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Young UK chemists question what they are worth

Chemistry graduates navigating the uk industry job market are increasingly disheartened by roles that offer them disappointing remuneration and low job security, by vanessa zainzinger, special to c&en, december 1, 2019 | a version of this story appeared in volume 97, issue 47.

• 9 ways to motivate others
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• Out and proud
• LGBTQ+ chemists react to Carolyn Bertozzi’s Nobel win

Nessa Carson, a synthetic organic chemist, says she is “extremely lucky” to be working for a big pharmaceutical company in southeast England. Since she moved back to the UK in 2017, after completing a master’s degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carson says she has seen many friends and colleagues leave chemistry because of a job market that offers young chemists fewer opportunities for exciting science or financial gain than they had hoped for.

“Generally, people are frustrated,” she says. “They don’t feel valued.”

The UK offers early-career chemists interested in industry—who normally have postdoc experience, a PhD, or a master’s degree—plenty of opportunities to work in one of the country’s many thriving contract research organizations. CROs are growing and recruiting steadily as drug companies in Europe and elsewhere increasingly look to outsource their R&D. Positions in big pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, are rare, says Carson, who runs a Twitter account ( @ukchemjobs ) that accumulates and shares chemistry jobs available in the UK.

In most of the industrial positions open to young chemists, remuneration and job security are low, Carson says. “I think the market selects for people who absolutely love chemistry because that’s what they want to do with their lives. Others know they will be better off going into finance or management consulting. That’s what the people I did my undergraduate degree with are doing.”

The mood in the UK among early-career chemists who actually want to do chemistry is somber. Disappointed by the roles the job market has to offer, chemistry graduates say they are feeling undervalued and underpaid. Many are threatening to leave the country for better opportunities elsewhere.

CROs consider themselves attractive workplaces for young chemists. The companies, which offer a range of drug-discovery services—including medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, and lead optimization—allow researchers to participate in various projects, collaborate with people with different skill sets, and learn a lot about drug discovery, says Natalie Insley, human resources operations manager at the CRO Sygnature Discovery.

Related: Lanxess to cut jobs in Germany, elsewhere

The Nottingham, England–headquartered company employs about 330 people and is experiencing constant growth, Insley says. Staff turnover is “generally low.” Sygnature also runs training programs within its chemistry department that allow students and recent graduates to gain practical work experience with the company.

Nathalie Dubois, the company’s marketing coordinator, adds that most researchers in its chemistry department are in their late 20s. “It’s a young culture, and we offer continuing development, internal and external training, problem-solving sessions, conference attendance, and the opportunity to develop their skills,” she says.

Some researchers, however, say they find little passion in working for a CRO. “It’s safe to say that where I am working, nobody at the junior level is particularly happy with their jobs,” says Katy, a medicinal chemist who, to protect her job, asked that her full name not be used.

Katy works for a large CRO in east England that hires chemists on fixed-term contracts. This means job security is low for everybody, she says. “Half the people I work with are [University of] Cambridge graduates, fantastic chemists, but that doesn’t matter. The company offers them no help with career progression.” Earlier this year, the company laid off 15 chemists, then hired another 15 a few months later, she says.

The work itself lacks passion, says Katy, who misses the innovation and target validation that would be part of a research job in a company that pursues its own projects. “You’re just told: ‘Here’s your target; go make some drugs.’ I always knew this isn’t the kind of work I’m interested in, but I didn’t have much of a choice,” she says. Katy moved back to the UK earlier this year when she was forced to end a postdoc at the University of California San Diego after a member of her family was taken ill. The only industry jobs she could find were with CROs, she recalls.

Frustration with the job market is making some young chemists consider moving to mainland Europe, where they hope they’ll find a greater variety of jobs and higher salaries. At a gross salary of £32,000 ($41,000) per year, Katy says she is paid around £10,000 less than a former postdoc colleague who left San Diego with her but took a job at a drug company in Berlin.

Cheap science

Another young chemist, Javier, moved to England from Spain for grad school at a public university in the northwest. Like Katy, he asked that, to protect his job, his full name not be used. Javier picked up plenty of job offers in the UK after completing his PhD, but he rejected them all because of the low salaries on offer.

“Perhaps my expectations were high because I did my PhD on a Marie Curie scholarship, which is roughly double the normal PhD salary in the UK,” Javier says, referring to a scholarship granted by the European Commission. “But in any case, the offers I got in the UK were about 40% lower than the ones I received in [continental] Europe.”

Javier settled for a job with a large specialty chemical company in Belgium. His salary is €49,000 ($53,900), a big step up from the best offer he received in the UK, at £28,000 ($35,900).

Even if the salary were equal, Javier says he saw no benefit to staying in the UK. Companies in the country normally offer 25 days of vacation a year, compared with the 33 days he gets in Belgium. Housing costs in the UK are 57% above the European Union average, according to the European Commission’s statistical office, Eurostat, topped only by Ireland and Switzerland. In comparison, housing costs in Belgium and Germany are 14% and 11%, respectively, above the EU average.

Tax comparisons between European countries are difficult to make, but according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK imposes relatively low taxes on the incomes of median earners, which are what most entry-level chemists would be.

Median salaries for PhD chemists, meanwhile, are lower in the UK than in other wealthy European countries, like Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, according to a study published last year by two nonprofits, the European Chemistry Network Association and the European Chemical Society. There are no statistics on how this gap manifests itself in the income of entry-level chemists specifically. A Royal Society of Chemistry survey published last month found that the median salary in the UK for early-career chemists is £33,200.

Paul Mears, head of chemical recruitment at Science Solutions Recruitment in Cheshire, England, often sees early-career chemists entering the job market with unrealistic expectations. Universities don’t always prepare their students for the reality of a highly competitive market with salaries well below what is promised by industries such as financial services, which hire chemists into nonresearch roles. He advises young chemists to build relationships with recruiters before they leave school to gain a realistic picture of the market and figure out what kind of position will suit them best.

Mears’s clients are CROs, contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), local manufacturers, and start-ups. Most of them are small, independent firms that are likely to offer young recruits job security but low salaries.

Some large companies offer great salaries under graduate schemes—programs that combine paid work and training—for a lucky few, but many more chemists are likely to be hired on a contract basis “without necessarily compensating for the lack of security,’’ Mears says. He adds that the UK chemistry job market is buoyant, despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the country’s impending exit from the EU.

Related: Editorial: Training season

Still, more and more chemists are moving to continental Europe for better job opportunities and higher wages, Mears observes. This is a reverse from 10 years ago, when chemists in postrecession continental Europe were tempted to the other side of the North Sea. Mears doesn’t blame Brexit but rather the fact that the Continent now offers comparable or even better salaries and jobs.

“Ten years ago we were gaining talent; now we might be losing it. I think this is driving a skills shortage in the UK,” he says.

The Northumberland, England–based CDMO Sterling Pharma Solutions says it has not seen its young recruits shun the UK for greener pastures. “We continue to receive many applications from chemists based in mainland Europe, and our recent recruits have included several Oxbridge graduates too,” says Sterling R&D director Mike Gibson, referring to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, two prestigious British schools. “We feel that we would not be receiving those applications if there was a significant salary disparity.” He adds that the salaries the company offers go far where it is based, in northeast England.

The 400-employee-strong firm is due to start recruiting researchers for a new milling and micronization facility. Gibson says Sterling likes to hire both fresh PhD graduates and experienced chemists. He adds that the CDMO has worked hard to become an attractive place to pursue a career, with “excellent development and progression routes into different areas of the firm.”

James Ayres, a synthetic organic chemist, is skeptical of relying on progression opportunities within a UK company. When searching for an industry position after graduating with a PhD from Cardiff University in 2018, the highest job offer Ayres received was £25,000. The company offered to increase the salary to £28,000 after 3 years. He is now working as a postdoc at the University of Leeds and earning £32,000.

Academia in the UK is still a great place for chemists, Ayres says. “I’m happy in my current position—I’m learning new skills, getting paid pretty well, and the science we’re doing is excellent,” he says. The chemical and drug industries, in contrast, are not as vibrant as they used to be, Ayres says. “There are still opportunities to do interesting work, but money matters too.”

Javier calls on UK companies to do better in valuing their young talent. Working conditions—including salary, holidays, working time, and flexibility—are important, he says. “I work to have a life; I don’t live to work,” he says.

Javier says he will stay in Brussels for a while but is hoping to someday move to Switzerland, where salaries—and living costs—are significantly higher. Ayres and Katy are both considering moves to mainland Europe, depending on family circumstances and the outcome of Brexit , which is likely to make it harder for young British chemists to live and work on the Continent.

Carson, the drug company chemist, says she is happy in her current job but emphasizes that it’s her love for chemistry that keeps her going. “If I were very sensible, I would probably leave chemistry,” she says. “If I was a bit sensible, I would leave the UK, and I think I will eventually.”

Vanessa Zainzinger is a freelance writer based in England.

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• Lecturer and Professor Salaries – Explained
• After a PhD

Based on the 2018/19 HE Single Pay Spine and the typical 2019/20 university grade system, the average possible salary for university staff in the UK is: £40,761 for a Lecturer, £51,590 for a Senior Lecturer, £64,356 for an Associate Professor and £90,891 for a Professor.

Introduction

On this page, we discuss how the UK academic pay scale works, the average salaries of university lecturers and professors, and how they change with academic rank. While we’ve summarised the salaries at the top of this page, we go on to provide a full breakdown for each rank, so continue reading for the full picture.

How Salary Scales Work within UK Universities

In the United Kingdom, there is a single national pay spine that governs the salaries of university staff. The pay spine, formally known as the ‘ HE Single Pay Spine ’, is led by University and College Union ( UCU ) which negotiates salaries, pay structure and employment conditions on behalf of higher education (HE) and further education (FE) institutions.

It’s important to recognise that although the vast majority of UK universities adopt the HE Single Pay Spine, a handful of institutions do not. In such cases, staff salaries are regulated internally and may differ from those stated on this page.

Many considerations go into determining a staff member’s salary, but to summarise, staff members are assigned a grade based on their level of responsibility, experience and position (e.g. Lecturer, Senior Lecturer or Professor) and a corresponding spine value. In turn, the spine value corresponds to a pre-determined salary listed in the ‘HE Single Pay Spine’.

Note: London universities generally offer slightly higher Lecturer and Professor salaries, but this is only to offset the higher cost of living associated with working in the capital. This offset, more commonly referred to as a ‘London Allowance’, is typically in the region of £3,000 per year .

Average Salaries of University Lecturers and Professors in the UK

Based on the 2018/19 HE Single Pay Spine and the average 2019/20 grading levels adopted by three UK universities, we have determined the average salaries of research assistants, lecturers and professors as shown in the table below.

Note: Although the average salaries provide a quick, useful insight, it would be equally advantageous to know the salary range for each position, as academic salaries are relatively dynamic; the reason for this is discussed later.

Table showing average salaries and ranges for Research Assistants, Lecturers and Professors in the UK

The following image shows these salary ranges in the context of the typical progression paths observed for higher education positions within UK universities.

It is worth noting that while salaries can exceed £100,000 per year for positions with significant managerial responsibility, very few individuals will reach these positions. In fact, data from the Office for Students (OfS) shows that in 2017/18, only 1.5% of academic staff were paid over £100,000.

How Salary Increases Works

Salary increases within a grade.

The expectation is that each year, staff members will move up the spine scale and receive a pay increase in line with their new spine level. This will continue until the ceiling of their current grade is reached. At that point, with the exception of inflation-adjusted increases, the staff member will stop receiving wage increases until they move up a grade.

Note: The grade of a staff member reflects the level of responsibility they have, which usually coincides with their job title, i.e. whether they are a Lecturer, an Associate Professor or a Professor.

Increasing Grades

Moving up a grade is only possible when the responsibilities of a staff member increase noticeably or when they are promoted to a higher position, such as from a Senior Lecturer to an Associate Professor.

Non-Monetary Benefits

As with most professions, a university Lecturer or Professor’s job position comes with non-monetary benefits that complement their salary. These will vary between universities, and sometimes even within the same university, but can include:

• Allowances for travel or relocation,
• Discounted or fully waived access to training, university courses and on-site recreational facilities,
• Private healthcare,

UK vs US Lecturer and Professor Salaries

Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States does not have a national academic pay scale. This means that the salaries of Lectures and Professors in the US vary considerably not only between universities but also between states, institution types (public or private) and academic fields.

In addition, because the US does not have a national academic pay scale, it’s common for staff members to negotiate a pay increase when moving to a new institution. This is not generally the case in the UK as it would place staff members outside of the single pay spine.

According to ‘ The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2018-2019 ‘, produced by the American Association of University Professors ( AAUP ), the average university lecturer salary and average university professor salary within the United States is as per the comparison table below.

Table comparing average salaries for Lectures and Professors in the UK and the US

It should be noted that the US salaries stated above have the potential to be skewed. This is because the data provides a total sum only for the number of universities forming the data, and not for the number of staff members holding each position type.

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Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

PhD Salary UK: How Much Do PhD Students Get Paid Compared to Graduates?

Considering whether to stay in university as a PhD student or to leave and get a job? If so, you may be wondering “How much do PhD student get paid?” and “How does a UK PhD salary compare to a graduate salary?” .

In this post I delve into the details and reveal that the difference in take home pay between a UK PhD stipend and a grad position can actually be much lower than it first appears!

If you’re looking to know how much a PhD could boost your career and salary after finishing your doctoral degree I’d suggest checking out my post: Is a PhD Worth It ? See details here for how much people earn in academia after getting their PhD .

I also have a complementary post covering my monthly expenses as a PhD student. You may also wish to check out my guide to the application process , PhD FAQs and article on how I got a PhD scholarship .

February 2024 : This post has been updated to include figures for the 2023/24 academic year.

Do PhD students get paid in the UK? If so, how much do PhD students get paid?

Before we delve into the details let’s first cover whether PhD students get paid in the UK. Generally, yes, most PhD students get what is called a PhD stipend to support themselves during their PhD. Importantly, a PhD stipend (in the UK at least) is tax free .

It is worth noting though that not all PhD projects automatically include funding. Funding may also not be applicable for every applicant. For example sometimes it may only be available to home students i.e. those from the UK.

Therefore some students may resort to self funding their PhD. In STEM subjects self funding a PhD is pretty rare and often only happens because of limitations in funding eligibility. I’ve personally worked with a mix of funded and self-funded (often by parents) PhD students, though most are certainly funded by grants and scholarships.

If your project doesn’t already include funding, for most people I strongly advise trying to find funding rather than considering self funding. For more information on this check out my post on PhD Funding in the UK.

2023/24 UK PhD Salary

• PhD salary outside of London: In 2023/24 most new PhD students in the UK will receive a PhD stipend worth at least £18,622 per year .
• PhD salary in London : In 2023/24 most new PhD students in London will receive an increased stipend to account for cost of living , which is typically around £20,622 per year .

Notice that the PhD stipend for outside of London is at least £18,622 per year. I’ve seen several advertised at the London rate. There are also some available at an even higher rate. For example I know of CDTs in Bristol paying more like £24,000 tax-free.

Your PhD stipend will usually provide funding for 3.5 years, although it can occasionally be for 3 or 4 years.

These values are for most PhD studentships including those awarded by all UK research councils following the UKRI guidelines .

Certain scholarship schemes pay upwards of £25,000 per year, such as the £25,150 (2024/25 rate) President’s PhD Scholarships at Imperial. For details on how to get such a scholarship, check out this article where I go over how I got awarded my own PhD scholarship.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN)  runs all across the EU. As well as nice training and exchange opportunities it pays a staggering stipend of approx £40,000 – £45,000 . The grant level is reviewed each year and increases if you have family dependents. I personally wish I’d known about it earlier and highly recommend anyone interested puts a reminder in their diary for when the next call opens!

Is a UK PhD stipend taxable?

Here is what PhD stipends look like compared to some fairly typical starting grad salaries in the UK:

At first glance a PhD stipend doesn’t stack up well against the higher wages of a graduate salary which can sometimes be twice this amount or more. But crucially PhD stipends for students are tax free !

There are a few other financial perks that come with being a student so I was intrigued to find out how the two salaries really compared. The results may surprise you!

Below is a high level overview and I’ll delve into each of the numbers in depth later in the post.

Grad salary vs PhD salary starting numbers

As mentioned earlier, in 2023/24 a typical PhD stipend outside of London is at least £18,622 . Within London this will typically increase slightly to account for cost of living to around £20,622 . These rates rise every year for new students, but do not rise for each year of the PhD. So for new students considering starting in 2024/25 a UK PhD salary will likely be around £19,100 outside of London. 

For the sake of simplifying the comparison I averaged the 2023/24 PhD stipend to £19,622 for all PhD students studying in the UK.

A fairly typical grad salary, for someone qualified enough to be considering a science PhD, is around £30,000 . Of course this is an average salary so needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. As the number can vary dramatically it may be considered too low by some, but I think it’s a good benchmark accounting for different regions of the UK.

I’ve included higher and lower graduate salaries too in the summary charts for this post.

Salary Gap: £10,378

On the face of it the PhD student would be earning £10,378 less per year: around 35% lower! This is enough of a difference to put off a lot of potential PhD candidates who’ve likely spent the last few years building up student loans.

But unlike normal wages, PhD stipends are tax free so maybe things aren’t as bleak for PhD students as it seems? Let’s explore how they really compare.

Income Tax & National Insurance Contributions

The 2023/24 Personal Income Allowance is £12,570. This means that you can earn up to this amount and not pay any income tax. Earnings from £12,571 up to £50,270 fall into the basic rate bracket of 20% tax.

PhD Student Salary: PhD stipends are tax free and incur no income tax or national insurance contributions. Remaining stipend: £19,622

Professional Salary: On £30,000 you’d pay £ 3486 in income tax and NI contributions of £2004 . Remaining wage:  £24,510

Salary Gap: £4888 Income tax and national insurance contributions have immediately almost halved the difference in take-home pay from £10,378 down to £4888!

Student Loan Repayment

PhD Student Salary: Even with a PhD stipend you are officially an unwaged student so you won’t make student loan repayments as a PhD student. Remaining stipend: £19,622 [see footnote 1]

Professional Salary: The amount you may have to pay for student loan repayments depends upon when you started your undergraduate course. If you started your undergraduate course since 2012 you pay student loan repayments on earnings above £27,295. Meaning on a salary of £30,000 you’d pay £243 a year on student loan repayments. If you began your undergraduate course before 2012, repayments start on salaries above £22,015 and would be £541 a year . Most of you likely completed your undergrad degree recently so we’ll go with the more recent, lower, repayments. Remaining wage:  £24,267

Salary Gap: £4645

Council Tax

PhD Student Salary: Another cost that students are exempt from is council tax. Though be careful if you share a house with non-students since council tax must then be paid on the property. [2] Remaining stipend:  £19,622

Professional Salary: Council tax varies greatly between council boroughs, and depends on the property you live in. For example in Cardiff I lived in a one bed flat and the annual council tax was £1050 per year. During my PhD in London council tax for a lovely three bed house  in Clapham it was £1000! Now that I live in Bristol it is over £2000 per year for a three bed house. I’ll go to the liberty of saying on average it would be £1150 per year and would be divided between two people: -£575 each. Total: £23,692

Salary Gap: £4070

Private Pension Contributions

PhD Student Salary: Although universities pay a PhD stipend to students, you are not a member of staff and hence do not make private pension contributions. Remaining stipend:  £19,622

Professional Salary: Legislation has been phasing in making contribution to private pensions mandatory. The upside is that employers match your contribution up to varying percentages: sometimes up to about 10% of your salary. Additionally there are tax benefits to contributing so overall you could see it as boosting your salary looking at the longer term view. [3]

I believe there are troubling times ahead for 20-somethings and personally am not relying on a state pension existing by the time we all reach retirement age. Therefore I wholeheartedly recommend making a decently sized contribution at least up to the same amount that your employer matches. For the purposes of this comparison I won’t deduct anything for private pension since it’s not really being deducted so I’ll call this one a draw.  Total: £23,692

Student Discount

Ah the obvious one! Student discount may have been the first thing you thought of when you saw this article, but I’m not going to include it in this analysis.

A student card does allow a significant amount to be saved, not only on luxuries such as entry to attractions and deals in shops but also travel. For example in London, an 18+ student oystercard gets you 30% off travelcards. For a monthly zones 1-3 ticket this would save about £50 a month: over £600 a year!

The reason I’ve not included it? How much you use student discount depends on your circumstances and lifestyle and I wanted to keep the analysis widely applicable. Also, there are ways around needing to pay for travel at all: I started cycling to university every day in London .

Curveball: the £12,570 Tax-Free Personal Income Allowance

So far the recent grad is still earning an additional £4842 per year: almost a third more than the PhD student. Owing to the fact that PhD students are exempt from income tax, national insurance contributions, council tax and student loan repayments the gap in earnings has shrunk considerably.

One last calculation I wanted to try was to consider the scenario of a student earning some additional money on the side. It is a common thing to make extra money with teaching assistant, tutoring and consultancy opportunities. In fact I think every PhD student I know does at least a little. There are of course non-academic routes to make additional money too.

I have written a post about some of the ways that I make extra money , many of which are in fact available to non-students. Do be careful to check that this is acceptable at your institution. My favourite way to make extra money is matched betting which is tax-free for everybody. You can find my complete guide to matched betting here .

Tax-free side-hustle

Currently you can earn £12,570 tax free in the UK . Given that the PhD stipend itself is tax free, unlike an equivalent worker you wouldn’t pay any tax on extra earnings up to this threshold. This might sound insignificant but it’s not.

Admittedly, unless you’re very entrepreneurial, it is unlikely that you would make use of the whole tax-free opportunity. But earning several thousand pounds per year on top of the stipend is certainly common.

As pointed out by a reader, John, in the comments below: a consideration should be that that some universities limit how much paid work you can do per month. Even so, there are lots of ways to make money and your time as a student could even be a great time to start your own business .

I’ve been paid more than £25 an hour doing pretty simple work for the university , so these earnings can mount up quickly.

To illustrate the extra earning potential afforded to PhD students, let’s consider the most extreme case where the tax-free earnings are maximised.

Since 2017 there has been a £1000 tax-free trading allowance for workers in the UK , meaning even those in a normal taxable job can earn £1000 on top of their salary from side-hustle jobs. Therefore the grad will pay additional taxes on £11,570 instead of £12,570.

PhD Student Salary: An enterprising student maxing out the tax-free allowance could earn £12,570 a year and pay no national insurance either, leaving additional take-home pay of  £12,570 . With a PhD stipend of £17,062 the student would in total earn £32,192 for the year. They’d keep 100% of those extra earnings.

Again, yes it is unlikely that someone would really earn this much on the side but it is common to make at least several thousand throughout the year.

Professional Salary: As a grad on £30,000 per year in your main job, to have an equivalent side-hustle earning £12,570, in total you’d pay tax on £41,570. Income tax would be £5800: £2314 higher than on their base salary of £30,000. NI contributions would be £3335: £1331 higher. Plus student loan repayments would be £1284: £1041 higher. Student loan repayments really start increasing considerably when you’re earning more. These additional taxes and costs total deductions of £4686,  leaving the professional with extra take-home pay of  £7884 . Including their day-job the total they’d be left with is £31,576 .

For this extra £12,570 of work, the student would pocket 100% of it and the professional would keep £7884 ( 63% ). Looking at the pre-tax difference in their earnings: at face value the student would be earning £32,192 and the grad £41,570: a difference of £9378. Yet once taxes are considered the final result is two people with remarkably similar take-home pays: a difference of £616 in favour of the student!

Check it out:

Under these circumstances the student would in fact take home £616 more per year than the professional! I used the maximum tax-free allowance to highlight the point and yes it’s unlikely that many students will fully utilise it. Yet the point stands that any additional earnings are much better retained by PhD students.

If someone was running a fully-fledged business on the side then the difference becomes even bigger as the grad salary approaches the next tax bracket for earnings of £50,271 and above, at which point the rate of income tax doubles.

There are very few legal ways of making money which are tax-exempt for everyone. One of these rare cases is also my favourite way to make money on the side: matched betting. Intrigued? I’ve written a huge guide to it here . In this rare instance none of the grad’s extra earnings get eroded by tax.

Grad salary vs PhD student salary conclusion

Starting from a difference of £10,378 in salary, taxes and other outgoings have knocked £6308 off the graduate’s wage. This brings the difference in earnings down to £4070. This equates to £339 per month. More than nothing, but not a huge difference. And this doesn’t include any extra earnings on the side which the student can do a much better job of retaining.

Surprised how small the difference is? I certainly was whilst I was writing this.

Here is a chart for comparing a wider range of salaries:

This analysis doesn’t take in to account the extra earning power that gaining a PhD could bring, nor the potential lifestyle benefits of being a student such as autonomy and flexible working hours which it could be argued level the playing field even further. Plus the opportunities afforded to PhD students, which everyone should seize. And yes, student discount if you use it.

Furthermore if you consider the opportunity to make an additional £12k+ per year before incurring tax  any difference in earnings can become close to negligible!

I hope that this post has helped explain that the wage gap between UK PhD stipends and grad salaries is not as dramatic it first seems. Perhaps it’s even encouraged you to consider a PhD. If so I’ve written posts to help with your application and an article on how to improve your chances of securing a PhD scholarship . Also if you’re curious you can read about life as a PhD student along with profiles of PhD students around the world .

If you’d like personalised help with your PhD application I am now starting to offer a small number of one-to-one sessions. Please contact me to find out more or click here to book a call.

What do you think about this comparison between a UK PhD stipend and grad salary? Do you think there are any additional factors that I have overlooked? Please share your thoughts in the comments below and if you’ve enjoyed this post you can subscribe to hear about more content:

[1] Some people might say that by continuing studying you’re simply delaying your student loan repayment.  Considering most people don’t pay it off in the 30 odd years until any outstanding balance is wiped I think it’s fair to say that this doesn’t ring true.

[2] No council tax is paid on a property if all occupants are students. If you live with one professional they can claim the single occupancy discount of 25% but with two or more professionals the full council tax amount must be paid. If you share in a mixed group it is up to you how you divide it within the group. Ironically given the spirit of this post, last year I voluntarily did pay an equal (third) share of council tax given that my partner was moving to London specifically to live with me…

[3] If you go on to work for a university after your PhD you’ll be enrolled in the USS pension scheme where you’ll usually pay in 9% of your salary and your employer pays in 19%: yes, nineteen! For comparison most often the best private companies may match contributions up to 10%. Pension contributions are often removed from your pay packet before taxes. This effectively leaves you with a smaller salary and hence pay less taxes and national insurance contributions. Between this and your employer’s contributions overall your salary could be “boosted” by quite a bit, around 20% in the USS example, if you consider the pension as part of your long-term salary.

All calculations were carried out using the tax calculator on Martin’s Money Saving Expert. A fantastic website for all things personal finance.

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17 Comments on “PhD Salary UK: How Much Do PhD Students Get Paid Compared to Graduates?”

It’s probably worth factoring in that most HEIs limit PhD students to a maximum I’m of 10hours pw of external work. By my rough estimate, the student would have to earn £25 an hour to make the money you’ve described here. The side hustle, should probably be halved to reflect a more typical salary. Still a fair whack though.

Hi John, yes that’s a good point and I’ll update the post to reflect this. In my experience £25/hour is realistic, at least here at Imperial, though I appreciate it would rarely get fully utilised. Thanks again

Hello Jeff! I am a Sustainability Consultant from India, looking at PhD opportunities in UK. It would be great if we can connect and discuss a bit about your experience and journey. Looking forward!

Hey Akhyata! Great, yes let’s have a chat. I’ve emailed you to arrange it. Best wishes, Jeff

Hi Jeff! I love your article, I’m a pharmacist juggling the idea of a PhD. I would love to take up on your offer to connect.

Hey Kai! Great, I’ll email you now to arrange it.

Hi Jeff, I am a law grad very interested in further study and pursuing a PhD.

I would love the chance to chat to you further about this article and your experience!

Thanks in advance

Hey Clara, Yeah no worries. I’ll send you an email now to discuss.

Hi Jeff, I’m putting together a PhD proposal at the moment and would really appreciate your input on a few things about the process when you have some free time. Cheers, Ben

Hi Ben, sure no problem, I’m happy to try and help. Let’s discuss over email.

Hi Jeff, Thank you for taking the time to write the articles you do. On this particular article, you have saved us all quite a lot of time. With such a minimal difference even without an additional income, it makes a lot of sense, especially with an increase when you graduate.

Those from the UK can take a £24k loan from the Gov (as if they didn’t have enough debt already). Still, it could enable a student to focus more on academia, speeding up the process and increasing the quality of work.

Apologies Jeff, the stipend and student loan are not available at the same time.

Thanks very much for your comments Tyrone. I’m pleased you find the website useful!

If you can get funding, I agree that there isn’t much of a reason to not do a PhD.

I must admit I’ve never looked much at postgraduate loans, in part because I encourage everyone doing a PhD (in STEM at least) to pursue funding. We’re doing PhDs which can help wider society and it doesn’t make sense for people to have to sacrifice even more by adding extra debt if they can avoid it. Interesting to hear that you can’t take out a loan if you have a stipend, thanks for letting me know.

Perhaps of interest to you, there is a post going live tomorrow which should put the length of a PhD in context of someone’s whole career. In short it doesn’t sacrifice much of a career but of course but make a very useful addition!

If there are any other topics you want to see covered please do let me know.

Best wishes.

Tax Free is not a perk. If you are not paying tax in the UK you cannot contribute to your pension. This may not seem important now, but it will later. This is especially important for mature students who can really lose out if there is a break in their NI contributions.

Thanks for your comment Marie.

The point is that normal tax-paying jobs don’t actually pay quite as much more than PhD stipends once you consider tax. I agree that over the long term avoiding paying taxes is neither a good idea because of things like pensions, nor is it socially ethical. But I don’t think there is any harm in taking 3-4 years out for a PhD:

You have to pay NI for a minimum of only 10 years to qualify for some level of state pension in the UK. After this the pension received simply increases linearly with the number of years of contributions, up to a max of 35 years. With retirement age edging up to 70 that gives at least 45 years between undergrad and retirement so most people will comfortably qualify (for now) for the full state pension. I’d argue that there is ample time to earn some tax free money as a PhD student without having to worry about making enough NI contributions. You can even voluntarily pay NI to gain additional qualifying years on your record. More generally I’d suggest also to not rely on receiving the state pension, I’m not personally betting on there even being a state pension by my own retirement (nor do I want to retire at 70+) so it’s always a good idea to build up your own private pension and savings too!

Hi Jeff, I was looking for funded PhD projects in the Marie Curie network and found a few on the EURAXESS website, but they all require a Master’s degree to apply. I was wondering if there is something I am missing or if you know where to find PhD funding opportunities in the Marie Curie network with only a bachelor’s degree. Thank you.

Hi Alex, thanks for your comment. I must admit I’m not an expert on all of the different Marie Curie funding routes available. If you’ve already done an extensive search then it sounds like yes they all may require a Master’s. By the way, when I first wrote this post I believed that all PhDs funded by UK research councils (UKRI) were at the very specific levels as mentioned in the post. However, I now know that there are some exceptions. For example, the Interactive AI CDT here at Bristol pays a stipend of £22,106: quite a bit higher than the standard non-London rate. CDTs such as this one include a foundation year and not everyone has a Master’s, so it may be worth considering schemes such as this. Best wishes, Jeff.

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Quantification of carbon sequestration during enhanced weathering: a novel trace elemental and isotopic approach, phd research project.

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

This research project has funding attached. It is only available to UK citizens or those who have been resident in the UK for a period of 3 years or more. Some projects, which are funded by charities or by the universities themselves may have more stringent restrictions.

Chemical and biological tools for imaging neuroinflammation, stroke, and cancer

Computational studies of gas adsorption in special nuclear materials (snms) (ref: pg/ma-2/2024), 3-year investigating new chemical methods for empowering antibody conjugates, funded phd project (european/uk students only).

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Correlative Imaging for Fracture Prediction in the Military

Competition funded phd project (uk students only).

This research project is one of a number of projects at this institution. It is in competition for funding with one or more of these projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be awarded the funding. The funding is only available to UK citizens or those who have been resident in the UK for a period of 3 years or more. Some projects, which are funded by charities or by the universities themselves may have more stringent restrictions.

From waste to resource: opportunities, challenges and economic viability of biorefineries in South Africa

Durham doctoral teaching fellowship in chemistry – joint chemistry teaching/research opportunity, putting a brain in the mobile robotic chemist, 4d mass spectrometry, application of homo- and hetero-geneous catalysis for the preparation of platform chemicals from biorenewable feedstocks, investigation into the impact of material properties on the gas transport behaviour of polyolefin materials, environmental transmission electron microscopy for sustainable materials development: modifying the photocatalytic properties of tio2, competition funded phd project (students worldwide).

This project is in competition for funding with other projects. Usually the project which receives the best applicant will be successful. Unsuccessful projects may still go ahead as self-funded opportunities. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but potential funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Developing an in-silico model of the cutaneous lipidome to explore the molecular mechanisms underpinning dry skin

New polymers for sustainable coatings, development of nmr methods for the study of dynamics in solids.

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• NEWS FEATURE
• 17 July 2024

The ‘PhD influencers’ logging lab life on TikTok and Instagram

• Carissa Wong

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Left to right: Ria Chopra, Ellie Hurer, Yasmin Meeda and Lindsay Ejoh have built followings on social media by posting about their PhDs. Adapted from Getty

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In January 2023, Lindsay Ejoh posted a TikTok video of her work dissecting a frozen mouse brain. In it, the neuroscience PhD student uses a bladed machine to cut paper-thin tissue slices that she’ll later examine with a microscope. She also complains about the hour she spent trying to get the machine to work. The post racked up an impressive 5,000 views and dozens of comments. “What a cool life you lead,” wrote one user.

Ejoh, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is one of a growing number of PhD students building a following on social media by posting about their lives in research. Globally, an estimated 200 million people now consider themselves ‘content creators’ . But some graduate students are progressing to be ‘influencers’ — with large followings and, in some cases, brand partnerships that can earn them hundreds of dollars per post.

These PhD influencers post on Instagram and TikTok about their day-to-day struggles with graduate studies. They offer research tips, share protocols and build networks. Many also share their experiences as members of under-represented groups in science. “This is so important for expanding the public image and broadening public perceptions of who is a scientist,” says Jocelyn Steinke, who studies media portrayal of science at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

But broadcasting a PhD comes with downsides. It can be time-consuming and elicit harsh comments about how people look or conduct themselves in the laboratory. A looming ban on TikTok in the United States is forcing some users to rethink their approach . Four influencers discussed their experiences with Nature .

Showcasing science on TikTok

Ejoh started using TikTok during the second year of her PhD. She enjoyed watching videos of others documenting their daily lives, she says. But she could see only a few people posting about life as a PhD scientist — and hardly any were Black women like her.

Lindsay Ejoh documents her life as a PhD student on TikTok and Instagram.

This prompted Ejoh to start her account @neuro_melody in 2021. “I thought it could be really cool to talk about what I do every day,” she says, and by doing so challenge stereotypes about who succeeds in science. Steinke says that, as well as striving to build a large community of followers, influencers typically distinguish themselves from other content creators by focusing “on one specific area of expertise”, such as fashion, sports or science. So far, Ejoh has gained more than 18,000 followers on TikTok and 53,000 on Instagram .

In one TikTok post, she suggests that PhD applicants can strengthen their applications by presenting undergraduate research data in conference posters. She also points to grants that people from under-represented groups in research can access. “Academia can be very gatekeeping,” says Ejoh. “The account is a nice way to share what I know about how to get in and how to thrive here.” Followers responded to the post positively. “You make me want to get a PhD so bad!!” read one comment.

Ejoh also posts about life outside work, such as a trip out of the city to pick apples with other graduate students. Some followers “are here because they’re interested in the brain and neuroscience and pain”, she says. “Others are interested in seeing a successful Black woman living her life and having fun.”

Ejoh has ambitions to build her following further and to become a principal investigator (PI). If TikTok is banned, she knows she’ll have to focus her efforts on Instagram. “I plan to post throughout my postdoc, I want to post about being a PI,” she says.

A lucrative biology Instagram feed

Since 2019, PhD student Yasmin Meeda has been approached by companies asking her to feature their brand on her booming Instagram feed. The marine microbiologist at the University of Exeter, UK, has gained more than 45,000 followers on her Instagram account @marinebiologywithyaz by posting about her PhD work on marine algae ( Phaeodactylum tricornutum ) and how it responds to changing environments. Now biotechnology firms, such as Thermo Fisher Scientific and Qiagen, and the media company BuzzFeed, pay her to feature their products in short videos, or reels.

PhD student Yasmin Meeda features biotechnology brands on her Instagram feed.

Advertising through influencers has become a huge market — estimated to be worth more than US$35 billion this year. In one reel that Meeda created jointly with Qiagen, she showcases a new kit for isolating bacterial DNA and says it generates less plastic and cardboard waste than an earlier version. She makes between £200 and £1,500 (US$255–1,900) per post, she says, which supplements the grant Meeda receives: “I’ve actually been able to save.”

Meeda didn’t set out to turn a profit from social media — she wanted to challenge the idea that some people are not smart enough to do a PhD. In one post about her final school assessments, she wrote, “11 years ago, I failed my A-level exams.” But she retook some of them and earned a place studying biology at the University of Brighton, UK, before proceeding to graduate studies. By posting about her experience, she hopes to show others that a PhD is achievable regardless of school performance and to better represent women in science.

Setting up brand partnerships has had other advantages for Meeda. It has helped to develop her negotiation skills, which, she thinks, could help her to discuss salaries in her future career. And she’s gained a better idea of what that might be. Either presenting TV documentaries on natural history or becoming a lecturer at a university “would suit me well”, she says.

The power of perseverance

When Ellie Hurer was around three years into her PhD, she started using Instagram to find researchers who were dealing with chronic illnesses and to post about her own. Hurer’s conditions include depression, anxiety, benign tumours and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “On Instagram, I found so many people, PhD students and academics that were in a very similar situation to me,” she says.

Cancer researcher Ellie Hurer uses Instagram to show how people with disabilities can pursue research.

Hurer, who studies pancreatic cancer at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK, uses her Instagram account @myphdexperience to show how people with disabilities can pursue research. She has more than 88,000 followers. “I want to prove to myself & others that even with chronic illnesses & disabilities, we can achieve anything if we just keep trying,” she says in a post that garnered more than 3,000 likes. A graduate student with chronic illness wrote in response: “It can feel so isolating and seeing you persevere makes it feel possible.”

Hurer also posted about suspending her PhD — for about three years in total — to undergo tumour surgeries and manage her mental health. “If suspending wasn’t an option, I probably would’ve had to quit,” she wrote in a step-by-step guide to taking time off . Her funding was paused and she lost a sense of purpose during her early time away, she wrote. “I wish I had looked after myself more.”

For Hurer, creating online content became a source of income, too. She has made reels featuring a figure-making tool made by the company Mind the Graph , and for BBC Bitesize — an online study resource for UK school children. She says a reel can take around ten hours to produce in collaboration with a company. “You get paid proportional to how much engagement you get and the number of followers you have,” she says — for her, about £1,500 per reel.

Hurer has faced drawbacks to being a PhD influencer. When her account hit around 20,000 followers, “I got a bit obsessive,” she says. “I was trying to post all the time and get the numbers up, and it became a bit unhealthy.” Now Hurer is more careful about how often she posts. She’s also dealt with negative comments about her appearance, which she handles by reporting and blocking the related accounts. “Maybe once in a blue moon, I’ll get a comment about my lip fillers,” she says. “These people would never say that to your face.”

Logging the 24-hour #PhDlife

In 2022, cancer biologist Ria Chopra posted a reel of herself working through the night in the lab. Chopra is studying how a disrupted body clock might accelerate the growth of cancer — work that involves monitoring the protein levels in cancer cells from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.. “I have to sleep in the lab and collect samples every four hours,” says Chopra, who studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong .

Ria Chopra, a cancer biologist, posts on Instagram about her PhD studies in Hong Kong.

Chopra has gained more than 15,000 followers on Instagram partly by posting such nitty-gritty scenes of lab life: one post shows her collecting prostate cancer cells from storage in liquid nitrogen, staining them with a bright green fluorescent marker and placing the samples in a −80 °C freezer. She sets most of her reels to dance music — a nod to her other passion and inspiration for her Instagram username @phdwhodances.

Chopra was one of the first PhD influencers to post about studying in Hong Kong — something that attracted followers, she says. Although Chopra, who was born in India, grew up in Hong Kong, she does not speak Cantonese or Mandarin fluently, she says. Prospective graduate students from India, Pakistan, the United States and Europe messaged her to find out how she navigated a PhD despite language barriers.

Chopra is currently posting only once every few months as she focuses on wrapping up her PhD. But in the future, she says, she might document her transition from academia to industry. “I think people would be interested to see the journey from a PhD to biotech or pharmaceutical companies,” she says.

Nature 631 , 724-725 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02294-9

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