Irish Research Council 2014/2015

candle_wax

candle_wax wrote: »

The session we had wasn't with an official IRC rep, it was a former rep, so it was just their "opinion" on what we should do rather than the official line

They suggested the IRC was trying to move away from solely academic focus (in terms of career development, etc) and said it would (probably) be perfectly fine to have a non-academic employer reference.

I'm going with that anyway. By BA and MA are from the same university I'm doing the PhD in, so I think someone from outside the bubble is needed for me anyway... Apparently refs from the same university you're currently studying in aren't looked on very favourably (but I've no idea how true that is?)

Actually I've just looked the FAQs which were updated yesterday and it seems they have removed the "referees must be a qualified researcher" line from the application? (I've already entered mine on the online form so can't see if it's changed, I don't think).

Anyway, for anyone interested, this is what the FAQ says:

"It states on the application form for GOI/EPS that the referee must be a
"qualified researcher". How do you define a qualified researcher - does
that mean someone who has a PhD?

 I had understood that one of the referees could be related to past
employment. I have asked someone from my previous employment to
act as referee. However, when I entered the details on the system, one of
the screens that came up after entering all the details said that the
referee must be a qualified researcher. My second referee has a social
science degree, but is not a researcher. Do I need to find an alternative
referee?
 An applicant, who has worked in Government for over 20 years, would
like to include a referee from her workplace who is in a very senior
position. This person knows of her work capacity over a very long
period but is not a qualified academic researcher. Would a reference
from this person be acceptable?

This reference has been removed from the online application form. The guidelines below apply to your choice of referee:

 You must associate two referees with your application, neither of whom may
be your named Academic Supervisor/ Academic Mentor/ International
Mentor/Enterprise Mentor (where relevant).
 A suitable referee is an individual who knows you sufficiently well to provide
you with a reference, e.g. a principal investigator, a mentor from any time in
your career or education or a leader or member of a research team where you
have worked. "

Leighn

Ravelleman wrote: »

On the big tab that says 'Online Award Application', surely.

Wow. I've just astounded myself with my own stupidity.

Leighn

At the risk of repeating the idiocy of my last question: If a person feels that the financial requirements exceed the maximum funding, do they fill out the financial justification section accordingly, for example, a budget where the total exceeds the max amount allowed?

candle_wax

Leighn wrote: »

At the risk of repeating the idiocy of my last question: If a person feels that the financial requirements exceed the maximum funding, do they fill out the financial justification section accordingly, for example, a budget where the total exceeds the max amount allowed?

That's in the updated FAQs too (on the IRC website). Someone asked about needing funding for €20,000 worth of research. The response was that no, only €2,500 (or whatever the limit is)

The FAQ file is on the bottom of this page
http://www.research.ie/scheme/government-ireland-postgraduate-scholarship-scheme-2014

OneOfThem Stumbled

Deleted User wrote: »

TCD internal deadline is Sunday...best get to work!

What is meant by the TCD internal deadline? How is it different from the IRC deadline? Is the graduate office's approval necessary for something that is externally funded? If this is so, why is supervisor/referee approval after IRC deadline?

OneOfThem Stumbled

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

What is meant by the TCD internal deadline? How is it different from the IRC deadline? Is the graduate office's approval necessary for something that is externally funded? If this is so, why is supervisor/referee approval after IRC deadline?

The RO want a copy of it before the IRC deadline. To make sure you meet all the eligibility criteria and haven't made any errors in filling it out. They don't actually give their endorsement until after all the application and references have been sent in but they want it today.

And yes they must approve your application or it will not be valid and the IRC won't look at it. The endorsement period is from the 4th-11th Feb I think, where the IRC sends the Research Offices of the HEIs an email asking them to endorse the application.

OneOfThem Stumbled

Deleted User wrote: »

The RO want a copy of it before the IRC deadline. To make sure you meet all the eligibility criteria and haven't made any errors in filling it out. They don't actually give their endorsement until after all the application and references have been sent in but they want it today.

And yes they must approve your application or it will not be valid and the IRC won't look at it. The endorsement period is from the 4th-11th Feb I think, where the IRC sends the Research Offices of the HEIs an email asking them to endorse the application.

I'm assuming that's 23.59h :pac:

OneOfThem Stumbled

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

I'm assuming that's 23.59h :pac:

Can't remember if they said a time on it but I highly doubt they're sitting in the office on a Sunday ready to read them all :P

Another thing to be aware of is that your School that you plan on doing the research in might want a copy before the deadline too. Mine wanted it by last Friday but they never actually sent an email around about it so I only found out when casually enquiring about something else with them. Typical, no one in this college tells you anything!

nialljf

Have you all submitted to your Research Offices? Happy/mediocre/hopeless?

heidi7

Is anybody submitting transcripts as additional information??

ringthebells

heidi7 wrote: »

Is anybody submitting transcripts as additional information??

Academic transcripts? I don't think you need to. Isn't there an option to do this somewhere else on the app - i.e., if you went to a uni outside of Ireland, that's the only reason you'd need to include transcripts? I assumed that the 'additional info' stuff is for things strictly related to your research - bibliographies, Gantt charts, etc.

heidi7

Yea I thought this too, but have a friend who is submitting all her transcripts for some reason! must tell her she doesnt need to!

Yarghhh

Yeah you don't need give a transcript yet to the IRC. They ask for the transcript if they give you a conditional award. The condition being the grades you said you had were what you got. Among other conditions.

ringthebells

I've got a successful application here with me from someone who received the award last year and it looks like they have managed to do some underlining, bolding, italicising. Just wondering if anyone has seen if this is possible this year and if so how it is done?

Also, I'm on the 'online award application' bit, trying to put in my sections - is 'save' not coming up for anyone else? I'm using Google Chrome.

saltyjack silverblade

Chrome wouldn't work for me. I am using Safari. had the same problem last year. Pain in the ass form.

ringthebells

saltyjack silverblade wrote: »

Chrome wouldn't work for me. I am using Safari. had the same problem last year. Pain in the ass form.

Thanks a million - bit of a pain alright!

When I first log in on Chrome the save bit doesn't come up but if I log out and back in again it does. Have no idea why but it's not a problem as long as you remember to log off and in again before writing stuff!

ArtOfEscape

For the first while using Chrome I had to zoom way out, to around 50%, to see the "save" button at the bottom, but it's fine at 100% now. Very mysterious...! :rolleyes: Anyway, give the zoom a try!

Getting to the nit-picking revision stage of the application. This is where madness sets in.

Cflmo

Anyone know the TCD internal deadline? I'm super panicked!!

Cflmo

Cflmo wrote: »

Anyone know the TCD internal deadline? I'm super panicked!!

It was Sunday, you better contact the Research Office pronto

Cflmo

Deleted User wrote: »

It was Sunday, you better contact the Research Office pronto

Yeah I'm totally freaking out! :eek: Whoops! Thanks for writing back!

saltyjack silverblade

Cflmo wrote: »

Yeah I'm totally freaking out! :eek: Whoops! Thanks for writing back!

Do we need to contact the research office for any particular reason? I didn't bother with them.

saltyjack silverblade

saltyjack silverblade wrote: »

Do we need to contact the research office for any particular reason? I didn't bother with them.

Well they have to endorse your application for it to be complete...and I don't know if they'll endorse it if it hasn't been submitted to them so you'd best contact them.

saltyjack silverblade

Sorry for the ignorance but what is "endorsing it"?
Doesn't seem right that their internal deadline is far ahead of the actual deadline.

Endorsing it means that the IRC ask the Research Office after your application and all references etc have been submitted, whether or not they approve of the application. It's so the IRC know that your HEI are aware of your intentions to carry out the research there, that you've applied for external funding, and that the course you've applied for is actually offered by them (e.g in the case of structured phds the RO's endorsement confirms that the HEI does offer a structured phd program and you're not just applying for an extra year of traditional phd) There are a number of things the RO need to check in order to ensure the application meets their criteria for approval. They need to see it before the IRC deadline so that if there's anything you need to change to meet their criteria you have time to do so. They get a lot of applications so it takes some time to read them all and get back to people.

This is all detailed under #7 of the Guide for Applicants and also 4.6 & 4.7 of the Terms and Conditions, btw.

Ravelleman

You won't actually be able to complete the application without contacting your RO as they have to request that your supervisor be added to the drop down list on the form by the IRC.

I prepared my application without any input from my RO and had a stressful final day upon discovering this.

Edit: that's how I remember it anyway!

My supervisor was already on the system from previous applications, so not in all cases, but yeah contact your RO everybody :P

heidi7

Anybody know what is the 'Mentor in Ireland' participant?

Is this an academic mentor or and enterprise mentor for the EPS scheme??

Leighn

nialljf wrote: »

Career Training and Development Plan: "Detail how the scholarship will enhance your career in the non-academic sectors."

Anyone able to give some clarification on this one?