The Financial Conditions of Doctoral Candidates and Cost of Living Working Group (WG) investigates the financial conditions of doctoral candidates and how they relate to the prevailing cost of living in the country they are conducting their research in, for the purpose of highlighting at-risk groups of researchers and advocating for improvements in their working conditions.

The main areas that will be investigated by the WG are as follows:

• Classification of how doctoral candidates are funded, and for what duration the funding lasts (self-funding, salary, scholarship, stipend etc.).
• Comparing salary levels of doctoral candidates with the salaries of similarly educated workers, with reference to the recommendation from the Eurodoc Statement on Employment and Financial Conditions of ECRS that doctoral candidate salaries be comparable to those of upper secondary teachers.
• Determining whether doctoral candidates are paid enough to reside within their hosting country, with regards to living costs as aggregated by Eurostat and other reliable databases on the cost of living.
• Whether doctoral candidates contribute to residency periods, pension, social security and taxation systems for the duration of their research.
• Whether doctoral candidates pay tuition fees, or other administrative fees to their higher education institution, or if this is covered by a scholarship exemption.

The working groups of Eurodoc are open for early-career researchers all around Europe. ECRs affiliated with one of the national associations are especially welcome to join.

If you wish to be added to the email lists for the working group, please sign up through this link.

For more information, contact the coordinator of the working group: MJ Quill (mj.quill [at] eurodoc.net)