Research Prize - NaturePhD students receiving stipends from the United Kingdom’s national research-funding agency are to get an 8% pay hike.

The announcement from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) means that the minimum PhD stipend will rise from £19,237 (US$24,300) to £20,780 from 1 October 2025. UKRI describes it as the largest real-terms stipend increase since 2003. The agency supported an estimated 24,000 students in the 2023–24 academic year, amounting to around one in five of doctoral students based in the United Kingdom.

Other changes unveiled by UKRI include allowing students to take up to 28 weeks’ medical leave, more opportunities to extend studentships and greater support for students with disabilities.

Announcing the stipend increase on 30 January, UKRI chief executive Ottoline Leyser said: “Postgraduate training is critical to building the workforce needed for an innovation-led economy and public sector, and to delivering outstanding research and innovation outcomes.

“The increase in the postgraduate stipend and changes in terms and conditions we are announcing today are part of our ongoing work to forge a new deal for postgraduates, widening access to the diverse and fulfilling careers that research and innovation has to offer.”

Alongside the announcement, UKRI also published a report that said there was widespread support from universities and other research organizations and UKRI grant holders for setting the stipend in line with the UK national living wage.

Financial survival

Some researchers hailed the increase as a step towards helping all researchers to survive financially. But others said that much more needs to be done to help them.

Stephanie Buller, who researches risk management as part of a UKRI-funded PhD at Cardiff University, says the stipend hike is still too low.

Many first jobs, including apprenticeships aimed at 16- and 18-year-olds that combine practical training with study, can pay more than a PhD does, she adds.

Buller says: “I’ve got an undergraduate [degree], a master’s and 10 years’ experience, so my current skill set is worth £60,000. I’ve walked away from a very-well-paying job to be a mature student in financial hardship.

“There are hundreds of PhDs up and down the country that are saying, ‘how do I keep a roof over my head and how do I pay for my next meal?’”

Pablo Ouro, a civil engineer at the University of Manchester who completed his PhD in 2017, says that the increase is “good news for all PhD students”, but notes that foreign students have extra costs to bear.

One example of this is the annual £776 visa levy for someone to be covered by the UK National Health Service.

The rise in the stipend would not make a huge difference to PhD students, Ouro argues, saying that it needs to be compared with inflation. “We have seen that the rent prices for the students increased more than 8% over the last three or four years,” he says.

Jo Grady, who leads the University and College Union (UCU), based in London, which represents higher-education staff, called for other funders to match the increase. But she warned that, for too long, postgraduate researchers have been denied benefits that their colleagues employed as staff receive, despite producing high-quality research and delivering outstanding teaching.

Doug Cleaver, who chairs the UK Council for Graduate Education, based in Lichfield, which represents the postgraduate education and research sector, said: “We welcome the UKRI’s announcement on PhD student stipends as a positive move to redress what has become a clear economic barrier to engagement.

“However, with the sector currently facing financial challenges, it’s difficult to judge what indirect impacts this will bring — and we must await more from UKRI on those details.”