• Question: How much do you earn as a scientist

    Asked by mastervet33 to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      The starting salary for a postdoctoral researcher (someone who has their PhD) is about £25000 – £29000 per year, it varies a bit from place to place. You can earn more money in other jobs, but I don’t think that they are as fun!

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      You have to do a PhD (become a Doctor) before you can get a postdoctoral job, and thats what I’m doing at the moment.

      I got a research grant form the government, that I can do whatever I want with. It’s only about £13,000 a year, but the work is really flexible, and it doesn’t really matter if you’re doing something you really enjoy.

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I get paid about the same as I was getting before I started on a £22,000 salary, but my PhD grant isn’t taxed so they don’t really work out the same at all.

      As a young scientist you don’t get paid very much, but there are lots of perks like going on field trips or conferences in nice places.

      However, as you start to become more senior you can get paid quite a bit. Heads of department would get a lot of money (for not very much work if you ask me!).

      But most scientists don’t ‘get paid’ in the way we’re used to. Most of them have to apply for grants and fellowships, which are lump sums of money that they can use for a specific purpose. So a scientist might apply for a research grant to go and study a particular thing. The grant might pay for PhD students to help them, or for equipment, or lots of other different things, including their salary!

      Some scientists do have essentially a normal ‘job’ where they are paid a salary by a University but normally this involves working for the university by teaching or making courses.

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      It is a lot less than an investment banker, more than my wife (who is an archivist), and about the same as a school teacher.

      But we (well, I) don’t do it for the money, which isn’t actually that much, but for the freedom to think.

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I’m quite a senior postdoc now (it’s more than 6 years since I got my PhD), and I’m quite happy with my salary (which is a bit more than the starting salary Catherine mentioned).

      But them according to this website: http://www.paywizard.co.uk/ I make less in a year than Cheryl Cole makes every day, or Justin Beiber makes in 2 days. Oh well.

      As the others said I’m not really in it for the money. ! 😉

Comments