Media release – Fair Go For PhDs, 8 July 2024
Australian PhDs living in poverty
Australian PhD researchers are struggling to survive on their current stipend, which is just $10 per week above the poverty line. To address this, a group of PhDs from the University of Tasmania have started a campaign called “Fair Go For PhDs” that collaborates with similar groups across the nation.
“We are demanding the Australian government increase the PhD stipend to minimum wage,” says Ilaria Stollberg, a PhD at the University of Tasmania and co-founder of Fair Go For PhDs. “We think this is fair since our work contributes to 56% of Australia’s research output.”
“Many PhDs are having to work more than 50 hours a week on their PhDs. There is simply not enough time in the week to take on a second job,” says Micah Landon-Lane, a PhD at the University of Tasmania and spokesperson for Fair Go For PhDs. “We work full-time like everyone else but suffer incredible financial stress. Some of us even have to bin-dive to put food on the table.”
“Education Minister Jason Clare’s own Australian Universities Accord report recommended the government increase PhD stipends. Why has he chosen to let Australia’s research suffer and PhDs slide further into poverty?” says Micah.
Although the PhD stipend is paid out by universities, the funding is provided to the universities as block grants through the Government’s “Research Training Program”. In February the Australian Universities Accord was released, which recommends “substantially” increasing the minimum PhD stipend.
Fair Go For PhDs welcomes people to find more information about PhD poverty in Tasmania on their website https://fair-go-phd.streamlit.app/. It also encourages everybody to sign a current petition calling for improvements to PhD living conditions and contact Education Minister Jason Clare asking him to support increasing the minimum PhD stipend to the National Minimum Wage.
Petition: https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN6358
