| As I am completing my PhD, I am applying for Postdoctoral fellow opportunities. During the course of my investigation I have gathered several examples of salaries and I share them here. This is intended to be a statement of facts rather than a passing of judgement. I have observed the American Professors to be very reluctant to admit what salaries they are offering or paying. I have converted all the salaries to Australian dollars. Further examples to add to this list are welcomed. |  |
Postdoc salaries in 2014:
Also please note, Australian salaries have a requirement to pay 10% on the top into the employees' superannuation. Temporary residents who come for a two year Postdoc can apply for this money when they depart which by all rights could be ~$15000. Australian residents can't access this money until they are 60, by which time much of the money has been wasted or taken by the superannuation company.
- In June 2014, a postdoc at University of Rochester who I spoke with in person was earning US$39,000 which equaled AU$41,964.
- The following week I shared the above salary information with a Professor at University of Maryland who I spoke with at a conference. She told me that she had a postdoc whom she paid US$37,000 which equaled AU$39,812.
- One posted at Swinburne University (Melbourne) was quoted as paying Academic Level B: AU$81,290 – $96,435.
- One posted at University of Melbourne was posted as paying in the bracket AU$62,973 - $85,452, but went on to give the exact dollar amount of AU$79,609.
- One posted at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh was offering to pay £30-37k. £37k equaled AU$66,008. I had an email exchange with the Professor who told me that this is a typical salary for an early career researcher in the UK.
- One at Wageningen University, Netherlands was offering €3830 per month, which equaled AU$65,217.
- One at Ferrier research institute in Wellington, New Zealand was posted as paying in the bracket NZ$69,837 - $84,135, but stated that the actual salary offered will be determined after consideration of expertise. I emailed and asked if this meant that they have the discretion to offer anywhere in that range and they said yes. I applied for this position. The top dollar of this bracket (NZ$84,135) equaled AU$75,536. I applied for the position but it was later cancelled.
- One at RMIT (Melbourne) in the nano technology area was posted as being in the bracket $59,488 - $80,690, but went on to give the exact dollar amount of AU$75,172.
- One at the University of Queensland was posted as offering $74,625 to $80,107. It did not say where in this range it would pay.
- In August 2014, CSIRO had several postdoctoral positions advertised as paying AU$78-88k.
- In November 2014, RMIT (Melbourne) had a two year fixed term research fellow position in electrochemistry which was posted as offering $84,939 to $100,867 + 17% super. It did not say where in this range it would pay.
- One at the University of Sheffield (UK) was posted in November 2014 as a three year fixed term Postdoctoral position paying in the bracket £29,552 to £31,342. Another extremely similar sounding one at the University of Nottingham was paying a bracket of £25,513 to £31,342. The top dollar of both of these brackets (£31,342) equaled AU$57,904.
- One at Swinburne University (Melbourne) was posted in Dec 2014 as Postdoctoral research fellow in the area of "high temperature processing" for a 1 year fixed term over 2015. It quoted the salary range of AU$57,086 - $96,435. It did not say where in this range it would pay.
Also please note, Australian salaries have a requirement to pay 10% on the top into the employees' superannuation. Temporary residents who come for a two year Postdoc can apply for this money when they depart which by all rights could be ~$15000. Australian residents can't access this money until they are 60, by which time much of the money has been wasted or taken by the superannuation company.
