Low pay and ambiguous job status frustrates Canadian postdocs

By Léo Charbonneau. New survey finds postdocs see themselves as employees, not students or ‘trainees’.
A new survey of postdoctoral scholars in Canada paints a portrait of early career researchers who are generally satisfied with their research environment but frustrated by their ambiguous employment status, poor compensation and inadequate training. The online survey (PDF), released on Oct. 2, was conducted this past spring by the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars and Mitacs, a not-for-profit organization that supports industry-university research involving graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The survey’s 1,830 respondents represent a wide range of disciplines and work primarily at universities but also at research hospitals, government laboratories and private companies. More...