A postdoc's view from inside the system
Real data.
Honest takes.
Academic life — unfiltered.
I scraped 46,972 DFG grants, analysed 25,960 researchers, and built the data infrastructure that funding bodies won't show you. Then I wrote about it.
What I write about
The things nobody tells you before you start a PhD — backed by data, not opinion.
Research Funding
Who really holds the grants? Where does public money go? I dig into DFG, ERC, SNSF and HFSP data.
Career Strategy
From guerrilla job search tactics to finding well-funded PIs — practical guides for the academic job market.
The PhD Reality
The data behind mental health, supervision quality, and the gap between what academia promises and delivers.
System Analysis
Grant concentration, consortium politics, career bottlenecks — structural problems mapped with real numbers.
Latest insights
The Hidden Cost of Big Labs
A 2025 Nature Human Behaviour study of 1.5 million scientists reveals the paradox of academia: large prestigious labs create high-impact researchers, but trainees from smaller groups are far more likely to survive in academia long-term.
How to Use AI and Data to Find Well-Funded PIs
A data-driven approach to identifying well-funded PIs before they advertise positions. Analysis of 46,972 running grants across 25,960 researchers.
The guerrilla strategy for academic job searching
292 applicants. 1 position. The cold-email strategy that bypasses the queue — and why most academics never try it.
HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship — complete guide
One of the most prestigious international postdoc fellowships. Most people miss the deadline. Full timeline and eligibility guide.
How I built the DFG database from scratch
32 hours, a cloud server, and a scraper that survived interruptions. Full methodology behind scraping GEPRIS.
Who is The Lone $cientist?
A postdoc navigating the same system I write about. Every post is backed by real data. Every claim is verifiable. Every number comes from a source I'll show you.
The $ is intentional. Science runs on money. Understanding how the funding system works is not cynical — it is essential.
More about me
Find well-funded researchers
Search all 25,960 active DFG-funded researchers by name, subject, city, or institution. Identify PIs with hiring capacity.