“Fully funded” is the most misleading phrase in doctoral study. In one country it means an employment contract with a pension, holiday pay and a payslip your mortgage lender will accept. In another it means a tax-free grant with no employer, no pension years, and a health insurance fund you have to join yourself. The headline numbers are not comparable, and almost every comparison you will find online compares them anyway.
This page takes the figures from the funders themselves, DFG, SNSF, FWF, UKRI, FWO, MUR, NIH, NSF, NSERC, JSPS and the rest, on 28 July 2026, says which side of the employee/scholarship line each one falls on, and marks clearly what we could not verify.
The five things that actually matter
- A German “€81,600 PhD position” does not pay €81,600. That is DFG’s 2026 flat personnel rate per position, and the form states it is “neither intended nor suitable for calculating personal remuneration” because it includes employer social-security contributions and annual bonuses. It is what the grant pays the university, not what lands in an account. If you see that number quoted as a salary, the source has misread the form.
- Employee or grant-holder is the real dividing line. Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands employ their PhD candidates: SNSF reimburses employer contributions of 14-23% on top of the salary, and Dutch candidates get an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus. Belgium, Italy, the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Japan and Australia fund them by grant. On the grant side there is no employer, so pension years and unemployment cover are absent or self-purchased.
- Italy’s scholarship has not moved in four years. Decree DM 247/2022 set it at €16,243 from 1 July 2022, and no superseding decree appears on the ministry’s own page as of 28 July 2026. Worse, that figure is stated al lordo degli oneri previdenziali a carico del percipiente, gross of the social-security charge the student themselves carries.
- “Fully funded” still leaves fees unpaid in three of the biggest systems. UKRI “only contributes up to the value of home fee rates”. Research Ireland caps its fee contribution at €5,750. NIH pays 60% of actual tuition, capped at $16,000. Anything above those caps is somebody else’s problem, and that somebody is often you.
- Almost nobody pays you more in year four than in year one. Austria’s FWF is the clear exception at +4.25% a year from year two. NIH says it outright: “one stipend level is used for all predoctoral candidates, regardless of the level of experience.” UKRI, NSF, Ireland, Canada and Italy publish no year-of-study increment at all.
What each funder actually pays, verified 28 July 2026
| Country | Funder | Amount as published | Salary or grant? | Social security, tax, benefits | Duration | Rises by year? | Fees & extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany [official] | DFG | €81,600/yr · €6,800/mo (grant cost, not pay) | Salary, academic employee | DFG states the rate “incorporates employer social security contributions and annual bonuses” and is “neither intended nor suitable for calculating personal remuneration” | Not stated | Not stated | 2026 rate form |
| Switzerland [official] | SNSF | CHF 50,000-55,000/yr gross | Salary, employment under Art. 38 | Employer contributions reimbursed separately at 14-23% of gross, most institutions 16% | Up to 4 years | Annex references annual adjustments for years 1-4 but publishes no per-year amounts | Annex v1.1.2026, effective 1 Jan 2026 |
| Austria [official] | FWF | €50,220/yr · €2,832.10/mo at 30 h/week | Salary, “standard employment with social insurance” | Included in the rate | Not stated | Yes, +4.25% per year from the second project year | Rates valid from Jan 2026 |
| Netherlands [official] | CAO Nederlandse Universiteiten | Set by CAO salary steps P0 to P3, not by one published figure: P0 for the first 12 months, then one step a year, and P3 equal to salary scale 10 step 2 (CAO art. 3.9) | Salary, PhD candidates are staff | 8% holiday allowance + 8.3% year-end bonus, plus pension | 4 years (standard) | Yes, by P-scale step | n/a |
| Belgium (Flanders) [official] | FWO | €2,600 NET per month minimum, indexed · ~€31,200 net/yr | Grant, not a salary | Income-tax exempt (Art. 90(2)); “grants are not considered as income”. Fellow must register with a health insurance fund themselves | 4 years as two 2-year periods, “no extension possible” | Indexed, not stepped | Bench fee €3,720/yr |
| United Kingdom [official] | UKRI | £21,805/yr from 1 Oct 2026 (was £20,780). London £23,805 | Stipend, no employment language | Not stated on the page | Not stated | No year-of-study increment; uprated annually | Fees: minimum £5,238, and UKRI “only contributes up to the value of home fee rates” |
| Ireland [official] | Research Ireland | €25,000/yr stipend | Scholarship | Tax status not stated on the page | 1-4 years | None published | Fees capped €5,750/yr, +€4,000 non-EU, +€3,250 research costs; max €34,000 total |
| Italy [official] | MUR | €16,243/yr · €1,353.58/mo, unchanged since 1 Jul 2022 | Scholarship (borsa) | Quoted “al lordo degli oneri previdenziali a carico del percipiente” n/a gross of the social-security charge the student carries | 3 years (standard) | None | No superseding decree found as of 28 Jul 2026 |
| United States [official] | NSF GRFP | $37,000/yr | Fellowship stipend, portable | Health insurance bought from the allowance | 3 funded years within a 5-year window | None | $16,000/yr cost-of-education allowance |
| United States [official] | NIH NRSA | $29,364/yr · $2,447/mo (FY2026, from 1 Oct 2025) | Stipend | Health insurance funded from the allowance, not provided | n/a | None n/a “one stipend level… regardless of the level of experience” | Tuition only 60% of actual, capped $16,000/yr |
| Canada [official] | NSERC / CGRS-D | CAD 40,000/yr | Scholarship | Taxability not stated on the page | 36 months | None | Not covered / not stated |
| Japan [official] | JSPS DC1 / DC2 | ¥200,000-230,000/month | Fellowship stipend | Social-insurance status not stated | DC1 3 years, DC2 2 years | Not stated | Grant-in-Aid up to ¥4.5m over tenure |
| Australia [official] | RTP | Base and maximum rates not verified, the table is rendered client-side | Scholarship | Tax status not verified | Min 3, max 4 years | Indexed annually, effective 1 January | Rates announced by 1 October each year |
Free to reuse with attribution to A.I.T. Multiverse Research. Every row links to the funder’s own page. We publish no cross-currency conversions, see the methodology note below for why.
Employee or grant-holder: the split that decides everything else
| Employed, contract, employer contributions, pension accrual | Funded by grant, no employer |
|---|---|
| Switzerland (SNSF), employment under Art. 38; employer social-security reimbursed at 14-23% of gross Austria (FWF), “standard employment with social insurance” Germany (DFG), funds wissenschaftliche Beschäftigte, academic employees Netherlands (CAO NU), staff, with 8% holiday allowance, 8.3% year-end bonus and pension | Belgium (FWO), explicitly tax-exempt; fellow joins a health fund themselves Italy (MUR) n/a borsa; the student carries the pension charge United Kingdom (UKRI), stipend, no employment language anywhere Ireland, Canada, Australia, Japan, scholarships and fellowships United States (NIH, NSF), health insurance bought from a fixed allowance rather than provided |
The practical consequences are larger than the money. On the employee side the funder pays contributions on top of the headline figure, so pension years accrue and the number quoted to outsiders overstates take-home. On the grant side there is often no pension accrual and no unemployment cover: FWO requires fellows to register with a health insurance fund themselves, and Italy books the social-security charge to the recipient. It is also the mortgage problem: a Dutch or Austrian PhD candidate holds an employment contract, while a Belgian, Irish or British one holds a grant letter, and lenders treat those very differently.
Questions people ask
Do German PhD students really earn €81,600?
No. That is DFG’s 2026 flat personnel cost rate per full-time doctoral position, and it includes employer social-security contributions and annual bonuses. DFG’s own form says it is “neither intended nor suitable for calculating personal remuneration.” It is the cost to the grant, not the pay to the person, and it is the single most misquoted number in PhD funding.
Is a PhD stipend taxed?
It depends entirely on whether your country treats you as an employee or a grant-holder. Belgium is the clearest published case: FWO’s regulations state the grant “is exempt from personal income tax” and that “grants are not considered as income,” which is why FWO is the rare funder that quotes a net figure, €2,600 a month. Countries that employ PhD candidates, such as Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, pay taxed salaries with employer contributions instead.
What is the UKRI minimum stipend for 2026-27?
£21,805 a year from 1 October 2026, up from £20,780 in 2025/26, a rise of 4.93%. With London weighting it is £23,805, though EPSRC does not offer London weighting. Supervisors may pay above the minimum from within their grant, so the published figure is a floor rather than a rate.
Does “fully funded” mean my tuition is paid?
Often not. UKRI states it “only contributes up to the value of home fee rates,” with a minimum fee of £5,238 for 2026-27. Research Ireland caps its fee contribution at €5,750 a year, plus €4,000 for non-EU nationals. NIH pays only 60% of actual tuition, capped at $16,000 a year. Anything above those caps falls to you or your department.
Which country’s PhD funding has stood still the longest?
Italy. Ministerial decree DM 247/2022 set the borsa di dottorato at €16,243 a year from 1 July 2022, and no superseding decree appears on the ministry’s own doctoral page as of 28 July 2026, four years unchanged. The figure is also quoted before the social-security charge the student themselves pays, so the real monthly figure is below the €1,353.58 the arithmetic suggests.
How much do the two US federal funders differ?
By $7,636 a year for identical work. NSF’s GRFP pays $37,000 a year plus a $16,000 cost-of-education allowance, for three funded years within a five-year window. NIH’s NRSA predoctoral stipend is $29,364 for FY2026, effective 1 October 2025, and it is flat regardless of how far into the PhD you are.
Does the money go up each year of the PhD?
Rarely, and mostly on the employee side. Austria’s FWF increases rates automatically by 4.25% per project year from year two. Switzerland’s SNSF mentions annual adjustments for years one to four but publishes only a single CHF 50,000-55,000 range. NIH states plainly that one stipend level applies to all predoctoral candidates regardless of experience, and UKRI, NSF, Ireland, Canada and Italy publish no year-of-study increment at all.
How long is funding actually guaranteed?
It varies by funder rather than by country. FWO Belgium funds four years as two consecutive two-year periods and states there is “no extension possible.” SNSF funds up to four years, Canada’s CGRS-D 36 months, JSPS DC1 three years and DC2 two, NSF GRFP three funded years across five, Australia’s RTP a minimum of three and maximum of four, and Research Ireland one to four.
Why are there no converted currency comparisons here?
Because an honest cross-currency comparison needs a dated exchange rate and a cost-of-living adjustment, and we verified neither from an official source. Every comparison on this page is either within a single currency, Ireland’s €25,000 against Italy’s €16,243, or explicitly labelled as net versus gross. A converted table would look more useful and be less true.
Method, and what we could not verify
Every figure was read from the funding body’s own page or decree on 28 July 2026 and is linked on its row. Where a number is our arithmetic rather than the funder’s, we say so: FWF’s 30-hour post is 75% of its own 100% basis, Italy’s €16,243 divided by twelve is €1,353.58 a month, and FWO’s €2,600 net a month is roughly €31,200 a year.
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