On 12 Mar 09, at 10:28, Richard Ellam wrote:
> Low pay in both science jobs and science communication jobs (Cfl
> also runs a science centre on the same site, with similar pay
> structures) is so endemic that it gets built into the funding
> applications, and grant payments.
It depends on what you mean by "science jobs".
When I was a postdoc back in the mid-1990s, pay and conditions for
contract research staff were very poor. For example, I started off on
£17k a year, and that at the age of 33. Today, however, things have
improved a little, and not just for PhD graduates. Universities tend
to pay more than state-funded research labs, but even there the
situation is not that bad compared with the private sector.
How are we to attract scientists with research experience into science
journalism and other communication work, when salaries are so low as
to make many of their recipients eligible for top-up state benefits?
The same goes for school teaching.
Francis
--
Dr Francis Sedgemore
journalist and science writer
http://sedgemore.com
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