Irish Research Council 2014/2015

Manco

Probably time to start a new thread. NUI Galway has already commenced information sessions, and it sounds like the application process will open very soon. Good luck to all those applying, hopefully second time lucky for me.

Will be applying this year too...I had thought applications wouldn't be opening until January but apparently it's much sooner than that so better get to work soon! :P

nialljf

Call will probably be this week, eh? UCC also have information sessions annouced for December and January.

Ravelleman

And so it begins, again.

Good luck to one and all.

fifa3000

Can't believe it's starting so early! Hopefully this means the results will be out earlier than previous years.

Does anyone know are the information sessions run by UCC and NUIG affiliated with IRC in any way? NUIM had a session last year but it was very generic and just run by the grad offices. As the IRC applications change so much year to year it would be great to have some sort of guide on the process from someone in the council - I know they can't give out concrete advice, but there was definitely some information last year that was circulated to some Universities and not others (mainly to do with the gender dimension) so it would be great to find out if it would be worth going to these sessions in Galway or Cork.

nialljf

There's no affiliation with the council, but as you can see the assistant director will be giving a session on December 4, which is a good idea like you pointed out. Here's the info from UCC college of arts:

A call from the Irish Research Council for applications for Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship and Postdoctoral Fellowship Schemes is expected at the end of November with a deadline for applications in January 2014. Although the exact details and deadlines etc. for these calls are as yet unknown, the College in association with UCC Research Support has been ensuring that information/supports are available and in place for applicants, supervisors and mentors in the coming weeks and months.

In recent years the College has provided a range of supports to applicants, supervisors and mentors to the IRC (previously IRCHSS) Government of Ireland Postgraduate and Postdoctoral Fellowships schemes. These have included general and detailed information sessions, a drop-in clinic and written feedback to all applicants (who adhere to an internal UCC deadline). These efforts have resulted in UCC success rates in postgraduate (23.7% compared to 22.1% nationally) and postdoctoral (17.8% compared to 12.6%) applications that exceed national rates.

With these successes in mind the College can announce it will be holding a series of information sessions before the end of term that will seek to equip both postgraduate and postdoctoral applicants and supervisors/mentors with the resources and insights to make a strong and persuasive appeal for funding under the IRC schemes. This will be followed by application writing and feedback supports offered by members of staff over the College in the early 2014.

These sessions will be:
1. Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships

· Wednesday December 4th 2013 from 11:00-1:00 in Brookfield Health Sciences (BHSC) G04 An information session presented by Dr Gemma Irvine Assistant Director, Irish Research Council and will be focused on the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship and Postdoctoral Fellowship Schemes. This will be open to all applicants from the University

2. CACSSS Workshop I - Developing Research Questions, Aims and Objectives, Research Plan and Dissemination
Thursday December 5th from 11:00-1:00 CACSSS Seminar Room ORBG27. This first session will focus on

· Developing research questions, aims and objectives and plans: Prof Graham Allen School of English, Dr Denis Linehan, School of Human Environment.

· Developing research methodologies: Dr Lee Jenkins, School of English, Dr Caitríona Ní Laoire, School of Applied Social Studies

· Successful applicants to the IRC Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme 2013


3. CACSSS Workshop II - Designing Training and Development Plans, Writing Personal Statements, Research Ethics, Gender Dimension Statement and Research Budgets
Monday December 9th from 1:00 – 3:00pm CACSSS Seminar Room ORBG27
· Career Development Opportunities

o Graduate Business and Innovation Opportunities in UCC: Mr Eamon Curtin IGNITE

o Opportunities for researchers in the non-commercial sectors: Dr Jacqui O’Riordan CARL

· Writing personal statements: Ms Brenda Nestor UCC Careers Services

· Research Ethics: Dr Orla O’Donovan School of Applied Social Studies

· Gender Dimension Statement: Dr Allen White College Research Officer

· Research Budgets: Dr Allen White, College Research Officer

· Successful applicants to the IRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme 2013


4. Support with Application Writing

· January 6th -10th 2014, CACSSS: Various staff by appointment, applications to be sent to reviewers in advance.


5. Application Review and feedback

· January 6th –10 working days before IRC deadline: CACSSS research support
Please circulate this notice widely and inform colleagues/potential applicants about the opportunities presented by these funding sources as well as the supports available to CACSSS applicants.

With best wishes

Dr Máire Leane, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
Dr Allen White, College Research Officer.

Karen Coughlan
College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences
University College Cork
Ireland
Tel: 353 (0) 21 4903304
Fax: 353 (0) 21 4903364

dropping_bombs

What percentage of people are successful does anybody know?

Ravelleman

Last year, of 1115 applicants, 254 received postgraduate awards.

fifa3000

nialljf wrote: »

There's no affiliation with the council, but as you can see the assistant director will be giving a session on December 4, which is a good idea like you pointed out. Here's the info from UCC college of arts:

Pity it's only open to UCC applicants, but that's understandable!

Sir Ophiuchus

Good luck all!

nialljf

OPEN

nialljf

In the document on indicative questions it states:

"➢You must associate two referees with your application, neither of whom may be your named Academic Supervisor (or Enterprise Mentor, where relevant)."

Is this true?

Likewise, they have the word limit for the personal statement listed as 200 words

short paragraphs

nialljf wrote: »

In the document on indicative questions it states:

"➢You must associate two referees with your application, neither of whom may be your named Academic Supervisor (or Enterprise Mentor, where relevant)."

Is this true?

It was the case when the initial call went out last year but so many people complained (me included) that they ended up changing it. Not sure if they'll cave this year though.

fifa3000

These word counts are a joke. 200 for everything including description of topic?? There is literally no way to explain your research in any real way with this limit - you're at a complete disadvantage if your research is complex. I understand you need to be able to sell your research to non-specialist audiences, but I don't get how anyone can get an accurate picture of your research project in 200 words (a quarter of last year's, which was tough enough). Research that can't be sexed up is going to suffer - this is so short-sighted.

Also, 300 words devoted to the sex-gender dimension?! What are they playing at.

Feel like some of those word limits have to be wrong...

lauras91

I've been told it's very unusual to get funding before starting your PhD, as in most people do their first year without funding? I've been trying to decide if its want I want to go for, having just finished my masters.. looks like I've it too late now for this round of funding! I know its impossible to comment on specific cases, but in general do people often secure funding before they start?

nialljf

I'm in a similar situation, having finished a masters last year. Some people do get the funding as they begin the PhD. Others who have done a year already have a clearer idea of what their project is, so it makes their proposal stronger. It can go either way as far as I know. You can be very deserving and still not get it.

andweneverdid

Yes I get the impression those word limits must be wrong. Odd that they are virtually all 200 words max. Although I think my research could be described in 200 words, I can see it being unfair on some.

fifa3000

I think people definitely can get funding before they start, it depends hugely on the quality of the applicant and institution, as well as how solid your proposal is. The only thing is that if your application is a bit weak then you're losing the chance to apply one year in when you have a better chance. It does seem to work in your favour when you have a year under your belt, just in terms of the strength of your application and also maybe that they have to fund fewer years of research? But it's so unfortunate and elitist as it somewhat eliminates those who can't fund themselves even in the short term.

Does anyone remember last year when the actual application went up? I remember the indicative application questions were up for a good while before the online system was launched but can't remember exactly. I'd love to see if these word counts are accurate!

kittykat1000

As far as I remember the application when live at the start of February last year. But the call is earlier this year.

Yarghhh

kittykat1000 wrote: »

As far as I remember the application when live at the start of February last year. But the call is earlier this year.

Think it was more mid/end of Febuary and application closed 13th/14th March. Only had about three weeks to submit the whole thing.

nialljf

fifa3000 wrote: »

I think people definitely can get funding before they start, it depends hugely on the quality of the applicant and institution, as well as how solid your proposal is. The only thing is that if your application is a bit weak then you're losing the chance to apply one year in when you have a better chance. It does seem to work in your favour when you have a year under your belt, just in terms of the strength of your application and also maybe that they have to fund fewer years of research? But it's so unfortunate and elitist as it somewhat eliminates those who can't fund themselves even in the short term.

Can you not apply more than once or what?

fifa3000

nialljf wrote: »

Can you not apply more than once or what?

Sorry I wasn't very clear! In the current terms and conditions you can apply twice for a particular programme, but applying when your application is a bit shaky or when you haven't got a clear research plan may mean you have less of a chance at securing funding - so it will eliminate one of your opportunities to apply. There's also always the chance that IRC will cut it back to only being able to apply once so if you really don't think you've a chance it might make sense to apply next year - but then everyone always has a chance!

nialljf

So we had the IRC in UCC over the week giving an information session on the schemes that were announced last wek. The two significant changes from last year are the reduced word counts and not being able to use your supervisor as a reference.

I'm sure they will be visiting the other HEIs around the country over the next week or two, so keep an eye out for those sessions. Even if there's nothing new in them, it's a good chance to ask questions and clear up anything you're unsure of.

They said they would be uploading a document of guidelines for applicants before the end of the week, though it's not available yet.

OpenYourEyes

WIrh regards the two references, do they both have to be strictly academic/university referees, or could you have one academic one from University and another from a job that involved research?

(I'm not going for the Enterprise one btw)

fifa3000

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

WIrh regards the two references, do they both have to be strictly academic/university referees, or could you have one academic one from University and another from a job that involved research?

(I'm not going for the Enterprise one btw)

As far as I remember, in the FAQs last year they suggested using only academic references for those not applying to the Enterprise scheme. If it was research-related it might be ok, but I would think that the reference would still need to be academic, even if they weren't a member of academic staff in a University (so a PI or something could probably work).

Lockstep

It's fairly brutal stuff alright. I have funding already from NUIG but part of my scholarship is agreeing to apply for the IRC each year to free up funding for someone else in the university.

That said, the IRC is a lot harder than the application for what I'm currently on was. Fairly confused by the parts on gender.

nialljf

No sign of the post-grad Applicant Guidelines document. Post-doc scheme was announced today

Cflmo

Anyone applying for a science based scholarship? Just wondering what people were thinking about the word limits. YIKES.:eek:

fifa3000

Cflmo wrote: »

Anyone applying for a science based scholarship? Just wondering what people were thinking about the word limits. YIKES.:eek:

No idea. There's no space for a rationale or introduction of any kind - you can only briefly describe your research in that amount of space. And for specialist topics that aren't easily understood outside of the discipline, you barely even have time to do that. I think they are using the fact that you should be able to write for non-specialist audiences as justification for this, but I'm afraid that in reducing the complexity of the project down to a 200-word description that anyone could read will make it a bit inaccurate? There's no way someone will be able to get a real understanding of my project from a paragraph, so I guess they'll just go on whether it sounds exciting or interesting more than if it sounds like good quality research.