Institute of Physics PAS recruits a doctor of physics – for a minimum salary of PLN 4806 gross. The announcement quickly hit social media and sparked a wave of outrage in the scientific community.
What is the offer of the Institute of Physics PAS
The Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences is looking for an assistant – a doctor of physics to work on transmission electron microscopes. It is about the operation of specialized nanostructure research equipment at the atomic level, worth millions of PLN.
The announcement shows that the requirements for a candidate are very high:
- PhD in Physics
- 4-10 years of professional experience
- Knowledge of English
- documented knowledge of electron microscopy methods in material studies
For such a competence profile, the institute offers PLN 4806 gross, i.e. the equivalent of the minimum wage for work in 2026.
Minimum salary instead of "doctoral pay"
The gross amount of PLN 4806 is the statutory minimum wage to be applied in 2026 for a full-time worker. This level is similar to what in 2025 was guaranteed by the lowest domestic – PLN 4666 gross, or about PLN 3511 "on hand".
In comparison, after recent increases, the minimum salaries of academic teachers are as follows:
"Requirement on NASA, salary on disk"
There have been comments online that the list of expectations towards the candidate resembles announcements from leading research centers in the West, but the salary is closer to working on the cash register. Publicists point out that we are talking about: doctorate, several years of internship, the ability to earn grants and work on world-class equipment, and yet the starting rate is a minimum.
For comparison, the offer of post-docks abroad often reaches 4-6 thousand euros gross per month, which means 20-27 thousand zł. In practice, the Polish doctor of physics in IF PAN is expected to earn as much as 4–5 times less than his counterpart in the West. It's like a situation where a rally driver is offered a courier salary just because both professions "drive a car".
What this case says about science in Poland
The dispute over the announcement of IF PAN quickly grew into a symbol of how the state values highly specialized research work. If a physics doctor with several years of experience is to start his career with a minimum salary, it is difficult to expect that young scientists will not choose the private sector or emigration massively.
