Requirements for the position include a PhD in Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, or related fields, and an outstanding research record. The ideal candidate will work on the hominin fossil record to elucidate important questions on the adaptations and evolution of the human lineage. An excellent publication record, as well as relevance of research for human evolution, are expected. The successful candidate should show a strong interdisciplinary agenda and articulate a vision for developing a research group in accordance with the goals of the Cluster of Excellence. They will be expected to participate and contribute to the Cluster’s activities (symposia, colloquia, retreats) and develop collaborations with Cluster PIs and projects.

The position additionally offers four-year salary funds for one doctoral researcher and operational costs. We also offer excellent opportunities for cutting-edge collaborative research, state-of-the-art laboratories, and access to a wide range of facilities.

The ‘Human Origins: Excellence Cluster of Integrative Human Origins Studies’ is a newly approved Cluster of Excellence at the University of Tübingen. It will focus on the comprehensive, bio-cultural investigation of human evolution, to be examined through the integration of diverse disciplines, diachronically and at different scales throughout the last 5 million years of human evolution. The Cluster commenced its work on January 1st, 2026.

The University of Tübingen is committed to equity and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunities. The University seeks to raise the number of women in research and teaching and therefore urges qualified women to apply for these positions. Disabled candidates will be given preference over other equally qualified applicants.

Applications should be submitted electronically no later than October 15th, 2026. They should include: (1) a statement of research achievements and future directions (not to exceed 3 pages);  (2) curriculum vitae with publication list; (3) certificates / diplomas; (4) reprints of up to 3 key publications; and (5) the names and contact information of three referees.

Please submit applications as a single PDF file (max. 10 MB) to Annika Thiem admin.human-origins@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de  by October 15th, 2026.

The appointment will be made by the Central Administration (Zentrale Verwaltung).

The Department of Geosciences requires teaching in the bachelor’s and master’s courses of study in areas including early prehistory and Stone Age archaeology, artifact analysis and human evolution. The successful candidate will be integrated into the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP) and will be expected to collaborate with colleagues in the Geosciences and related archaeological fields. 

Required qualifications include a PhD or equivalent degree as well as postdoctoral qualifications and teaching experience equivalent to the requirements of a full professorship.  A track record of international research and experience in the acquisition and implementation of national and international third-party funded projects is expected. This includes evidence of teaching effectiveness. 

The successful candidate will be working in a highly collegial and family friendly work environment.

The University of Tübingen is committed to equity and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunities. Female academics, in particular, are explicitly invited to apply, as are applicants from outside Germany. Applications from equally qualified candidates with disabilities will be given preference.

General information on professorships, hiring processes, and the German academic system can be found here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/213700

Please submit your full application through the application site of the University of Tübingen at https://berufungen.uni-tuebingen.deby 2nd October 2026. Questions concerning the call for applications and the application portal can be directed to the Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Tübingen, Professor Dr. Thilo Stehle (career@mnf.uni-tuebingen.de).

Equal Opportunity & Diversity

Disabled applicants will be given preference in the case of equal qualifications. The University of Tübingen is committed to the goals of equality and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunity. The university aims to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and therefore strongly encourages appropriately qualified early-career female scientists to apply.

Application Process

Applications, including a CV and letter of motivation, must be submitted by September 15, 2026, to:

Prof. Patrick Schmidt
University of Tübingen, Department of Geosciences
Wilhelmstrasse 56, 72074 Tübingen, Germany

Prof. Barbara Kaup
University of Tübingen, Institute of Psychology
Schleichstraße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

Applications in a single PDF document sent via email are preferred:
patrick.schmidt@uni-tuebingen.de | barbara.kaup@uni-tuebingen.de

Advertisment on the Website of the University

In 2025, archaeologists from the University of Tübingen, Germany, recovered the birds in the same layer lying about 1.5 meters away from each other. They are of similar age and may perhaps have been carved by the same person. “The figurines demonstrate that the earliest artists were skilled ivory-carvers, who could depict delicate motifs in miniature form. Additionally, it seems that specific depictions are associated with specific sites,” says the director of excavations from the University of Tübingen, Professor Nicholas Conard.

The Albert Einstein World Award of Science has been presented annually since 1984 in recognition of outstanding and steadfast scientific and technological research and development. It is awarded by the World Cultural Council, which was founded in Mexico. University of Tübingen President, Professor Karla Pollmann, welcomed the news of the award. “I am delighted to hear that Professor Katerina Harvati is receiving further recognition for her outstanding research in the form of the Albert Einstein World Award for Science. This well-deserved award also serves as an inspiration for future generations to push the boundaries of research in all fields,” the president said. The award ceremony for Professor Harvati will take place on 2 November at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina.

In its announcement, the World Cultural Council-appointed committee of experts explained that it awarded the prize to Harvati because she has provided rigorous evidence that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are distinct species. The committee further cited how her research was pivotal in confirming the African origin of modern humans and mapping their migration routes. The experts also noted that with her discovery of the Apidima-1 fossil in Greece, the oldest Homo sapiens ever found in Eurasia, Harvati demonstrated that modern humans reached Europe approximately 150,000 years earlier than previously estimated.

Harvati’s excavations in Greece and the Balkans have shown that this region served as an Ice Age refuge and migration corridor for humans and animals during the harsh climatic periods of the Pleistocene, the committee said, adding that the discovery of the oldest archaeological sites in Greece has dated human presence in the region back to some 700,000 years ago. In Greece, Harvati’s research team recently discovered the oldest known hand-held wooden tools made by humans, dating back approximately 430,000 years.

Katerina Harvati was born in Greece. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Columbia University in New York, her Master’s degree from the City University of New York, and her Ph.D. in primate evolutionary biology from the City University of New York and the New York Consortium. Since 2009, she has held the Chair of Paleoanthropology at the University of Tübingen. She is the spokesperson for the Human Origins excellence cluster, launched in 2026.

The Albert Einstein World Award for Science, awarded annually by the World Cultural Council, recognizes individuals for their exceptional contributions to the advancement of science. It emphasizes their impact on both their specific field and the broader scientific community and takes into special consideration research which has brought true benefit and wellbeing to humankind. The winner of the award is elected by the Interdisciplinary Committee, which is composed of world renowned scientists, among them several Nobel laureates.

The team also challenges the former assumption of fire usage.

Grace Veatch, Independent Junior Research Group Lead at HUMAN ORIGINS Cluster of Excellence, and her colleagues of an international team of researchers from Indonesia, Kanada, USA and Australia were using taphonomic methods to challenge claims by earlier studies on Homo florensis. Published in 2004 and 2005, these assumptions on the ability of the small sized human relative to hunt extincted relatives of today´s elephants and use fire were proofen unlikely by the new study. 

Read more here: 

attempto online report 

Open Access publication 

The study was based on three-dimensional skull measurements of 87 fossils, including early species such as Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis to Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis, up to Neanderthals and modern humans. 

Press release

Open Access publication