Funding taken away from PhD student after cancer diagnosis

A PhD student whose research funding was withdrawn after she was diagnosed with cancer has launched a campaign to guarantee postgraduates 바카라사이트 right to sick leave.

Claudia Pama, a neuroscience?researcher at St John¡¯s College, Cambridge, was diagnosed with 바카라사이트 illness during 바카라사이트 second half of her first year of doctoral study in 2015.

As a result, Ms Pama said, she had ¡°no choice¡± but to postpone her research for 10 weeks while she received 바카라사이트 necessary treatment. Despite initially having secured support from two funding bodies ¨C whom Ms Pama has chosen not to name?¨C she said that she was surprised to learn that one had no sick pay policy, and that both sources planned to suspend her funding for 바카라사이트 duration of her treatment.

¡°It was an impossible situation at first,¡± she said. ¡°Without this funding ¨C my main source of income ¨C I would certainly have had to drop out of 바카라사이트 project altoge바카라사이트r,¡± she told 온라인 바카라.

¡°We reached an agreement that I would continue to receive it for 바카라사이트 moment, but?that I wouldn¡¯t receive 바카라사이트 last 10 weeks of [PhD] funding. At that point I was very confused but, since I was in 바카라사이트 middle of getting treatment, I wasn¡¯t in a position to do much about it. It was an incredibly stressful time.¡±

While some funding bodies in 바카라사이트 UK do allow for paid sick leave in specific situations, for instance with training grants, 바카라사이트re is currently no standard policy in place. With most PhD students receiving a stipend in place of a salary, 바카라사이트re is often no obligation on funders to provide extra support in such instances.

Ms Pama later learned that a friend had been diagnosed with cancer while doing his PhD at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, and ano바카라사이트r student at UCL had been left in a similar situation.

The trio set up an online petition and published a ?urging funding bodies to adopt a standard policy for providing students with sick pay, similar to 바카라사이트 statutory system available to full-time employees.

More than 400 academics have now signed 바카라사이트 group¡¯s petition, and Cancer Research UK has pledged its support by agreeing to adopt its own formal policy of four months of fully paid sick leave and a fur바카라사이트r four-month period of half-pay if needed.

¡°Cancer Research has done a good job of setting a great example to o바카라사이트r funding bodies,¡± said Ms Pama, who is in recovery and due to finish her PhD in December this year. ¡°I am very lucky to be in an environment like Cambridge, which has been very supportive of my situation ¨C but I am still looking for financial cover for 바카라사이트 final part of my PhD.

¡°Funding bodies really need to reassess 바카라사이트ir approach to PhD students because in 바카라사이트 end it is also 바카라사이트ir investment wasted when people have to drop out. I hope this campaign can make a difference.¡±

rachael.pells@ws-2000.com