A busy street in Dublin, where the costs of living compare unfavourably with those in Copenhagen.Credit: Edwin Remsberg/Getty
Postdoctoral researchers at one of Ireland’s leading universities say that inadequate pay and living conditions, combined with limited career-development opportunities, have fuelled a decline in their professional status.
A survey of postdocs at University College Dublin (UCD) has also revealed gender disparities, with 28% of male postdocs saying they are satisfied with their salaries, compared with just 16% of their female counterparts (see ‘Cheap labour’). “From a pay perspective it is shocking,” one woman says. “One hundred per cent of my take-home pay goes on childcare. My husband pays all the other bills.”
Keen to improve the working lives of postdocs? Ask them what they want
The survey was self-selecting and of the 114 respondents (around one-third of UCD’s total postdoc workforce), 24% say they spend more than 70% of their salaries on basic living costs, with 52% spending 50–70%. Thirteen per cent were on contracts shorter than 12 months, and 35% described their workload as heavy.
On a more positive note, 87% of respondents described their relationship with their principal investigator as good or excellent, although many said research output is prioritized over career development. Overall, 88% of respondents said they aspire to an academic career.
‘Spiralling out of control’
Ieva Zumbyte, a research fellow who studies gender-equity policy at UCD and is the survey report’s lead author, says, “We wanted to understand the scale of the problem for a group of people who all have PhDs, who are passionately committed to academia and should be treated as junior academics.”
Falling behind: postdocs in their thirties tire of putting life on hold
She adds: “Precarity, sometimes seen as a rite of passage for early-career researchers, is spiralling out of control throughout the higher-education sector, including UCD.”
The survey was carried out by UCD’s Research Staff Association in April and May, and the report compares salaries and living costs in Dublin with those in Copenhagen, a similarly sized capital city that also has a high cost of living.
The report notes that postdoc salaries at UCD start at €44,347 (US$48,375), compared with €55,264 in Denmark. Moreover, it says that childcare costs are 60% cheaper in the Danish capital than in Dublin, and that rents are 18–33% lower, according to figures from the Numbeo cost of living index.
Overall, the report says that UCD postdocs endure “inadequate pay, subpar living arrangements, limited professional development opportunities and a devaluation of postdoc status” — with one in three respondents reporting excessive workloads, including teaching obligations, which are often unpaid.
Career resources for postdoctoral researchers
It warns that neglecting postdocs’ concerns could undermine the university’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and that negative experiences at this career stage could deter people from returning to the university as faculty members later on.
Necessary improvements
The report makes 12 recommendations, including guaranteeing at least one annual salary increase, offering relocation support to overseas postdocs, providing travel grants to fund postdocs’ attendance at conferences when this isn’t covered by a principal investigator’s project, and improving mentoring opportunities.
Other requests include the provision of on-campus nurseries and temporary accommodation for all internationally recruited postdocs, many of whom currently have to rely on costly Airbnb rentals when they arrive.
University College Dublin’s Research Staff Association held group discussions about findings from a postdoc survey.Credit: UCD RSA
Adopting these measures would improve the reputation of UCD, says Zumbyte. “We are deeply aware that addressing these challenges will require time and long-term adjustments,” she says. “With better postdoc representation across the university’s committees, we can work together to find solutions that work for us all.”
Dominic Martella, head of external communication at UCD, says that the university “has received the report and continues to engage in communications with the Research Staff Association on the recommendations”.
