Postdocs count the cost of living in Ireland’s capital
Female researchers and those from outside the European Union are paying a particularly heavy price to live in Dublin
A busy street in Dublin, where the costs of living compare unfavourably with those in Copenhagen.Credit: Edwin Remsberg/Getty
Postdoctoral researchers at one of Ireland’s leading universities say that inadequate pay and living conditions, combined with limited career-development opportunities, have fuelled a decline in their professional status.
A survey of postdocs at University College Dublin (UCD) has also revealed gender disparities, with 28% of male postdocs saying they are satisfied with their salaries, compared with just 16% of their female counterparts (see ‘Cheap labour’). “From a pay perspective it is shocking,” one woman says. “One hundred per cent of my take-home pay goes on childcare. My husband pays all the other bills.”
The survey was self-selecting and of the 114 respondents (around one-third of UCD’s total postdoc workforce), 24% say they spend more than 70% of their salaries on basic living costs, with 52% spending 50–70%. Thirteen per cent were on contracts shorter than 12 months, and 35% described their workload as heavy.
On a more positive note, 87% of respondents described their relationship with their principal investigator as good or excellent, although many said research output is prioritized over career development. Overall, 88% of respondents said they aspire to an academic career.
‘Spiralling out of control’
Ieva Zumbyte, a research fellow who studies gender-equity policy at UCD and is the survey report’s lead author, says, “We wanted to understand the scale of the problem for a group of people who all have PhDs, who are passionately committed to academia and should be treated as junior academics.”
She adds: “Precarity, sometimes seen as a rite of passage for early-career researchers, is spiralling out of control throughout the higher-education sector, including UCD.”
The survey was carried out by UCD’s Research Staff Association in April and May, and the report compares salaries and living costs in Dublin with those in Copenhagen, a similarly sized capital city that also has a high cost of living.
Cheap labour
A female postdoctoral researcher who is midway through a two-year contract at University College Dublin (UCD) describes being treated “like cheap labour”. The 34-year-old, who requested anonymity, shares a flat with two other postdocs and says she can barely afford basic living costs on her €44,847 (US$48,916) salary.
After completing her PhD at an East European university in 2023, she was offered a contract at UCD promising up to €51,000, with a pay increase after a year.
It was only when she signed the contract that she discovered she was getting the lowest rate. “There was no possibility of getting a raise as the research grant could not stretch to it,” she says.
As a non-EU postdoc, she pays an annual €600 in private health insurance and also has to cover the cost of a non-EU residents’ visa, which comes to €300 a year. Relocating to Ireland cost her €5,000 in expenses, including four weeks in Airbnb accommodation at €100 a night while looking for a flat. She now pays €1,250 a month in rent.
Newly engaged to be married, she says that the lack of maternity and childcare support at UCD means she, like many female postdocs, faces choosing between starting a family and the dream of an academic career.
Costs of childcare
The report says that female postdocs often bear the brunt of childcare responsibilities, with childcare in Dublin “prohibitively expensive” — average fees were €1,200 a month in 2023.
A second female postdoc, who researches employment and law, and is the mother of a two-year-old daughter, says she has managed to remain in her post only because she has been “very lucky” to have a principal investigator prepared to fight on her behalf.
She became pregnant in 2022, aged 33, 10 weeks after beginning an 18-month postdoc contract with a starting salary of €43,000. “The pregnancy was a surprise and the timing was a big worry,” she says. “But my boss stood up for me and I was given full maternity leave and cover. Even better, as the research is ongoing, I’ve been able to extend my contract by two years, which means I’ll have publications and other experience to show at the end of the contract, despite taking maternity leave.”
She now works part time and pays €519 a month for four days of childcare a week at a government-subsidized crèche. She thinks her luck will run out at the end of the contract, however, saying, “like so many of my female friends, I’ll be looking for work outside academia, probably in the NGO [non-governmental organization] sector”.
The report notes that postdoc salaries at UCD start at €44,347 (US$48,375), compared with €55,264 in Denmark. Moreover, it says that childcare costs are 60% cheaper in the Danish capital than in Dublin, and that rents are 18–33% lower, according to figures from the Numbeo cost of living index.
Overall, the report says that UCD postdocs endure “inadequate pay, subpar living arrangements, limited professional development opportunities and a devaluation of postdoc status” — with one in three respondents reporting excessive workloads, including teaching obligations, which are often unpaid.
It warns that neglecting postdocs’ concerns could undermine the university’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and that negative experiences at this career stage could deter people from returning to the university as faculty members later on.
Necessary improvements
The report makes 12 recommendations, including guaranteeing at least one annual salary increase, offering relocation support to overseas postdocs, providing travel grants to fund postdocs’ attendance at conferences when this isn’t covered by a principal investigator’s project, and improving mentoring opportunities.
Other requests include the provision of on-campus nurseries and temporary accommodation for all internationally recruited postdocs, many of whom currently have to rely on costly Airbnb rentals when they arrive.
University College Dublin’s Research Staff Association held group discussions about findings from a postdoc survey.Credit: UCD RSA
Adopting these measures would improve the reputation of UCD, says Zumbyte. “We are deeply aware that addressing these challenges will require time and long-term adjustments,” she says. “With better postdoc representation across the university’s committees, we can work together to find solutions that work for us all.”
Dominic Martella, head of external communication at UCD, says that the university “has received the report and continues to engage in communications with the Research Staff Association on the recommendations”.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03608-7
This story originally appeared on: Nature - Author:Jane Feinmann
