PhD student Maxim makes $18 an hour to research children’s cancer – it’s barely above Australia’s poverty line

Skyrocketing living costs and lack of government support are deterring potential PhD candidates. Experts say the obvious solution is to lift the stipend

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Maxim Buckley studies how leukaemia cells communicate with each other. It’s critical research but as a PhD student he’s paid just $18.50 an hour, a rate that’s just above the poverty line.

The 29-year-old is in his final months of research at University of Adelaide on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which predominantly affects children, research that will help future treatments of the cancer.