What is a Graduate Research (Assistant) Fellow (GRAF or GRF)?
A GRF/ GRAF is not an employee role, but an award given to Graduate Students at Queen’s to financially support them in the completion of their degree. You are paid to carry out tasks that are essential to the completion of your graduate thesis, classes, or project. As in, if you did not do these tasks, you would not be able to graduate. This award can be thought of as similar to a Queen’s Graduate Award (QGA), but related to specific thesis tasks.
Example 1: You are an MA student in Sociology, and your thesis project explores access to healthcare among university students. You are awarded a GRF/ GRAF in order to undertake online interviews with students that you will use as part of your final thesis project. Without undertaking these interviews, you would not be able to complete your MA project.
Example 2: You are a PhD student in Biology who is in charge of caring for animals used by members of the lab for observations/experiments. While this work may not contribute to your thesis alone, this forms a part of your responsibilities towards your own thesis, and counts as GRF work. Ensure however, that this distribution of responsibilities is even and fair, and that you are not solely contributing labour towards such exercises!
As someone with a GRF/ GRAF award, you receive a T4A tax form, and are not recognised by Queen’s as an employee or unionized worker. You do not receive formal union protection or benefits, and you likely have a lower hourly wage and no paid sick leave. In fact, many GRF/GRAF’s will not provide an hourly wage, but instead are paid out as a lump sum for a promised amount of work (to be done in the future). You do not have access to union protection for workplace issues such as harassment or safety concerns. You may sign a form called a ‘Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) Learning Plan’ at the start of your duties.
GRF/ GRAF awards are only for research tasks that directly contribute to your thesis or project. If your duties are not a part of your own graduate research completion, you should have a GRA contract.
Why does this matter? Well, GRAs are employees that are unionized as part of PSAC Local 901, which means they have a guaranteed hourly wage, sick pay, health and safety protection, and access to union representation and advocacy. Moreover, only as a GRA will you have access to PSAC 901 bursaries. GRAFs are not recognised as employees by Queen’s (they are technically scholarships) and, as such, are not formally part of the union. They usually have a lower hourly wage and do not receive union protection or benefits.
How can you tell if the university has classified your work as an RA or a GRAF? As an RA, you will have signed a ‘Research Assistant Form’. As a GRAF, you will have signed a ‘Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) Learning Plan’.