In my University in London the minimum salary for a Post Doc position is 29K per year before tax (including London wage), but the average in my department is around 31k. It depends on what kind of grant it is, and if it is your firs post doc or not.
As far as I know the salary range for Ph.D. students in the UK is quite wide, between 1000 and 1600 £ per month. Again, it depends if the money comes from a governmental research body (1000£) or other sources, like an industry (up to 1600 pm).

I did my official transcripts in Italy. You can go to any english school providing translation services, and they will do everything. The "everything" includes translating + going to officialize the translation in front of a solicitor or clerck + paying the fee for the solicitor or clerck ( ca. 20-30 euros). The price was around 150 euros. I know it is a lot but is the most effective way. In theory you could translate the certificates by yourself and then swearing in front of a solicitor that you translated it in troth, but it takes a lot of time and you need to be in your Country.
The important thing is that your certificate will have the official solicitor's stamp.

Last February a friend of mine won a post-doc position in Texas. He did just two phone interviews. I know quite a lot of people going to the States after a Ph.D. in UK, so it doesn't sound so difficult. However a bad aspect is the low salary, in particular if you consider the weak dollar. Better, the salary is enough for the cost of life over there, but if you want to go back to Europe for an holiday it will be very expensive.    

Do you have any published paper? I think that once you are in the literature as an author they start sending you review requests.

in my university we have access 24/7. all the departments, labs, offices have a swipe card access. if I want to stay in the lab after 11 pm I have to inform the security, so they know i am working there.

Hi,
my suggestion is to identify the research groups you are interested in and to check quite often their websites.
Secondly, what aspects of ecotox would you like to study? At plymouth they are very good in invertebrate ecotox, at exeter fish and genomics, Brunel Univ fish and reproduction, Birmingham metabolomics.
may be it would be better if you consider aquatic ecotox rather than marine ecotox, just to have more choice. Infact in the Uk the majority of ecotox research is related to freshwater fish.

So the challenge is : huge theoric preparation and poor practice VS very basic theoric preparation and a lot of practice.
My idea is that the university should mold thinking brains and not technicians. In theory the Academia is the palce of maximum culture. You need 1 day to learn how to do a PCR, but a life to learn something about science!

I'm just saying that to it seems e little bit exagerate to do two years of training, like in the USA, before starting your experiments. My experience is in biology so I don't want to generalize.
If you know a little bit the biology, as it assumed after a bachelor and a Master, you shouldn't need 2 years of training. So my question is: is it a so good idea to have short and basic exams in name of the University business? I can tell you that for example to prepare an exam of molecular biology you need at least one month after the end of the lessons(obtaining a basic preparation). So I can't believe that a student in the States or in the Uk nees just a week!!

I'm in biology too and I started a founded Ph.D. project 2 years ago. Obviously every project need some main goals to reach and a background, but it doesn't mean that everything is already written!
Secondly, if you need two years of training before starting your research, what did you do during your master or bachelor??? playing football and drinking beer??
Secondly USA, Canada and UK are very famous for their University. I have the feeling that (at least in biology) this is absolutely true for Ph.D. courses but not so much for bachelors and masters, and a lot of time is just a matter of name. In the Uk and USA I've met a lot of master Sudents with a very approximative preparation. In particular for basic biology concepts. Universities reduce the exam programs in a ridicoulus way and exams are so easy!! (try asking some Erasmus students). It seems that for them business and money are much more important that knowledge.
I'd like to know the opinion of other European not-UK students.

we have a team of technicians....but anyway during my experiments I check my animals very very often.

It depends from the period. I am not a morning person, so I start around 10-11 am. Some days I finish around 5 pm, other days around 9-10 pm. Depends from the experiments, conferences, deadline, papers etc.
My supervisor thinks that this is not a classic job where you switch on your brain at 8 and off at 5pm. It has to be very flexible, taking in account to work over the weekend or late in the night or better just few hours. So he doesn't control me at all, but we have a meeting every week or two less or more, discussing of everything.

Is 24000£ after or before taxes? How much do you pay for taxes? 20%?
In my field (biology) in London, the range is 24000-31000£, depend where is the grant from. For example, grants from industries are the richest, grants from national research institutions are the lowest. Anyway, some european grant are very good, look at the Marie Curie.
Finally guys,if you complain the italians would go and kill somebody overthere, in the Parliament...dou you know how much is a post doc in Italy? about 11000 £ per year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

studio flat or studio apartment - an apartment with a living space and a bathroom and a small kitchen. Basically a bedroom, plus bathroom and cooking facilities.

hey guys, obviously when I talk about London I take in account the Greater London. If you are a Ph.D. student, if your scholarship is good and could afford to live alone, at most you can let a studio flat in zone 4,5 or 6. My University is not in Central London, so I don't need a flat there. In zone 6, west london, with 500£ you can find really luxury place to share with 1 or 2 flatmates.
The point is: rent a studio and save 50£ or share a flat and save much more.
About food, by my own experience I need around 40£ per week + 10-12£ per week when you have lunch at the Uni. Going out..about 30£ per week. In zone 5-6 you can live quite well spending about 800£ per month (housing inclusive).

Hi guys, i need an advice. I am in London and I am looking for a flat/room to move in. In your opiion, what percentage of your scholarship would you use to rent a flat or a room? Do you think it is better to live in a cool place and to arrive at the end of the month saving just few money (say 100£) or to save more and to live in a more modest place, sharing it with other people etc. etc.? thanks