Support UCU’s Postgraduate Research (PGR) Manifesto To Recognise PGRs As Staff
Category: Idea
Voting closed
Postgraduate Researchers, or PhD students are under a lot of stress nationally by their institutions in the country, but the student movement is making changes.
We do the same work as university staff, but we are not afforded the same recognition, rights, protections, or pay as staff, because we are considered ‘students’. Many of us pay universities to produce data and outputs which we do not own.
We put our lives on hold, without access to funded child care entitlements, parental and adoption leave, state benefits, pensions or housing stability.
We are infantilised and not taken seriously. Our work is minimised, undervalued or ignored. We are overworked, under-supported and significantly more at risk of mental ill health.
We are isolated, and unprotected from toxic research cultures.
With the national campaign to make PGR's actual staff at their institutions, there is a chance to help the conditions faced by PGR's.
This petition calls on the Liverpool Guild of Students to support this campaign for the benefit of all its PGR students.
Comments
This idea will go to our next Guild Summit for student consideration, at 5:00pm on Thursday 16th February 2023. The student who submitted the idea is invited to speak in favour of their idea and explain why they think students should support it. We also invite students to get in touch with us if they are interested in speaking against the idea at Guild Summit. Please contact Abigail Morris, Guild Democracy Coordinator for more details about this at abigail.morris@liverpool.ac.uk. For more information on Guild Summit, please see the following link: https://www.liverpoolguild.org/making-change/your-ideas/how-guild-democracy-works
Attendees at Summit came to consensus to support this idea and made suggestions on further ways the Guild can show its support for Postgraduate students. Thank you to all attendees for their valuable contributions to the discussions. There were 3 main actions for the Guild that came from Summit, these were: 1) To release a public statement in support of the UCU’s PGR Manifesto, 2) To inform the UCU Liverpool branch of the Guild’s position, 3) To further support Postgraduate students, through collecting feedback and running social events and spaces. We are continuing our work on this topic, and will update on any future actions. You can read the full update here: https://www.liverpoolguild.org/articles/guild-summit-decides-ucu-s-pgr-manifesto