The Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IF PAN) is recruiting a physics PhD at a minimum wage of PLN 4,806 gross. The advertisement quickly spread across social media and sparked a wave of outrage in the scientific community.
What the IF PAN offer involves
IF PAN is looking for an assistant – a physics PhD to work on transmission electron microscopy. The role involves operating specialised equipment used for atomic-scale research on nanostructures, worth millions of zloty.
The advertisement indicates that the requirements for candidates are very high:
- a PhD in physics
- 4–10 years of professional experience
- fluent English
- documented expertise in electron microscopy methods in materials research
For this profile of competencies, the institute offers PLN 4,806 gross, which equals the statutory minimum wage for 2026.
Minimum wage instead of “doctoral pay”
The amount of PLN 4,806 gross is the statutory minimum wage, which is to apply in 2026 for a full-time employee. This is close to the level guaranteed in 2025 by the national minimum wage – PLN 4,666 gross, or roughly PLN 3,511 “take-home”.
For comparison, after recent pay rises, the minimum salaries of academic teachers look as follows:
“Requirements like NASA, pay like a discount store”
Online comments have pointed out that the list of expectations for candidates resembles job ads from leading research centres in the West, but the salary is closer to a job at a checkout counter. Commentators note that the position requires a doctorate, several years of experience, the ability to win grants and work on world-class equipment, yet the starting pay is at the minimum level.
For comparison, offers for postdocs abroad often reach EUR 4–6 thousand gross per month, which converts to PLN 20–27 thousand. In practice, a Polish physics PhD at IF PAN is to earn up to 4–5 times less than his counterpart in the West. It is like offering a rally driver the pay of a courier just because both professions “drive a car”.
What this case says about science in Poland
The dispute over the IF PAN advertisement quickly grew into a symbol of how the state values highly specialised research work. If a physics PhD with several years of experience is to start a career on minimum pay, it is hard to expect young scientists not to choose the private sector or emigration en masse.
