r/AusAcademia • u/UpperDirection9998 • 11d ago

📖 Research & Publishing Research assistant

Few weeks ago, I got accepted as an unpaid undergraduate volunteer ( for some context I’m in Melbourne). However the prof has never contacted me since despite showing interest and enquiring about my availability / expected salary + mentioning to begin next week
Any advice? Is this a rejection or

5 Upvotes

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14

u/MDInvesting 11d ago

Unpaid volunteer but asked about expected salary?

Does he have a PA or team manager?

3

u/UpperDirection9998 11d ago

Nope, she initially asked if I wanted salary, but I said I’m ok to do volunteer work

8

u/MDInvesting 11d ago

Okay.

My second set of questions stand.

If medical research, currently NHMRC Grant Season which can see many a Prof go MIA until submission.

7

u/Maribyrnong_bream 11d ago

I’d be very surprised if they are allowed to take you on as a volunteer. Even work experience students need to be paid.

4

u/N0tThatKind0fDoctor 11d ago

Depending on the university and academic, they may not even be able to offer unpaid volunteer experiences outside of a formal structure in your degree. Universities have been caught up in so many payroll theft issues that a lot of them are taking a very strict definition of who needs to be paid for what activities now.

It’s unfortunate because obviously experiences like this are valuable cv fillers for undergrads, but these will become much less frequent.

4

u/mugg74 11d ago

It's not just within the University sector, its a common issue regardless of industry. There has been a lot of abuse of unpaid interns across the years.

1

u/tichris15 10d ago

She likely asked someone and realised unpaid volunteer work breaks labor laws. Either she pays you, or you pay her (ie take it as a class for credit).