specifically the ICMAT employs mathematicians. The permanent staff at the CSIC are public employees with category equivalent to that of professors in public universities, although they are slightly better paid.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I was also going to comment on CSIC but all mathematicians I've met at ICMAT have a permanent position in an University thus some teaching assignment. $\endgroup$
    – Miguel
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 14:05
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Miguel Atencia: The CSIC has its own permanent faculty who have no teaching duties. The ICMAT in particular is a joint research institute with several universities, so some of its members are professors at these universities, but some of its members are employees of the CSIC itself. $\endgroup$
    – Dan Fox
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 17:07
10
$\begingroup$

Industry has some such opportunities, e.g. I know of Microsoft Research.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ Can you expand on this? While there may not be a requirement to teach students, are there other obligations? And perhaps worth mentioning this is implemented to varying degrees, e.g., google's "20% project" vs google's "x lab" (now moonshot). $\endgroup$
    – Ben Burns
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 13:32
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ This is false. Any position in industry cannot be considered "permanent". In fact, MSR closed one location (silicon valley lab) and effectively fired majority of the staff at that location. $\endgroup$
    – mystupid_acct
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 14:01
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @mystupid_acct, obviously you are correct that industry positions tend to be less stable than academia.On the other hand a positions in academia are not automatically stable (indeed tenure-track positions could be considered very unstable depending on the likelihood of achieving tenure). $\endgroup$
    – usul
    Commented Jun 27, 2017 at 1:15
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @BurnsBA, I don't have enough special knowledge to speak very specifically, but I believe there are industry jobs across the spectrum from almost totally research-oriented, with publications emphasized, to very applied or focused with little of the research being revealed outside the company. I mentioned Microsoft because I know they have some positions close to the pure-research end of the scale. $\endgroup$
    – usul
    Commented Jun 27, 2017 at 1:17
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @mystupid_acct And a university could get rid of its mathematics department or decide to make someone redundant or close down altogether. That doesn't mean the positions aren't permanent. 'Permanent full time' doesn't mean 'guaranteed to have a job for the rest of eternity'. $\endgroup$
    – user49512
    Commented Jun 27, 2017 at 22:15
9
$\begingroup$

In Iran, there is the IPM(School of Mathematics).

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
7
$\begingroup$

Very similar to the Weizman Institute in Israel, there is the newly founded Institute of Science and Technology in Austria.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Quoting from ist.ac.at/about-ist-austria/open-positions/faculty : "Every Professor and Assistant Professor of IST Austria is expected to participate in the Graduate School." - The IST only admints Ph.D. students, and one could argue that teaching Ph.D. students is much closer to research than traditional teaching. $\endgroup$
    – Goldstern
    Commented Jul 4, 2018 at 13:10
7
$\begingroup$

In Argentina, researchers almost always get a career at CONICET, which guarantees them a salary not dependent on their university position.

Historically, though, it's been possible to earn a bit more by concurrently having a position at a university, so most researchers have teaching dutiues. I'm also guessing that without a professor position it might be difficult to have a solid enough CV to get promoted to the higher ranks of the research-only positions.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
6
$\begingroup$

Collège de France. There is an interview with Alain Connes, in which he mentions how it works. I think it is this one:

http://www.freewebs.com/cvdegosson/connes-interview.pdf

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
4
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I changed "https" to "http" and it works now. $\endgroup$
    – efs
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 14:36
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Actually in the interview he says there are teaching duties in the Collège de France, just that they're only 18 hours per year. $\endgroup$
    – godelian
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 14:48
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Yes, but I think this "teaching duties" are more like colloquia to expose his recent work. $\endgroup$
    – efs
    Commented Jun 26, 2017 at 15:12
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ As Godelian mentions, a Professor at the CdF has a teaching duty. As EFinat-S says, (s)he usually exposes own research, but not always. It can be someone else's research that (s)he founds valuable enough. And there are no exam, no diploma. Nevertheless, J.-P. Serre retired early (at 68 !) from CdF because he wanted to be freed from this duty. $\endgroup$
    – Denis Serre
    Commented Jun 30, 2017 at 13:45
6
$\begingroup$

Italy: CNR. Calls for positions are published online here (in Italian only and difficult to search for discipline). :(

Also, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, and the Gran Sasso Science Institute are not research-only, but they have only honors and PhD courses with a very small number of students.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
0
4
$\begingroup$

In China, there are now a few institutes that have research-only positions. Some of these have been aggressively recruiting new tenure-track and tenured professors recently.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

In the US, one can find research-only positions in government (I'll direct the interested reader to usajobs.gov) . Moreover, one can compete for grants in independent research; however, be prepared to "sell" the subject matter to a different audience (some, if not most, of whom are non-technical).

After the probationary period, one can view this position as relatively secure. However, if you are unable to find someone to fund your efforts, they'll find something for you to do.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
0
1
$\begingroup$

In Japan there is the RIKEN (Institute for Physical and Chemical Research). As the name suggests, their focus is on the experimental sciences, but they employ some pure and applied mathematicians too.

There are a few other governmental research institutes: the Institute for Statistical Mathematics (which has a focus on statistics and related mathematics), the National Institute of Informatics (NII) (with a focus on theoretical computer science, combinatorics and logic), and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) which is applied by nature but nevertheless employs mathematicians.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
-1
$\begingroup$

In the UK, as far as I know, the only place is All Souls College in Oxford which at least in the past had two maths professors. Members can teach and can have PhD students, but they don't have to. Also, formally, it is not permanent and has to be renewed every five years. Now, there might be people that have research chairs in other places where they don't have to teach, but I am not sure they are positions, but rather individual contracts.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .