Some Questions about Postgrad.

Zigmund

Ok, so i'm in my final year of Biology at NUIM.
I know i want to do a Phd programme.
But i'm not sure of the right way to go about it.

I know that i want to do something in the biomedical field.
And DIT and UCD seem to have research areas that interest me.
What should i say when i email them?

Also,regarding the whole funding area. Apart from IRCSET, is there anywhere else that offers funding?

I havent applied yet to Ircset because i havent got in contact with any of the other college departments. Should i apply to IRCSET now,despite barely having any contact or idea of where i want to go,
or should i wait for their second call for applicants (They do offer a second call, dont they?)

Am I looking about postgraduate work maybe too early? I see a lot of websites talk about what was offered last year for postgraduates.
When do people normally go looking about postgraduates?

They're all my questions.For now.
I'd be grateful if someone could answer these.

Just one of the points - if you're looking to apply for IRCSET, it's best to talk to the department you're looking to join first. They would normally help you fill out the forms as they have a lot of experience doing this! At least, that's what I was told recently.

And on the e-mail... simply introduce yourself, say what your history is, ask what the course entails etc. etc. You might have to arrange a meet-up sometime to go over the finer points as to what the course is.

Zigmund

Do IRCSET have a second round of calls for funding?
There's no way i'd be able to get in contact with someone,and then fil out a form all before wednesday.

It's a bit stupid that their closing date is the 20th, which is the same day as the Postgrad Fair in the RDS.

Red Alert

IRCSET do have a second round although I think they use the same set of applications.

...and there are usually less places for the second round instead of the first round.

Zigmund

So. Is it worth trying to apply for an IRCSET funding thing now, even though i have had no contact with any of the labs i want to work in?

Esmereldina

Zigmund wrote: »

So. Is it worth trying to apply for an IRCSET funding thing now, even though i have had no contact with any of the labs i want to work in?

Not completely sure as science isn't my area, but I'd say your best bet is to make contact with one of the labs really fast. I'd say you'd really need to have a place or at least a potential place in a university/dept/lab before you can go looking for external funding.

Esmereldina

Esmereldina wrote: »

Not completely sure as science isn't my area, but I'd say your best bet is to make contact with one of the labs really fast. I'd say you'd really need to have a place or at least a potential place in a university/dept/lab before you can go looking for external funding.

Edit: Could you try ringing one of the departments/labs tomorrow and explaining the deadline situation to them... they might just be willing to help you!

woodchuck

IRCSET do have a second call during the summer and you can apply for that even if you didn't apply for the first round (This is how it was last year anyway unless they've changed things now). But it's harder to be successful during the second round because there are fewer places.

In order to apply you need to have a PI who wants to take you on (because they require a project proposal and a reference from the PI). So you'd need to get the ball rolling really fast if you want to apply for the first call.

But even if you don't get your application done in time for the first IRCSET deadline you can still get in touch with people who have projects you'd be interested in because they could be in the process of applying for funding or already have some that they haven't advertised yet.

When PIs have funding for a project they will advertise it, so you should keep checking university websites and newspapers for those. This ad was brought to my attention recently:
http://www.rcsi.ie/postgraduateschool_phdscholarsprogramme
(Since you said you'd like to do biomedical research I thought it might interest you).

Hope some of that helps!

kevmy

I just posted about something similar in another thread. Don't rely on IRCSET talk to supervisors they know where to get funding. Some may even offer to fund you fully yourself if they are impressed

kevmy wrote: »

If you don't get IRCHSS/IRCSET remember there are other sources of funding. I get a scholarship from my faculty of €9,000 plus fees. I also get some money from my supervisors project fund to take me up to around €15,000 a year.

I applied for IRCSET and didn't get it but I still got the other funding easy enough. Talk to supervisors, PhD students in the relevant area and the college faculties and they will try to get you something.

But remember if you have a couple of options really consider both in depth. If one in Dublin is offering you 2 grand more than one in Galway you could still be better taking the one in Galway due to expenses. Also look closely at what you are required to do. If they say you gotta teach it could end up stealing all your time