It is often said with good intention that postgraduate researchers, or PGRs, are the future of academia. But this isn’t the entire truth. We are also the present of academia. The former framing minimises the work that we are doing right now, by treating us as a subcategory of student, without regard for what our day to day work actually involves.

This work includes publishing papers, speaking at conferences, and collaborating with other academics. Many of us also teach undergraduates in seminars, workshops, and labs. We engage with outreach work that is paid time for senior academic staff, but is considered voluntary for PGRs. Yes, we are also at the very start of our research careers, and are still learning how to be effective researchers, but this learning doesn’t stop after graduating from a PhD; it is a continuous process. Nobody would argue that a postdoctoral academic is not performing labour just because they are still gaining experience and improving how they work.

What about all those who choose not to continue in academia after graduating from a PhD or research masters? Can we really say that they wasted their time and contributed nothing to our collective knowledge, just because they were considered to be ‘in training’ for the entirety of their time in academia?

There needs to be a shift in the way we understand postgraduate research. It is research, and research is labour. It is this framing that underpins the UCU policy on recognising PGRs as staff, a policy that the trade union has been campaigning for since 2020. With this understanding, we begin to grasp the extent of exploitation that is going on in higher education.

Legally, PGRs are classed as students, and thus have no employment rights when it comes to their research. This research is separated from the teaching that many PGRs deliver, which tends to be treated as employment (with exceptions—some PhD scholarships require unpaid teaching). However, most university departments employ postgraduate teaching assistants (PGTAs) on a casual basis, often using zero hours and short-term contracts. Casual workers are generally treated as non-employees, thus being ineligible for university policies that apply to most other staff.

As PhD students are without a salary, many are instead funded by a stipend that is provided either by UKRI or an alternative funder. The UKRI stipend is standard, currently set at £15,609. Many funders set their scholarship award at the same level, but exceptions are common with some being more or less generous than this. This stipend has seen a real terms cut since 2004 of £4,600, and will experience a further cut this year as UKRI have announced they will not be adjust it by the current inflation rate despite the cost of living crisis.

Those who are not awarded a stipend are self-funded, and have to pay tuition fees for the privilege of doing free research work for the university. The vast majority of these PGRs are forced into second and third jobs on top of their research as many do not have the wealth to keep them fed throughout their degree.

The government says it wants the UK to be a world leader in research and innovation. Yet when compared to our immediate neighbourhood, western Europe, we are found to be severely lagging behind when it comes to PGR conditions. Countries that employ PGRs as staff include France, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark, to name a few. With staff status they get full employment rights and protections: sick pay, a pension scheme, parental leave, and so on.

While exceptions to this staff status exist in some of these countries, with a minority of PGRs being funded in alternative ways due to immigration status or other factors, the fact remains that the overall picture is far less bleak than it is here. Why then would prospective PGRs choose to stay in, or come to, the UK? Here they are paid less, their labour is not recognised, conditions are poor, and they are more likely to depend on precarious work to get through their research degree.

Earlier this year, I experienced first-hand the consequences of being on a casual contract. I had caught Covid and was in isolation for the required ten days, missing out on six hours of teaching work. I informed my line manager of my illness, expecting that the process for getting sick pay, two years into a pandemic, would be straightforward. I could not have been more wrong. I was told that, as a casual worker, I was not entitled to any sick pay at all.

I contacted my local UCU branch. After a lot of back and forth with HR, my union representative managed to get a concession that not only are casual workers entitled to statutory sick pay, but also that PGTAs in our department should be on employment contracts in line with an existing agreement to minimise the use of casual work. As a result, PGTAs in my department received employment contracts backdated to the start of their teaching, and were finally eligible for the same terms and conditions as other staff, including the more generous university policy on sick pay.

Unfortunately, far too many PGRs across the UK are still teaching on casual contracts, with some people being driven into insecure housing. One particularly egregious example of this was a PhD student who had to live in a tent for two years while employed as a lecturer. Nobody should have to live in such conditions, and it is appalling that the higher education sector and the government are allowing such widespread use of these exploitative contracts.

My sick pay dispute would never have happened if teaching work was already included as part of an employment contract for our research work. Researchers wouldn’t have to live in tents if they were paid a living wage and the entirety of their labour was recognised by employers. That PGRs are not eligible for statutory employment rights by default is a labour issue—and one that is preserving academia as an interest for a wealthy few that can afford it. With full employment rights and a living wage, we can start to break down the barriers that stand in the way of working-class and disabled researchers.

UCU’s PGRs as Staff manifesto is a source of hope and inspiration for us PGRs. It paints a massively improved future, one where our labour is finally respected and our contributions to universities recognised. Nobody should have to pay to work, or do unpaid labour, or work multiple jobs to sustain themselves. Nobody should have to worry about finding funding and putting food on the table. We are not asking for the Earth—we are asking for basic rights, protections, and respect.

While UKRI have signalled that they are open to considering a change in status for PGRs, this won’t happen without strong demand. The consultation closes on 17 May. It is vitally important for PGRs, past, present, and prospective, to submit responses in support of the UCU position. Any supervisors are also welcome to submit a response.

But we can do more than just responding to government consultations. In order to build a lasting movement for improving our own conditions, PGRs must unionise and join the UCU. From the PGRs as Staff campaign to anti-casualisation, the UCU have continually worked to advance our interests despite low membership among PGRs. While this would naturally improve once PGRs are staff and are more aware of their employment rights, including the right to organise in a trade union, we cannot wait until then. It is up to us to find strength in numbers and organise for the PGR future we want to see.