Are PhDs paid?

Galbin

I've googled and googled, but cannot find a straight answer to this. Can anyone tell me if PhD students are given a small wage? Are their fees paid?

Thanks.

ancapailldorcha

I think it depends on the sector but in the sciences, yes. You get your fees paid and a tax-free stipend to live on (€16,000 - €18,000 last I checked).

Galbin

It would be a PhD in the legal field. Is that different to the science field in terms of fees? I am just confused because universities list PhD fees per year.

fishtastico

The way it works is that the university charges fees, but most grants pay your fees and then pay you a stipend on top of that. If you contact potential supervisors they will give you an idea whether they have grants.

Bottom line is the university wants you to pay them, not the other way around.

Bacchus

It really depends on the PhD, the university, the supervisor etc. Some PhD's are funded, in which case you will get fees paid + a small wage (varies but somewhere around the €15,000 mark give or take, and it's tax free).

I'm not sure how it works with regard to fee if the PhD is not funded.

If there is a PhD position you are interested in that is being advertised, get in touch and ask is there funding for it.

hidinginthebush

In the case of science / engineering, you're going to need a hefty grant to pay for materials, chemicals and equipment. Fees are typically factored into this funding. In UCD, my engineering PhD was funded, and I didn't have to pay fees etc., on top of this the stipend was €16K/year. It was required of postgrads to supervise lab session free of charge. To the best of my knowledge, in science, they received less of a stipend, but were paid to supervise lab sessions.

For a legal postgrad, you should ask the supervisor are the fees covered by a grant / funding, as it's quite costly otherwise. I know someone who did a PhD in archaeology, and their fees were covered, but received no stipend, so they worked in admin in UCD 3 half-days or so per week (which is common enough for people in that position). You can also apply to supervise exams at summer / winter, and make a nice wedge from it, though it's mind-numbingly boring.

POSSY

If it's a funded PhD then you'll get paid 15-18k pa and fees paid (@eu rate, if you're non-eu you'll have the pay the difference in fees between eu/non-eu).

You may be able to apply for other sources of funding if a funded-position is not on offer. If you contact your university's grad research department they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Keep an eye on the IRC website concerning funding and perhaps jobs.ac.uk as this website sometimes posts open (funded) PHD positions.

Nichololas

hidinginthebush wrote: »

In the case of science / engineering, you're going to need a hefty grant to pay for materials, chemicals and equipment. Fees are typically factored into this funding. In UCD, my engineering PhD was funded, and I didn't have to pay fees etc., on top of this the stipend was €16K/year. It was required of postgrads to supervise lab session free of charge. To the best of my knowledge, in science, they received less of a stipend, but were paid to supervise lab sessions.

For a legal postgrad, you should ask the supervisor are the fees covered by a grant / funding, as it's quite costly otherwise. I know someone who did a PhD in archaeology, and their fees were covered, but received no stipend, so they worked in admin in UCD 3 half-days or so per week. You can also apply to supervise exams at summer / winter, and make a nice wedge from it, though it's mind-numbingly boring.

When was this? I worked as a demonstrator / lab instructor in the Computer Science and Medicine schools and got paid on an hourly basis, as well as for corrections.

hidinginthebush

Nichololas wrote: »

When was this? I worked as a demonstrator / lab instructor in the Computer Science and Medicine schools and got paid on an hourly basis, as well as for corrections.

I started in 2006. I think postgrads in all departments of engineering are expected do demonstrations / corrections for free.

Bacchus

hidinginthebush wrote: »

I started in 2006. I think postgrads in all departments of engineering are expected do demonstrations / corrections for free.

We had to do the same in UCC (engineering). The science PhD guys were paid for doing labs and corrections though.

hidinginthebush

Bacchus wrote: »

We had to do the same in UCC (engineering). The science PhD guys were paid for doing labs and corrections though.

That's the same as UCD alright.

I was told the reasoning for it was that the science guys got less of a stipend, so they were allowed to bump up theirs by being paid for demonstrations, this turned out to be completely not the case (they were given a similar stipend to ourselves), then we were just told that's how it is :shrug:

SpaceTime

There's no general answer to this.

Some doctoral and postdoctoral research is funded as someone's interested in paying for the research. That could be a research organisation, the university itself, a private body (like a pharmaceutical, an IT company etc etc) or it could even be combined with lecturing activity.

Universities make money and build reputations out of doctoral and postdoctoral research. Increasingly the leading Irish universities, notably Trinity, UCC, UCD and NUIG are moving towards being far more postgraduate and research orientated than they would have been in the past and that's largely why they're moving up the international university ranking bit by bit.

Funding availability varies a lot though. You really can't generalise as every subject area, department, university etc is different. If you're studying an area that's struggling for money or that doesn't generally get much in the way of research funding, you could well end up footing the bill yourself though.

If you're looking to do something in the area of law, you'd probably need to look out for research funding opportunities yourself too. Talk to the department you're planning to approach and also start sniffing around for external funding.

Galbin

Thanks, lads. I am just applying for a Masters now, so am thinking ahead. I don't mind if I only get my fees paid or earn a very low wage for a while, as the plan is to become a lecturer. However, it would be tough if we had to pay the actual fees for my PhD.

Lockstep

I'm doing a PhD in law.

Funding exists, funding for "social sciences" like law is easier to get than in the humanities but a lot harder to get than in the real sciences.

Funding varies a lot. Usually it's between €12-16k a year plus fees, although this is tax free which is very handy.

There's no guarantee of funding though, some people self-fund and get funding along the way, others are lucky and get it from the outset.

SpaceTime

Lockstep wrote: »

I'm doing a PhD in law.

Funding exists, funding for "social sciences" like law is easier to get than in the humanities but a lot harder to get than in the real natural sciences.

Funding varies a lot. Usually it's between €12-16k a year plus fees, although this is tax free which is very handy.

There's no guarantee of funding though, some people self-fund and get funding along the way, others are lucky and get it from the outset.

FYP above