A PhD candidate argued his scholarship was really a wage - the Full Court wasn't buying it
A PhD candidate's push to have research students reclassified as university employees has hit a wall at the Federal Court.
The Full Court on September 23 dismissed the appeal in Burt v University of Sydney [2026] FCAFC 129, finding that the contractual arrangements between the university and its scholarship-funded research students did not amount to employment under the Fair Work Act 2009.
The case was a representative proceeding - the legal equivalent of a class action - meaning the outcome reached well beyond one student. It covered domestic students at the University of Sydney who had received Australian Postgraduate Award or Research Training Program scholarships between September 2015 and September 2021.
The appellant enrolled as a full-time PhD candidate in 2016 and received a Commonwealth scholarship paying a fixed stipend of $26,288 per year, paid fortnightly. The university expected him to spend 35 to 40 hours a week on his candidature, with at least two-thirds of that time on research. He completed his doctorate in December 2019.
His argument was simple: the university controlled where, when, and how the work got done. It set hours, imposed supervision, required progress meetings, directed the location of work, and could pull the scholarship if progress fell short. That, he said, looked a lot like a job.
The university and the Commonwealth disagreed. So did the court.
The...
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