Introduction With the gradual marketisation, privatisation and funding cuts to the United Kingdom (UK) higher education sector, more and more elements of teaching and working conditions for staff are changing (Moleswortha et al., 2009). This is felt particularly acutely by those members of staff who are part of the “precariat” sector of academic employment (Puplampu, 2004). The “precariat” sector includes those on short-term contracts, those without financial stability and those who may lack research funding. Postgraduate research students in the UK in particular are faced both with financial pressures and the profession’s demand to take up teaching roles. Frequently PGR students lack sufficient funding opportunities that equate to living wage standards (Guardian, 2014), and the competitive academic employment market requires early career researchers to display evidence of teaching experience in addition to all the other expectations that young scholars currently face. Although many of the departments at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) allow students to develop teaching skills, enabling an all-encompassing development
for
early
career
scholars
entering
the
academic
employment market, the UCU has detected inequalities in payment and responsibilities across the university. This requires the attention of university administration to ensure fair standards and payments across all faculties. With many PGR students reliant on teaching income, and with multiple departments allowing for unfair payment standards and unregulated working conditions, we were keen to examine the current payment schemes across all faculties and generate quantitative data to identify discrepancies. The following report is based on 247 responses to a survey conducted in April 2016. It highlights grossly unfair and 5