The Committee of the Association of Law Teachers issues the following statement with regard to postgraduate funding:

Postgraduate and doctoral researchers are an integral and valued part of our law teacher community. They are current and future law teachers and deserve support, dignity and respect. We acknowledge the current pressures of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis has a disproportionate effect on doctoral researchers, and especially those researchers from under-represented communities and identities.

We welcome UKRI’s announcement of a 10% increase in the minimum stipend level for postgraduate researchers holding studentships from the ESRC, AHRC and other research councils. However, the majority of doctoral researchers do not receive funding in this manner and are particularly affected by the cost of living crisis and the concomitant financial insecurity. We urge universities and other funders to commit to raising all postgraduate researcher stipends consistent with UKRI where this has not already been done. Allocation of financial resources to postgraduate and doctoral researchers must be done as a matter of urgency to invest meaningfully in their futures and the field of legal education.