Applying for a PhD position in Germany/Sweden/Ireland

[Figaro]

I have a masters degree in physics and I want to apply for a PhD position especially in Germany. What are the necessary steps that I should take and how can I apply for a scholarship? I have looked online but some information are a bit confusing and lacking so I hope someone could layout a rough guide on how to tackle this matter.

 

[mfb]

Germany:

While I don't have statistics, as far as I know scholarships are quite rare. Typically PhD students are employed by the university or research lab where they do their PhD. Scholarships can be a bit more prestigious, but they also come with a lot of administrative overhead and in terms of money they are very similar to the other positions. It is not much, but enough to live independently, and you can save some money as well if you want.

Some positions are advertised, you can find them typically on university websites, Inspire jobs has some as well. Just see what they want in terms of application procedure.
Some positions are created if a suitable candidate applies. If you want to go to some specific group, it can be worth asking even if they don't advertise PhD positions at the moment. This is especially important for the big research labs.

I don't know about Sweden and Ireland.