Hello to all our new followers.

All of you are rightly angry at the abandonment we’ve just been met with and want to know what you can do about it.



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UKRI and our unis can do this to us because PGRs, inc those self-funded, have no rights. This position is made completely worse by the fact that we are largely isolated from more seniors colleagues in our departments, but most importantly we are isolated from each other.

This stops us collectively organising both within and across our universities and we have few avenues for getting our issues taken seriously. We need to start by talking to each other, hearing what is happening to all of us, and be strategic about how we act.

We will hold a large informal group meeting next week where everyone is welcome. This will be a space where you can vent, get to know each other, and begin thinking about how you can organise with fellow PGRs. (Details coming soon)

An open letter from PGRs isn’t going to be what makes UKRI U-turn on their policy. It’s going to be you putting pressure on the right people. Talking to other PGRs, to your supervisors, to ECRs and postdocs, to your PGR director to your faculty directors, to your DTP director

Some are already writing open letters https://twitter.com/mark_pendleton/status/1326595345632145410?s=20

You want them to raise their concerns with and put pressure on decision-makers in your Uni and in all the structures of UKRI (DTPs, Research councils, @ProfRoryDuncan @UKRI_CEO) https://twitter.com/ProfRoryDuncan/status/1326555085866987520?s=20

You might be asking the above why is it that UKRI funded researchers were able to be furloughed where disrupted, but not most PGRs (many of whom still can't do field/lab work)? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-guidance-for-research-organisations/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-supplementary-guidance-for-research-organisations

And you can’t stop there. In both short and long term you need to support colleagues funded through other means, and those who self-fund. That means pressure on our unis, sectoral bodies and gov #fundthefuture https://twitter.com/WromanticHistry/status/1326895338054094848?s=20

We’ve not rested in the pandemic and we're ready to build a network of PGRs that can win on this and other issues. We can’t organise people in your institution, but you can by doing the above and filling in our survey mapping PGR collective power https://forms.gle/oexs6wQS6uybC5g96

We’ve also not been alone having been working closely with @ucu and @UCUAnti_Cas to start developing a campaign for all UK PGRs to be made paid members of staff, with full employment rights and the capacity to be fully represented by a union

You can input into this campaign through signing up this event by @ucu and its sister union SULF who are based in Sweden and were successful in campaigning for PGRs to be treated as employees. We’ll be there too https://twitter.com/PrecariousBrum/status/1322218473582403585?s=20

That’s how you can get started.

As always we will provide updates here but you should also join our organising listserv to make sure that you done miss anything. https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=PGR-COVID19-ORGANISING

Solidarity to everyone.