Postgraduate and early career

Arts and Humanities Research Council funding ‘has been some sort of oasis, but it too is now quickly drying up’

UK funder will support fewer PhD studentships as cost pressures from reduced funding and higher doctoral stipends bite

With job prospects slim in Japanese academia, PhD students may need to look outside country for further employment, researcher suggests

Karl Andersson’s article about his use of provocative images of young boys caused outrage among MPs and scholars

Academia can only host a fraction of doctoral graduates, but few universities collect destinations data showing where their other PhDs end up, making it hard to prepare new recruits for appealing alternatives

Watchdog expresses concern as employers increasingly look for higher degrees

People were remotely studying for higher degrees long before Covid, researchers say, and universities should pay them more attention

Angered by pay and conditions, more than 90 per cent of student workers voting to unionise, well above 75 per cent pre-Covid average, annual analysis finds

Anger over ‘double-taxing’ of foreign researchers thanks to £1,000-plus levy is causing scientific talent to explore job opportunities outside the UK, warn scientists

Doctoral candidates at their wits’ end as visa processing stalls again

Guaranteed interviews for ethnic minority applicants of a certain standard would also tackle postgraduate underrepresentation, says Research England-backed initiative

September will see thousands of thesis defenders invited to swear oath to scientific ethics and integrity, but many remain sceptical of ritual’s value

After tackling the challenges of accessing large and diverse survey samples, Phelim Bradley’s Prolific is moving into AI

Learned societies question quality of data, mismatch to EU goals, choice of indicators and ignorance of social and political contexts used by planned monitoring tool

I want my research to fuel change and make a positive impact on the world, and I do not want to suffer in the process, says Heidi Green

Recent drops of up to 15 per cent in enrolments blamed on tougher security screening, stingy stipends and a hybrid system creating a crowded market for top-level qualifications

Universities seek to recruit more – and more diverse – students by offering range of enrolment points

Just months after ending largest-ever walkout among teaching staff, workers at 10-campus public system complain about unfulfilled promises and arrests

Doctoral students drive Iranian science, but the country’s low spending means that they often lack access to basic resources, says Roohola Ramezani 

‘Morally supportive’ but implicitly dismissive, universities exacerbate students’ struggles with their ‘child-free’ ethos

Laureate says research laboratories ‘are not kindergartens’, but other prizewinners urge a more supportive approach

Overall US recruitment from overseas up 8 per cent at postgraduate level, according to annual survey

Flat or declining enrolments across Australia spell trouble for university finances and the broader economy, observers warn

Doctoral students at home petition New Delhi for a 60 per cent rise in stipends, amid rising living costs and appeal of overseas job market

Leading US science funding agency reports three straight years of record levels of awards to its early-stage applicants, with some gender and racial gains

Tracking doctoral alumni in other sectors would inform departments about what their specific training allows graduates to do, says Patrick Walsh

‘Lottery’ for mandated replication studies would encourage ‘greater care’ over ‘datasets’, Australian researchers argue

PhD candidates face ‘inconsistencies and inequalities’ in the support provided by supervisors, says British Academy-funded study

Flagship programme that places graduates in local schools to teach faces uncertain future as participation dwindles

Constant rejections for academic jobs took a bigger emotional toll than anything they encountered during their PhDs, says Michelle de Souza

Attempt to balance interests of employers and researchers pleases no one, and weekend Twitter storm forces the plan ‘back to the assembly hall’

Postgraduate training likely to be concentrated in larger universities as EPSRC and Wellcome make cuts

Telling precariously employed literature scholars to just hang in there doesn’t cut it in a job market as bad as today’s, says Chris Townsend

Belated moves to mitigate precarity are welcome but may come too late for one scholar exhausted by insecurity

Lengthy government security checks on STEM postgraduates are causing chaos for university research as doctoral candidates go elsewhere, says Russell Group

Students often have no choice but to include professors who have had no input into papers as co-authors, says Roohola Ramezani

European universities outline blueprint to improve doctoral training but acknowledge some professors can’t or won’t change their ways

As NIH pushes for improvement on racial and gender measures, drag attributed to growing segment of non-diverse principal investigators

University admits it could have been more flexible when making decision that affected postgraduate’s right to stay in the UK

Maria Toft sparked national conversation about exploitation with #pleasedontstealmywork campaign, but she says it came at the cost of her Copenhagen fellowship

Leading institutions switching from exams to interviews for admission, but students from many universities are excluded from this route

Graduate student workers energised after record walkout, though meaningful improvements remain a long slog for majority still in economically precarious contingent teaching

Vocational institutions are winning the right to award PhDs, while professional doctorates are also expanding. But how compatible are academic and vocational focuses in research degree provision – and how easily can status disparities be overcome, asks Ben Upton

Early taste of academic precarity reported in biggest-ever survey of student-employees, although rectors’ conference questions reliability of a union-commissioned study

Government took away scheme ’hastily’ and ‘without convincing reason’, according to critics

Lacklustre employment for doctorate holders betrays ‘disconnect’ between academia and private sector employers, scholars say

Living allowances become key part of the recruitment pitch, as universities battle for research students and students wrestle with inflation

Working in the academy reminds Duncan Money of his brief time on a market stall. Time to swap it for a stable job that pays the bills

Fraud and fabrication are not rarities, suggests Australian survey of early career scholars

Agreement on pay hikes and better benefits for graduate student instructors would end biggest-ever job action in US higher education, although many workers dissent

Scholars split on whether reforms – part of a wider relaxation of rules on doctorates – will tackle research fraud or whether they aim at the wrong target

Broader coalition arrives without answers on a missing DKr300 million for humanities and social sciences, as universities prepare to debate lifelong learning reforms with a “gun pointed at us”

House of Lords Science and Technology Committee also criticises ‘unjustifiably high’ visa costs 

Political scientist Jack Williams’ debut novel draws on his experiences as a PhD student at Princeton and Zurich

Joint programme eyes trifecta of research skills, disciplinary knowledge and business acumen

Top research universities have long cited their value in growing local economies, but massive graduate student walkout suggests a critical need to better protect the people who make the magic happen

Experts agree with vice-chancellor that financial support for doctoral candidates should be increased

Survey finds strong recovery in overall satisfaction with courses masks unease among some students about impact of big global recruitment drives

Tentative pact covers postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, but leaves 300,000-student system in turmoil as talks continue with graduate students in teaching and research roles

Biggest-ever job action in US higher education reaches third week with hundreds of California professors promising to observe picket lines, and system suggesting it may halt their pay