The terrible career prospects for early career researchers, the constant stress and anxiety at finding funding when your current contract expires, are completely inseparable from the low pay given to PhD candidates

A post doc with overheads in NZ costs upwards of $160k annually. For that price you can get four PhD students on stipends. It doesn& #39;t matter how much better a post doc might be, they can& #39;t compete with the volume of work four people can do

The result is that most research in this country is done by PhD students for extremely low pay. When they finally have the experience and work to call themselves & #39;doctor& #39; they& #39;re thrown away in favour of cheaper, less experienced alternatives

Our universities hemorrhage knowledge and expertise. The people who will go on to be the future of tertiary education are subjected to a pointlessly gruelling exercise that frequently damages their health. All to save money on PhDs.

A lot has to change, but I can& #39;t see any solution that doesn& #39;t start with acknowledging that so called graduate & #39;students& #39; are in all but name employees of the university. That we are vital to their operation, and are as deserving of employment rights, fair pay, and unionisation