Irish Research Council 2014/2015

Just got an email from the IRC to say my application didn't make it to the international assessment board... Bummer.

Guess they're letting unsuccessful applicants know early now though?

Mahatma Geansai

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just got an email from the IRC to say my application didn't make it to the international assessment board... Bummer.

Guess they're letting unsuccessful applicants know early now though?

Sorry to hear about your application.

I got an email to say that my application has made it to the second round, and that the final results will be available in June. Excited now.

Victoria.

Sorry to hear that Piratequeen. Was your application for the normal IRC or for the Enterprise Scheme?

Does anyone know if there was a predicted grade of a first given in one of your references and then you can't maintain it after semester 2 exams and get a 2.1 you'll still get funding? Between thesis writing and now studying for exams I'm really feeling the pressure.

eta - I have nothing in my inbox. I applied for the enterprise scheme.

It was for the normal scheme. Balls. Not the greatest news to get in the middle of my finals.

Oh well. Time to unsubscribe from this thread! Best of luck to everyone who made it to second round.

ringthebells

Made it to the second round - fingers seriously crossed now. Commiserations to those who didn't.

candle_wax

Deleted User wrote: »

It was for the normal scheme. Balls. Not the greatest news to get in the middle of my finals.

Oh well. Time to unsubscribe from this thread! Best of luck to everyone who made it to second round.

Sorry to hear that

I made it through to the next round, somehow. Does anyone know roughly what the numbers are in terms of what % of people make it through to the next stage?

aidoh

Deleted User wrote: »

It was for the normal scheme. Balls. Not the greatest news to get in the middle of my finals.

Oh well. Time to unsubscribe from this thread! Best of luck to everyone who made it to second round.

Sorry to hear that PQ butdon't let it get you down too much. If postgraduate research is what you really want to do then don't forget to keep an eye on college-funded scholarships. They vary between universities and different departments but there's always still a chance. Get in touch with your proposed supervisor again and let them know that you'd still like to carry on with your proposed research and maybe he/she will know of some other funding stream. Worth a shot anyway.

Waiting 'til June was a good prediction by a few in this thread so far. I have a feeling though, that since they said June in that '2nd round' email jobby, that they really mean July or 'whenever we feel like it'!

nialljf

Didn't get through this round. But found out I have an interview for a funded place in the UK in a few weeks. I'd rather go there anyway!

Myself and my supervisor have applied to a few other things as well so fingers seriously crossed for those now!

Thanks for all your concern!

Jaimz30

Unfortunately, I too was eliminated from the process earlier - commiserations to those in the same boat as myself and best of luck to those who are progressing. Remember perseverance overcomes all.

Spotfire

Commiserations to all who didn't get through.

Apparently this year is the first year that they have sent an advance email to candidates who have not progressed passed the first round, and to those that have.

Maybe the IRC are working a bit differnet this year to other years.

It could be a case that they did serious first round cutting, and are now sending less applicants through to the international review round.

aidoh

Spotfire wrote: »

Commiserations to all who didn't get through.

Apparently this year is the first year that they have sent an advance email to candidates who have not progressed passed the first round, and to those that have.

Maybe the IRC are working a bit differnet this year to other years.

It could be a case that they did serious first round cutting, and are now sending less applicants through to the international review round.

Yeah, what's the craic with this?
From what I could gather from that fairly convoluted email, the 'first round' assessed an applicants suitability for research in general. So does the 'second round' then decide whether the proposed project itself seems worth funding?

ringthebells

aidoh wrote: »

From what I could gather from that fairly convoluted email, the 'first round' assessed an applicants suitability for research in general. So does the 'second round' then decide whether the proposed project itself seems worth funding?

I don't see anything to suggest that each stage assesses different aspects of the proposal/applicant. I would have thought it's just an iterative process of selection?

aidoh

Yeah you're right, I can't either.

No idea where I got that from now!

ringthebells

Ha, I'm totally the same though - getting this email aside it's not the most transparent of processes so I'm constantly trying to second-guess the motives behind their decisions & movements!

Spotfire

Yeah - I reckon that both rounds assess the same criteria, just that the first round is aimed at trying to really cut down the amount of applicants going through to the second round............ It could speed up the process, so that we actually do find out in June, and not late July or worse!!

santano

ringthebells wrote: »

I don't see anything to suggest that each stage assesses different aspects of the proposal/applicant. I would have thought it's just an iterative process of selection?

I have seen the following on the IRC's "GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS Including details of the ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM (OLS)".

If a large number of applications are received, only the top ranked applications (e.g. top 40%) will be referred on to a high-level Inner International Assessment Board (Inner IAB). Otherwise all applications will be referred on to the Inner IAB and read by two high-level, independent, international reviewers who then discuss the applications at either the STEM Inner IAB meeting or the AHSS Inner IAB meeting (according to the funding stream that they are in). The primary responsibility of each Inner IAB is to determine a quantitative and qualitative ranking of the applications referred to it and arrive at an overall judgement of standard and make final recommendations to Council.

Please note: that while the Outer IAB members may be more familiar with your specific research field, the Inner IAB will be made up of higher-level representatives who may only have a general understanding of your research field and as such it is important that you write your application so that both can understand it and be convinced that it is worth funding.

ringthebells

santano wrote: »

I have seen the following on the IRC's "GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS Including details of the ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM (OLS)".

If a large number of applications are received, only the top ranked applications (e.g. top 40%) will be referred on to a high-level Inner International Assessment Board (Inner IAB). Otherwise all applications will be referred on to the Inner IAB and read by two high-level, independent, international reviewers who then discuss the applications at either the STEM Inner IAB meeting or the AHSS Inner IAB meeting (according to the funding stream that they are in). The primary responsibility of each Inner IAB is to determine a quantitative and qualitative ranking of the applications referred to it and arrive at an overall judgement of standard and make final recommendations to Council.

Please note: that while the Outer IAB members may be more familiar with your specific research field, the Inner IAB will be made up of higher-level representatives who may only have a general understanding of your research field and as such it is important that you write your application so that both can understand it and be convinced that it is worth funding.

Brilliant, thanks for this - may be a little different from now on so!

JervisOak

I haven't received any email to confirm either way a preliminary outcome.

Is there anyone else with a postdoc application for whom this is also the case?
When I check the online portal my application appears with a status of "under assessment" although this has been that way already for a while.

stinkle

JervisOak wrote: »

I haven't received any email to confirm either way a preliminary outcome.

Is there anyone else with a postdoc application for whom this is also the case?
When I check the online portal my application appears with a status of "under assessment" although this has been that way already for a while.

postdoc here too. I think its just the postgrads at the mo. Their deadline was earlier too.

heidi7

Anybody from the EPS scheme heard anything yet? I've got no emails, but was told by my supervisor I should find out before the normal scheme results are released.

jtkc

heidi7 wrote: »

Anybody from the EPS scheme heard anything yet? I've got no emails, but was told by my supervisor I should find out before the normal scheme results are released.

I haven't heard anything from the IRC regarding the EPS scheme yet. Not sure if the EPS applicants are evaluated in the same manner as the GOI ones, but since there are less applicants in the EPS scheme, the IRC might not need to have this outer/inner IAB screening in the first place.

funkee

Postdoc here too.. Just beginning to tune in now.

The countdown begins - (at least) four weeks and counting...

My situation is complicated by the fact that I reckon about 7% of ELEVATE applications will be successful this year - seeing as there are only 5 "University" ELEVATE fellowships...

And I'm really confident! Go figure.

The drama here leading up to the big day should be fun though...

It was last year - and I didn't even have an application in!!!

sayitisntso

Hi, last year there was a lot of talk in the thread about applications having the 'date modified' on the pdf of their application changed (one of the boxes on the first page, under submission date). Anyone ever work out if there was a pattern here? I note that mine has changed to 07/05/14 - wondering if this is simply the date of receipt of the peer review, or a sign I haven't passed an early round, or what? Any other postdoc applicants have a similar change in their 'date modified'?

funkee

Yup. Same here.

stinkle

just checked mine there - modified 8/5/14. Still says "under assessment"

sayitisntso

Thanks for the heads up - thoroughly sick of the wait - was keeping it in perspective until a flurry of rejections from other job applications recently, but am now letting get the better of me. Glad that, whatever it means, it's not just my application that is on the move.

stinkle

Yeah I'm sick of the wait too, and am the same about job rejections. I'm actually having second thoughts about this IRC funding as the lab I applied with seem to have lost interest and I've a weird feeling about them. Another group are interested in me but this stupid wait has me feeling in limbo - at least if I knew I didn't get the grant I'd be more willing to commit to the other job if I get it. Academia stinks sometimes!

funkee

Seems to me, if you want it bad enough, you should be prepared to wait for years rather than months if needs be...

Was that sarky?

bren2001

funkee wrote: »

Seems to me, if you want it bad enough, you should be prepared to wait for years rather than months if needs be...

Was that sarky?

Ah here. I had to turn down a job in January the day my supervisor asked if I would like to apply, wait till mid July, found out I missed by just over 1%. Had to wait another month to find out was I successful in a different application. I was.

Did the wait make it sweeter? No. Did I moan throughout? Yes. The IRC don't make it easy.