'Honorary,' Indeed

The University of Birmingham has withdrawn its advertisement for an "honorary" — unpaid — research assistant position after critics voiced concern that such cost-free assistance was exploitative, reports Paul Jump at Times Higher Education.

"The position, advertised last week on jobs.ac.uk, required applicants to commit to working at least two days a week on a 'voluntary basis' on a new clinical study of mental illness," Jump reports. In a statement, Birmingham said that "although the honorary research assistantships were conceived as training positions, the university recognizes that this was not clear and has, consequently, withdrawn the advertisement," THE adds.

Speaking with THE, University of Roehampton’s Rebecca Boden suggested that "a better way for universities to recruit cost-free assistance would be to recruit PhD students and to waive their fees."