• Question: how many hours do you work a day and how much money do you earn a year

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      • Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more about:
      Asked by coco to Jo, Becky, Alan on 9 Mar 2015. This question was also asked by Bryony.
      • Photo: Alan McCue

        Alan McCue answered on 9 Mar 2015:

        One of the best things about my job is my work hours are quite flexible so I can work less hours some days and more hours on others. I would say on average I work 8-9 hours per day. I earn about £30,000 per year but don’t tell anyone!

      • Photo: Becky Gregory

        Becky Gregory answered on 9 Mar 2015:

        I usually work about 8 hours a day, but it can be flexible as sometimes depending on what experiments I have to set up, I have to come into the lab at weekends. PhD students are usually funded by a grant, and so earn between £15000 and £18000 a year.

      • Photo: Jo Sadler

        Jo Sadler answered on 9 Mar 2015:

        I normally work for 8-10 hours a day, depending on how busy things are. Like Becky, I’m a PhD student too and get an average PhD student stipend.

    Comments

    • Photo: Sarah

      Sarah commented on :

      As a PhD student, it is up to me to figure out how to use my time. I can be quite flexible with my time if I need to be, I’ll work anything between 6 and 12 hours a day (12 hours is quite unusual though, I wouldn’t be able to do that every single day!) Sometimes I work on weekends too – by my own choice! I get £15,000 a year, but this is not officially a salary as I am still a student rather than an employee.