What is the future for PhD researchers at the IHEID?

By the AdA and GISA board

On July 1st, 2025, the Association des Assistant-e-s (AdA) — the association responsible for representing PhD Research and Teaching assistants (RAs/TAs) at IHEID — met with the IHEID Direction. The topic: a new PhD reform.

For new and incoming PhD candidates, it is important to give historical context to the possibility of a new PhD reform. Previous AdA boards have advocated for fairer wages for the last several years (for a refresher, see here, here, here, and here), also bringing this issue to the attention of cantonal authorities together with the Syndicat interprofessionnel de travailleuses et travailleurs (SIT). In 2022, by building on a previous reform started in 2015, the Institute implemented what is now the PhD ‘package’ (see here), covering all admitted PhD candidates except for RAs hired on research projects. This package includes a scholarship for four years amounting to 17’000 CHF for the first year, 19’000 for the second, and 17’500 for the last two (after tuition fees); in addition, PhDs on the ‘package’ are offered TA-ships in their 3rd and 4th year, bringing the total annual gross compensation (scholarship + TA contract) to 41’500 CHF. No additional and critical provisions for PhD candidates admitted before 2022 were adopted; moreover, even for PhDs covered by the ‘package’, the amount of the scholarship was set 8’000 CHF below the poverty line, making it impossible for first- and second-year PhDs to cover their costs of living in Geneva.

In May 2025, your PhD representatives faced a different challenge: TA-ships were no longer guaranteed to senior PhD candidates without a ‘package,’ risking their replacement with more precarious and unstable ‘Student Collaborator’ positions under hourly employment, which have been used increasingly for replacing vacant TA positions. After the risks of this choice had been stressed multiple times by the PhD representatives, the Direction decided to continue offering some TA-ships to fifth-year PhDs in the academic year 2025-2026. However, the Direction has provided no guarantees that TA-ships will be offered to (some) fifth-year PhDs also next year. Furthermore, even for the current academic year, PhDs in their 6th year and above were not allowed to apply to these positions.

Concerningly, the number of TA-ships available for both ‘non-packaged’ and ‘packaged’ students decreased over the past 3 years, while both the number of Master students and faculty members rose. 

Table 1. Distribution and evolution of Teaching Assistant positions

Academic Year	TA-ships for‘non-packaged’ PhDs	TA-ships for ‘packaged’ PhDs	Total TA-ships
2023-2024	72	0	72
2024-2025	45	11	56
2025-2026	26	27	53

On May 16, AdA sent a letter to the Direction asking for further improvements and a more structured dialogue. A number of concerns were raised about the procedure of allocation of TA-ships and possible future problems (a copy of the letter can be found here).

Today, after 4 years since the beginning of the last PhD reform, further changes are under discussion. The new proposals may be summarised as follows:

1. PhDs will have the opportunity, from the third year, to compete in an ‘internal job market’ for positions including ‘junior lectureships’ and ‘tutorial fellowships.’ The former would be tasked with teaching courses of their own, while details are not clear on the tasks of the latter.
2. TA-ships, in their current form, will presumably not exist anymore; wage levels and numbers of new positions remain unclear at the moment. 
3. PhDs will retain the entire amount of their package funding (17’000 for the first year and 19’000 for the following three) for four years.
4. Conditions would remain unchanged for current and incoming PhDs; the new model would enter into force in September 2026, with the ‘internal job market’ being operational from September 2028 (although some positions might already be available in September 2027). 
5. These developments will soon be under discussion at the Comité académique and Direction académique, and the Direction has extended to AdA and the GISA VP for PhDs an invitation to engage in consultations on some of the elements of the new reform, while also expressing the unwillingness to discuss the broader structure of the PhD programme and the financial concerns raised by AdA.  

What do these changes mean? What impact will they have on the quality and experience of both MA and PhD education? How will this affect the pedagogical culture of the Institute? How will this influence PhDs’ living conditions? 

For us to be able to provide answers to these questions and decide on how to engage with the Direction with regard to both the current working conditions and the new reform, it is indispensable that we receive further input from the PhD community. On October 3rd, from 16:15-19:00, in A2 and online, a PhD Forum/Assembly, open to all PhDs, will be jointly hosted by GISA, AdA, and SIT. This is your opportunity to make your voice heard. While the new reform will be one of the key agenda topics, we will also more comprehensively detail the work done by your PhD representatives in the past year, and get your inputs on how to best engage with the Direction to improve our working conditions. Since no improvement is possible without PhDs’ participation, we hope to see many of you there!