ELIGIBILITY:

All applicants must be affiliated with an Eligible Research Body. The Research Body is the body responsible for the overall financial and administrative coordination of research programmes supported by research Grants from Research Ireland. A list of Eligible Research Bodies is available on the Research Ireland website, by clicking on the “IRC Eligible Bodies” link. The Research Body will administer the funds of successful Grant recipients.

The programme is open to Master’s and PhD candidates who will be new entrants to the postgraduate degree for which they are seeking funding. Applicants who have completed no more than the first year of their degree might be eligible to apply (please review section 5.1). The following conditions also apply;

There is no age limit for applicants to be eligible.

All applicants must be affiliated with an Eligible Research Body, who will be responsible for verifying all results from undergraduate or postgraduate degrees named in the application.

All applicants must have a first-class or upper second-class honours bachelor’s degree, or the equivalent. If the applicant does not have a first-class or upper second-class honours bachelor’s degree, or the equivalent degree, they must possess a master’s degree.

 Research Ireland’s determination of an applicant’s eligibility on these criteria is final. o If undergraduate examination results are not known at the time of application and the application subsequently meets the funding threshold, the final degree result must be confirmed before a Letter of Offer can be issued.

All applicants must be affiliated with an Eligible Research Body, which will be responsible for verifying all results from undergraduate or postgraduate degrees named in the application.

Applications will only be accepted in either the Irish or English language.

Applicants must not have had two previous unsuccessful applications to the programme. This applies regardless of whether the applicant has changed their Eligible Research Body or research topic since a previous submission.

Applicants must not be a permanent member of staff in either an Irish or international Research Body.

All applications require a primary supervisor willing to guide the proposed research project. Research Ireland is not in a position to assist applicants in finding a primary supervisor for their application.

Primary supervisors may not support more than one applicant to the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. As such, Primary Academic Supervisors should endorse only one submitted application. If the Research Office endorses multiple applications with the same primary supervisor, all applications will be deemed ineligible.

There is no restriction on the number of applications for which a supervisor may serve as secondary or co-supervisor.

Applicants from any country may hold a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship; however, applicants will fall under one of two categories based on nationality and residency

BENEFIT:

The value of the scholarship will be up to a maximum of €34,000 per annum in any approved year and will consist of the following:

a stipend of €25,000;

a contribution to fees, including non-European Union fees, paid to the host research body, up to a maximum of €5,750; and

eligible direct costs of €3,250 to enable the awardee to carry out the research project. Please note: The scholarship grant must be accepted in full, including all three budget headings listed above. Applicants are not permitted to apply for or accept funding for only one or two of the budget headings. Partial acceptance of the grant is not allowed under any circumstances.