Contact Professor Before Applying - European PhDs

[Lott]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone has experience applying to PhD position in European countries and could advise me on this (although I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking the whole thing). Most universities I'm interested in post their open PhD positions as jobs on their website, complete with a project description and the name of the supervisor for the project (at least for my field - I've seen positions in other fields are just listed in batches with a general description). Since there's no need to e-mail these professors to ask if they're taking students, and the project description is already given, is it worth contacting the professors before applying (or, will it hurt my chances if I don't contact them)? This seems like a fairly different process than what I'm used to in North America, and I want to make sure I'm not making things harder for myself by screwing up the first steps.

[Yanaka]

I can only speak to the little I know from France, and the tradition over here is to contact and talk with the prof. Otherwise it might seem seem odd and they might not even acknowledge you  

[Lott]

Thanks for the reply! I'll make sure to start sending out e-mails (of the intelligent, non-generic kind) before I apply from now on (which means I have a couple to send out tonight!).

Edited December 8, 2016 by Lott

[TakeruK]

In my field, the European PhD positions are also listed. We would treat them like job openings. So, if you wanted to work with Prof X on project Y, it makes sense to contact Prof X to let them know you are applying to the open position. You don't have to contact them before you apply though, but if you can then you might be able to ask them some questions about the position etc. However, for the ones you have already applied to, you can still send them an email to let them know about your interest in their group and that you have applied. 

[Lott]

Ah, I think thats where I've been getting mixed up then - I've always been told NOT to track down and contact the person hiring when applying to jobs online (unless you already know them). But it makes sense that this is different, since academia always is.

And its good to know I haven't completely botched the ones I've applied to already - I'll send out e-mails for those ones tonight as well.

Thanks!