I applied to a Reseach Technician job, which is funded by the groups Wellcome trust grant. The major attraction was that I could do a part time PhD in the same group. I got the job and have started doing a p/t PhD.

To my surprise I have been asked to cover my tuition fees and pay for conference expenses, which my supervisor is very keen on me going to. Shouldn't expenses like these be covered by the Wellcome trust grant? All other PhD students where I work get there travel expenses paid for.

Any ideas how I can get funding help with these expenses?

I'm not very familiar with Wellcome grants but perhaps you should look into the conditions of the grant itself? Have you retained the paperwork?

In my personal experience in the research field, conference expenses and similar activities have been covered by the university dept itself, ie. if you have a poster or research presentation to present then the dept as a representative student or staff of the dept, the dept will pay for your travel and conference expenses. How the dept handles the accounting side of things (eg. drawing from dept funds or diverting finances from research grants) is case by case.

it is not normal, that you are asked to pay for conferences yourself!

for some conferences there are travel grants for phd students available, try to submit to those. also, always take on your supervisor as a co-author, if the paper get accepted and you don't get the travel grant tell him to go (if not at least one of you registers for the conference, the paper is kicked off the accepted paper list) - if he wants to increase the number of his publications, he will register himself. not ideal for you, but at least you get the publications.

Having to pay for tuition fees does sound a bit harsh. But conferences: you have to be quite lucky to get your department to pay for these, as most cases I know of people have paid their own way.

I think that being employed (and paid) as a technician will make a difference to what you might expect to get in terms of your identity as a student. If your primary identity is research technician, and the PhD is something you have chosen to do as an 'add on' (rather than it being a studentship) then I can see the university will treat you as a technician - esp in these days when money is tight in academia.

To be honest, I think this is fair. As a technician you'll be getting perks that students dont get (NI and pension contributions, and, I suspect, a salary that is higher than a stipend). And while PhD students might get support to go to conferences, other technicians wont get the chance to go at all!

weren't you given a contract or some sort of document detailing what you get and what you don't? If they offered you a PhD studentship on top of your job, then there might be some mixed up in the communication between the people paying your fees and your university's financial department or registry. They might simply need to receive a confirmation letter that you get your fees paid by such and such. But if you were only offered the job, then you will be responsible for paying your own school fees. Therefore I'd be surprised if you would be given a research budget. In that case, you can try getting your conference expenses paid by your department under staff development or something like that. I think you'll need to give us more information so we can help you. Good luck.

Cheers for all your replies guys! It's really usefull to get some external opinions.

The grant istself was awarded to the group before I started, amugst other things the grant was for a Research technician (me). My job description mentioned that I could do a p/t PhD, but I did not receive a seperate contact with details about the structure of the PhD when I started. I know there are funds for my PhD, but it seems my supervisor will only finance my lab work.

I think I will try getting conference expenses paid for by my department under staff development (but I'm not holding my breath).

Your situation does sound inconsistent with what I've been used to...

Where I studied, I knew people who were employed as research assistants/associates, who were simultaneously registered for FULL TIME PhDs! (I think this was a bit of "smoke and mirrors" so the uni could maximse its research profile TBH.) However these people were earning between 20-25K (with pension, NI etc), PLUS had all the benefits of being a student (Fees paid, council tax exemtption, etc)

Now, I don't know if that's the norm, maybe it was just my department that did this. However, while I can see it may be difficult to get conference funding for you (it's difficult to as a full time student), I don't see why they can't foot your fees?

That does sound a bit dodgy, Kronkodile. How were they supposed to do a full-time PhD and a full-time job (with the financial benefits of both, lucky sods)?

I think the work they were doing as RAs was stuff that could be used as PhD material - so effectively they weren't doing 2 separate research jobs, if you see what I mean...

Even so, it was pretty bizarre (and frankly annoying!) to see then get all the student perks while on a full time salary. OK they paid income tax, but because they were able to produce certification as full time students and had SU cards, they got the applicable discounts. One of my single friends rented a brand new apartment on the basis that she could afford it as exempt from council tax because of her "student status" - and she was taking home about £500-600 a month more that those of us on a stipend!

Full time PhD plus full time employed is dodgy as hell. We have rules and regulations which are explicit against such practices.

Also, someone mentioned above about salary being higher than a stipend, that may be true but stipends/scholarships are usually tax free which in many ways more than makes up for it.

well, just so you all know, I didn't go to Belford!!!

Its all about joining societies for the travel fees. Alot of societies will provide students with help for costs to go to relevant conferences. Of course depends on subject area, but I know those in the biosciences are quite nice for it.

I don't think there is any way of getting funds through my department... They seem to be ignoring any emails I send regarding this matter!

KONIC - That sounds like a good idea... I am doing bioscienes (cell culture investigating cancer to be precise), What kind of societies would you recommend? Have you used this method of funding in the past?

Cheers

Just to let anybody in a similar position to me know, I have managed to get full funding for my conference expenses by asking just about anyone at the uni I could think of... Thanks for all your help!