On Raises and Rights

According to a European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers — or Eurodoc — survey, PhD students in 12 countries across the European Union are concerned about their financial situations, and most "are not aware of the European Charter and Code," which guides how doctoral candidates and junior researchers' employment contracts are to be drawn up. "In the majority of countries in which the survey was conducted, not even one out of 10 respondents has heard of it," the Eurodoc team writes, adding that "the exception is Spain, where one-fifth stated to know it." While in most countries, the role of doctoral candidates supervisors' is defined by "some form of a binding agreement," nearly half of the PhD student respondents in Germany indicated they did not have such an agreement, "and a 'disturbing' number of respondents — more than 20 percent in some countries — had no idea whether such an agreement even exists," ScienceInsider adds. The complete Eurodoc report is available for download, here.