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ChemistBoy
Me not PhD student anymore, me on basic technology grant 
Jammy git...still - NERC studentships average around £21k, according to my tutor - which is quite ridiculous. Personally hope I get my job performing retail for the commercial market though - definitely a better wage there...
bikerx23
Jammy git...still - NERC studentships average around £21k, according to my tutor - which is quite ridiculous. Personally hope I get my job performing retail for the commercial market though - definitely a better wage there...
NERC and MRC are bonkers, but then again I suppose they are hot potatoes at the moment. NERC students get almost as much as me!
jesus ****ing christ whore mother ****ing fish **** that is intense!!!! i get 12k tax free!!! i remember my old house mate getting loads at ucl for reclassifying the insects to update darwins original classification. i dont mean to be funny, but my phd is far more useful. just goes to show how much we value anything science related, regardless of whether human beings could benefit from such funding.
The problem is that the funding councils are given different amounts based on what perception the government has of their research importance. This doesn't always directly translate into all NERC studentships being of more obvious importance than all EPSRC studentships, etc. Personally I think a standard stipend rate across the research councils would be more reasonable and more even-handed reflection on academic research. Funding should determine how many researchers are in certain areas not how much money each gets. For NERC it appears to be one PhD student for the price of two - not great value for money.
ChemistBoy
Excellent, especially because St Andrews use a non-linear 20 point grading system that I won't explain.
Urgh...and what a strange system it is!! Current 4th year at St Andrews, and feeling grumpy about projects. Hmpf.
ChemistBoy
The problem is that the funding councils are given different amounts based on what perception the government has of their research importance. This doesn't always directly translate into all NERC studentships being of more obvious importance than all EPSRC studentships, etc. Personally I think a standard stipend rate across the research councils would be more reasonable and more even-handed reflection on academic research. Funding should determine how many researchers are in certain areas not how much money each gets. For NERC it appears to be one PhD student for the price of two - not great value for money.
The thing with NERC is that there is an unusually large amount of money invested into funding the actual work going on (barring the stipend) - some approximate to tens of thousands a year in field work, some have even pushed a million (those which require ocean surveying voyages, for example), hence there is some inference that the stipend is related to the overall cost, as in terms of difficulty.etc - relative to the total project fund, NERC stipends are still relatively small...
A lot of them also attract independent funding, hence if that's what they're awarded...
bikerx23
The thing with NERC is that there is an unusually large amount of money invested into funding the actual work going on (barring the stipend) - some approximate to tens of thousands a year in field work, some have even pushed a million (those which require ocean surveying voyages, for example), hence there is some inference that the stipend is related to the overall cost, as in terms of difficulty.etc - relative to the total project fund, NERC stipends are still relatively small...
A lot of them also attract independent funding, hence if that's what they're awarded...
A lot of them also attract independent funding, hence if that's what they're awarded...
And I suppose it is constant funding too. I mean you get big equipment grants in physical sciences but these are one offs for tens of years. Field work can cost a lot and it costs a lot every time you do it. I still don't see why NERC stipends are larger than any others, the relationship to overall project funding is a bit erroneous - if people can live off £12K a year then why pay twice that in certain disciplines? I mean its not as if the lure of industry is driving oceanographers and climatologists into the private sector en masse.
I'm not too sure either to be honest - I think part of it is trying to lure scientists with first degrees in Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Engineering who otherwise would not have considered applying their skills in that sector, hence the large populist "look how much we're offering" approach is applied. It does seem a little excessive to me - considering you could probably fund atleast another full PhD on the difference...but if that's what they feel is the right thing to do, then let them get on with it.
bikerx23
I'm not too sure either to be honest - I think part of it is trying to lure scientists with first degrees in Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Engineering who otherwise would not have considered applying their skills in that sector, hence the large populist "look how much we're offering" approach is applied. It does seem a little excessive to me - considering you could probably fund atleast another full PhD on the difference...but if that's what they feel is the right thing to do, then let them get on with it.
Maybe I should have done environmental research...
I guess, as a fully paid up member of the scientific community I can't really leave it alone because the inequity bothers me. Especially since it is the research councils that are bearing the brunt of the Rover support package that the government is dishing out. Which research councils get hit hardest? Not NERC, but EPSRC (29 million), CCLRC (6 million) for example. Why should NERC funded PhD students live in the lap of luxury when fundamental research funding is being cut so drastically?
nikk
Hmm.... I was going to post to ask to join, but realised I am a bit ahead of myself since I still have 3 months left to graduate! Doh!
Reserve me a place because I am definitely grumpy enough...
Reserve me a place because I am definitely grumpy enough...
Out of curiosity what's your Ph.D. or sorry DPhil on and which college are you at? Any recommendations for which Profs to have as a supervisor for biology/biochem grad work?
The post doesn't quite fit in this category but I could ask it in a grumpy way...
bikerx23
Jammy git...still - NERC studentships average around £21k, according to my tutor - which is quite ridiculous. Personally hope I get my job performing retail for the commercial market though - definitely a better wage there...
Your supervisor is very, very wrong (see page 3)http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/application/studentships/studentbook2006.pdf
£12K out london, £14,300 in london. Case studentships get more but they are linked to industry and my NERC-CASE buddies are on 14K outside london.
The only way I think your supervisor can make a statement like that is a NERC-CASE within london on 16K plus fees (3k) and they are disabled (get upto £1600 more) and supporting children.
or potentially they are at oxbridge on a NERC 14K, plus college fees £3k and tuition fees £3k, but even on both counts well below 21k so certainly not an average.
arod
Out of curiosity what's your Ph.D. or sorry DPhil on and which college are you at? Any recommendations for which Profs to have as a supervisor for biology/biochem grad work?
The post doesn't quite fit in this category but I could ask it in a grumpy way...
The post doesn't quite fit in this category but I could ask it in a grumpy way...
It is on exploiting defects in malignant cells to develop new treatments for cancer. I don't start until October so I don't know much about the other supervisors i'm afraid.
I'm just sorting out applying to Wolfson, since I am told that is where most of the postgrads in my department join. (I've been accepted by the department onto the course but have to now apply separately to the college. Although I'm told this is a bit of a formality since I have already been offered a place).
Are you applying/got a place in something similar?
Wolfson is quite far out from the city centre - if you get a chance try applying for some other colleges too - New College, for example, has a lot of good central accommodation. Also, with MCRs they have a lot of inter-activity between different colleges - to a much greater extent than for JCRs 
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