Before anyone gets too excited at this, it makes it £17,668 i.e. less than minimum wage. (edit) Yes, it’s shocking how long it’s taken to get a meaningful increase given it was £13,500 in 2010.
(edit2) Minimum wage for a 36 hour week works out at £17,784 annually. I’d forgotten it was untaxed though so that does push it over minimum wage to be equivalent to about £20k. Maybe they can buy a new kettle.
I’m all for brining up salaries. But I genuinely didn’t know PhD students were paid a wage. I had always assumed they were students and not workers.
Not that I agree with that!
Desperately needed. PhD students are woefully under-compensated considering they’re essentially doing a job for the University at this point of their career. Not only that but it’s a professional job. Even with this increase they’re still very badly paid based on their qualifications.
As university staff, I’m really glad our students are finally getting a decent increase, but we as staff are still getting absolutely shafted.
A nice payrise for Karl Anderson then
Ah nice another excuse for the government to steal our money for a “good cause”
Instead of making $1/hr, now they make $1.12/hr
Fuck sake I’m literally submitting my thesis this month
Even though UK stipend is after tax the difference is laughable, any PhD in DK will pay at least nearly 50k before tax with most countries being somewhere around 30k
This is just a drop in the ocean and will not change how decisions are made, instead it will make it a bit more tolerable for the students, but it still is rubbish.
Will this translate to other funding bodies? I’ve never actually met anyone who was funded by UKRI.
PhD students get paid? Damn! I paid to do mine. Felt lucky to get a token studentship for 1 of the 7 years but I paid fees for the rest (UK, 1990s) and certainly no income other than working outside the PhD. Perhaps that’s why I took 7 years! Did I miss a thing?
I was on 14.5k, 3 years funding and 4th year unfunded. Lots of my friends were trying to save as much as possible for their 4th year to have the money while they’re writing up / looking for jobs.
Also as a PhD student you’re stuck in student accommodation, no one wanted to rent a normal property to a student despite being postgraduate/PhD.
Was renting a room for ~400pcm for 7 years. No bills included.
I quit my phd 5 months back and am already earning more than my supervisor does… academia is woefully underfunded here in the U.K. and you lose significant good talent in STEM subjects to industry.
One of my old lab mates went to work for Apple for £100,000 a year which is more than 2.5 year wages for any lectures which isn’t at the head of department level.
I’m lucky to get my fees paid as my overall project was commissioned by an organisation in collaboration with the University, and I have been able to pick up lecture and research work aligned with my PhD and get paid for that.
I’ve tried looking before but the whole process of identifying and applying for additional funding when you’re mid-PhD seems painfully complicated and I don’t think I meet any of the myriad of criteria.
If anyone has any hot tips (qualitative – social sciences / criminology), I’d love to hear them!
If you want money you’re in the wrong place. Screw 18k and switch.
16 comments
Finally… though unsure how much that will help.
Before anyone gets too excited at this, it makes it £17,668 i.e. less than minimum wage. (edit) Yes, it’s shocking how long it’s taken to get a meaningful increase given it was £13,500 in 2010.
(edit2) Minimum wage for a 36 hour week works out at £17,784 annually. I’d forgotten it was untaxed though so that does push it over minimum wage to be equivalent to about £20k. Maybe they can buy a new kettle.
I’m all for brining up salaries. But I genuinely didn’t know PhD students were paid a wage. I had always assumed they were students and not workers.
Not that I agree with that!
Desperately needed. PhD students are woefully under-compensated considering they’re essentially doing a job for the University at this point of their career. Not only that but it’s a professional job. Even with this increase they’re still very badly paid based on their qualifications.
As university staff, I’m really glad our students are finally getting a decent increase, but we as staff are still getting absolutely shafted.
A nice payrise for Karl Anderson then
Ah nice another excuse for the government to steal our money for a “good cause”
Instead of making $1/hr, now they make $1.12/hr
Fuck sake I’m literally submitting my thesis this month
We have been industry leading in yet another sector
[you can have a quick look](https://fastepo.com/comparison-of-salary-of-phd-students-in-europe/)
Even though UK stipend is after tax the difference is laughable, any PhD in DK will pay at least nearly 50k before tax with most countries being somewhere around 30k
This is just a drop in the ocean and will not change how decisions are made, instead it will make it a bit more tolerable for the students, but it still is rubbish.
Will this translate to other funding bodies? I’ve never actually met anyone who was funded by UKRI.
PhD students get paid? Damn! I paid to do mine. Felt lucky to get a token studentship for 1 of the 7 years but I paid fees for the rest (UK, 1990s) and certainly no income other than working outside the PhD. Perhaps that’s why I took 7 years! Did I miss a thing?
I was on 14.5k, 3 years funding and 4th year unfunded. Lots of my friends were trying to save as much as possible for their 4th year to have the money while they’re writing up / looking for jobs.
Also as a PhD student you’re stuck in student accommodation, no one wanted to rent a normal property to a student despite being postgraduate/PhD.
Was renting a room for ~400pcm for 7 years. No bills included.
I quit my phd 5 months back and am already earning more than my supervisor does… academia is woefully underfunded here in the U.K. and you lose significant good talent in STEM subjects to industry.
One of my old lab mates went to work for Apple for £100,000 a year which is more than 2.5 year wages for any lectures which isn’t at the head of department level.
I’m lucky to get my fees paid as my overall project was commissioned by an organisation in collaboration with the University, and I have been able to pick up lecture and research work aligned with my PhD and get paid for that.
I’ve tried looking before but the whole process of identifying and applying for additional funding when you’re mid-PhD seems painfully complicated and I don’t think I meet any of the myriad of criteria.
If anyone has any hot tips (qualitative – social sciences / criminology), I’d love to hear them!
If you want money you’re in the wrong place. Screw 18k and switch.