Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme and Enterprise Partnership Scheme postgraduate Scholarship FAQ

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1 Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme and Enterprise Partnership Scheme postgraduate Scholarship FAQ Updated on all new questions are in red This is the final FAQ update. Similar questions have been grouped below in the following themes: Eligibility Application form Applying to the Schemes ELIGIBILITY I have had a query from a student currently on an IRC Employment Based Scheme scholarship (MA). Can this student apply for the PG Funding for 2014 for a Phd? If an individual received an IRC EBS award in the last round to pursue an MA, can they apply to this scheme for any of the scholarships? If I was successfully funded for an M.Eng would that preclude me from getting funding for a Ph.D in the future? As per the terms and conditions, applicants must have been formally accepted to the proposed PhD by 1 st October 2014, therefore applicants currently on an MA programme must have completed their MA before said date. IRC-funded MA scholars can only apply for funding for PhD scholarships in this call. In our HEI, some students start postgraduate studies with their first year on an MLitt programme, and after the first year, pending satisfactory performance, are upgraded to do a 3-year structured PhD programme. Should these students apply for a 4 year structured PhD even though they will only be eligible for the 3 remaining years? Applicants who have completed one year of a Structured Doctoral Degree already may apply for funding once they meet the criteria outlined in Clause 4.4 of the Terms and Conditions. Applicants may apply for the 48 month Structured Doctoral Degree funding and, if successful, will be awarded three years funding. For new entrants, if an applicant intends to pursue a PhD they should apply for PhD funding. Does having an M.Sc already reduce my chances of being funded for a Masters in Engineering? All scholarships awarded by the Council are based on excellence. Already holding an award does not reduce your change of getting funding. Please see the eligibility criteria, included in the Guide for Applicants, for more information on this. Please note that the Irish Research Council only funds Research Masters and not Taught Masters Programmes.

2 In the event that this (my 2nd) application to the IRC PG Scholarship Scheme is unsuccessful am I still eligible to apply for the Enterprise Partnership Scheme next year? Applicants can apply twice to the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scheme and twice to the Enterprise Partnership Scheme. A postgraduate student here will register in April 2014 for an HEI-funded oneyear scholarship which ends in March Can he apply to this year s postgrad scheme and, if successful, start on 01 October 2014 but only draw down funding from April 2015? No. All Scholarships have to start on 1 st October Scholarships cannot be postponed. I am due to start my PhD this month, although I'm still not officially registered. In light of this would I be considered a new entrant to the postgraduate degree (re. no. 5 in the IRC eligibility Flowchart)? Eligibility for funding and the duration of funding is determined by the date of first registration. If your date of first registration is September/October 2014 you are a new entrant. Applicants who have registered prior to September/October 2014 are not eligible to apply for funding unless they fall within clauses on page 4 of the Terms and Conditions. If applicants fall within these clauses, they are eligible to part-funding of their degree. Please see the table on page 5 of the Terms and Conditions for more information on the duration of funding available. Please confirm eligibility of an individual without an undergraduate degree who has a Master s degree. The Terms & Conditions state that Master s degree results may be considered to take precedence over the results of the primary degree. In last year s competition which had the same eligibility criteria this individual would have been eligible to apply. The eligibility flowchart in this year s Guide for Applicants however indicates that those without a 1st or upper 2nd class honours primary degree or equivalent are not eligible to apply for an IRC scholarship. Thank you. A Masters degree does take precedence over the primary degree. The flow chart in the Guide will be updated with an additional question to reflect this, as per below. 3. Have you a 1st or upper 2nd class honours primary degree or equivalent? a. Yes: go to 5. b. No: go to Have you completed a Masters Degree? a. Yes: go to 5. b. No: you are not eligible to apply for a Council Postgraduate Scholarship. A student may only reapply on one other occasion if she/he has already applied to the IRC for funding. Does that rule relate to the project or the student? In other words, if a student wishes to apply for funding for a completely new project/subject in 2014, but does not receive funding is she/he exempt from reapplying in 2015 because a previous application for a completely different project was not successful?

3 This criterion applies to the applicant. On initial reading I understood that the IRC applicant did not need to be already registered on a postgraduate programme or at an institute as the following extract on p.7 of the Postgraduate Scholarship 2014 Terms and Conditions state: 'and at the time of application: be a new entrant to the degree for which they are to receive Council funding and have been formally accepted by the relevant department/school by, at the latest, 1st October 2014;' But then the eligibility flowchart on p.3 of the Postgraduate Guide for Applicants) seems to state that potential applicants are not eligible to apply for a scholarship unless part of the postgraduate degree is completed. Question six asks: 6. Have you completed part of the postgraduate degree for which you are to receive Council funding on the basis of any of the following: 1. being a student in the Institute of Technology Sector in receipt of Strand 1 funding wishing to transfer to the PhD register; 2. being self-funded; 3. being in receipt of a Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant; 4. being in receipt of a HEI bursary or HEI scholarship; 5. being in receipt of a Central Remedial Clinic Ciaran Barry Graduate Scholarship: a. Yes: you are eligible to apply for funding to continue doing the degree that you are already registered for and have completed part of. The date of your first registration will determine the maximum number of years funding that you are eligible to apply for. Go to 7. b. No: you are not eligible to apply for a Council Postgraduate Scholarship. I would greatly appreciate if you could gain clarification on the above. New entrants are eligible to apply for funding. Question 5 on the eligibility flowchart states: Are you a new entrant to the postgraduate degree for which you are to receive Council funding? a. Yes: go to 7. b. No, I have already registered and completed part of the postgraduate degree for which I am to receive Council funding: go to 6. If you are a new entrant you do not need to answer Question 6. I have a PhD student in a unique situation of being funded partly (50%) by the HEI and another funding agency (50%). In this instance would the student be eligible to apply for funding? Scholars who have already registered and part-completed their degree prior to September/October 2014 are not eligible to apply for funding unless they fall within clauses on page 4 of the Terms and Conditions. In this instance, the scholar would not be eligible for funding as the funding agencies are not included in these clauses. A proposed research project involves the use of an MRI scanner to compare two groups with 20 participants in each. The cost per participant is 500, total 20,000. Would the IRC consider funding such a project if well-presented and

4 justified? This scheme includes funding for direct research costs that are essential for the research proposed and are justified as such in the application. These costs are set to a maximum limit of 2,250 per year. Will the IRC fund a project that is currently funded but where the funding will shortly run out (by the end of 2014)? As per the Terms and Conditions, IRC Scholarships are not intended to substitute or augment funds under programmatic research actions. Applicants who have already started their Postgraduate degree may be eligible to apply for funding if they fall under one of the specific categories listed in Clause 4.4 of the Terms and Conditions. Please also refer to Clause 7.21 in relation to other awards that may be held alongside an IRC PG Scholarship. An applicant has an original primary degree (in Medicine) that is below the upper second class honours threshold for a GoI scholarship. However on switching disciplines to English/Creative Writing the applicant has received first class honours in all grades. Will the MA results take precedence in the IRC s evaluation of this candidate s application? As per the Terms and Conditions, Masters degree results will be considered to take precedence over the results of the primary degree. I have started a PhD on a self-funded basis, and was full-time in the 2012/13 academic year, but am part-time for the 2013/14 academic year and would return to full-time if I was successful in securing funding. Does my part-time status affect my eligibility as it is not clear from the material whether it would or not. Part-time participation does not affect your eligibility to apply for funding if you fall under one of the specific categories listed in Clause 4.4 of the Terms and Conditions. Can a student who is a currently a registered MEngSc student under the Employment Based Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme (ends in March 2014) apply for one of the GOI PG scholarships to pursue a Doctoral Degree following on from their MEngSc work. Essentially this would be a transfer from an MEngSc to a PhD? The student must complete their Masters under the Employment Based Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme in order to apply for a PhD under this scheme. However, if the student is transferring to a PhD (i.e. they are not a new entrant for the degree to which they are seeking funding) they cannot apply for part-funding as they do not meet the criteria in Clauses 4.4 on page 5 of the Terms and Conditions. I have a 2:2 in my undergraduate qualification but am currently doing a masters by research and will be transferring directly to the PhD register later in the year. Will the fact that I am currently pursuing a masters and will soon transfer to a PhD make me eligible to apply? You must successfully complete your Masters in order to apply for a PhD under this call. However, if you transfer to a PhD you will not have a Masters result to take precedent over your undergraduate results and so based on these you would not be eligible to apply to the scheme. If a self-funded applicant registers in March 2014 for a one-year research master s, will the IRC provide funding from October 2014 to February 2015 or must the funding go from October 2014 to September 2015?

5 To be eligible for a one year Research Masters Degree, the date of first registration cannot be prior to September/October I am currently in my first year of my PhD degree, having started in October I am registered at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. For my first year, I am funded by charities funds, but do not have funding for the next 3 years of my PhD ( ). Would I be eligible to apply for the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Doctoral Scheme for the last 3 years of my PhD? Applicants who have already registered and part-completed the degree for which they are seeking funding must satisfy the conditions outlined in Clause 4.4 on page 5 of the Terms and Conditions. Charities are not included in this clause therefore you are not eligible to apply. Is someone on a 48-month traditional (not structured) doctoral degree who registered in September/October 2011 eligible to apply for funding for one year. The Council do not offer scholarships for traditional degrees for more than 36 months: we offer scholarships for 36 month traditional doctoral degrees, or 48 month structured doctoral degrees. For the 36 month traditional degree, if you registered prior to September/October 2012 you are not eligible to apply to the scheme. For the 48 month structured degree, if you registered prior to September/October 2011 you are not eligible to apply to the scheme. "Can a student working on a project with an NGO Enterprise partner that is already registered for PhD and in receipt of HEI fee award apply to this scheme"? Yes they can still apply once they satisfy the conditions outlined in Clause 4.4 on page 5 of the Terms and Conditions. Where a fee award is already in place, the Irish Research Council Award will not include fees. According to the EPS FAQ page "The Irish Research Council s postgraduate schemes support basic research in the broad areas of Science, Engineering and Technology." Is this scheme also open to applicants pursuing research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The Enterprise Partnership Scheme is open to all disciplines. The webpage you mention will be updated to reflect this. It is my understanding that, according to the terms and conditions of the Enterprise Partnership Scheme, an applicant who is already registered as a PhD candidate is eligible to apply for funding as long as they fall within clauses and of the T&Cs. However, the Enterprise Partnership Scheme FAQs state that: "The Irish Research Council postgraduate competition does not accept applications from: a. Those currently registered as PhD candidates b. Those currently registered for a master's degree (by research) with the exception of: i. Individuals in the Institute of Technology (IOT) sector in receipt of Strand 1 funding wishing to transfer to the PhD register (in this case, the Irish Research Council will support these individuals for up to a maximum of 2 years, i.e. total postgraduate funded research including Strand 1 funding cannot exceed 3 years).

6 ii. Individuals registered for a master's degree (by research) intending to complete and submit for this award and begin a significantly new research proposal to PhD level." Can you clarify whether applicants who are currently registered as PhD candidates and who fall within clauses of the terms and conditions are eligible to apply for the EPS. Please see the Terms and Conditions for all eligibility criteria. These supersede the reference on the webpage as stated above and this reference will be removed from the website. For the Enterprise Partnership Scheme, if there is no suitable partner in Ireland that could support my field of research, can the Enterprise Partner Company be located outside Ireland? Yes, for this Scheme, the Enterprise Partner can be based anywhere in the world, and must meet the definition of Enterprise Partner in the Terms and Conditions: Enterprise Partner shall mean a business, a company, a registered charity, a social, cultural, not-for-profit, governmental or non-government organisation. I am on a contract of indefinite duration does this mean that I am ineligible to apply for this Scheme? It states in must not be a permanent member of staff in an either an Irish HEI/RPO or an International HEI. If I only teach parttime on this CID does this still mean that I am ineligible (i.e. irrespective of number of hours worked)? As per the Terms and Conditions, scholars must not be a permanent member of staff - a permanent staff member would be defined as someone whose contract is not scheduled to expire. In normal circumstances, a Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID) would be considered equivalent to a permanent post. If you are a permanent member of staff, regardless of whether you are full or part time, you are not eligible to apply for this scheme. Details of schemes intended for permanent staff members are published at when funding calls open. We have an applicant in her final year of degree with ongoing high marks and interested in applying for a graduateship I assume she is eligible to apply once her results is this the case or does she have to wait until after her final year exams to apply. As per the Terms and Conditions, If examination results are not known at the time of application, the Council may make a provisional offer of a Scholarship on condition that the Scholar s undergraduate degree result is a first class- or upper second-class honours, or the equivalent. Is there an option for a student on a 3 year structured programme to apply? (registered since Oct 2012) If so, what do they select from the drop down list of degrees, as a 3 year structured is not an option. The Council do not offer scholarships for structured degrees for 36 months: we offer scholarships for 36 month traditional doctoral degrees, or 48 month structured doctoral degrees. APPLICATION FORM The new 2014 application form has very different word allocations than the 2013, for example the 'Description of Topic' section has gone from 1000 words to 200 words, which seems like it may be a mistake. Could you clarify?

7 Are the word counts in the indicative postgraduate application form on your website correct? They are significantly lower than last year s just want to check it isn t a typo? In regards the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme, the indicative application form on the website there is an extremely low word counts (vast majority 200 words) for many sections, will the word count be revised upwards? Will the indicative application form be updated with new word counts? The Online Application System form word counts have been slightly increased from the word limits stated in the indicative application form. Please note that the indicative application form will not be updated but all updated limits are clearly stated on the online system. Between Sections 7.20 and 7.21 of the indicative application form, there is an option to upload supplementary information in PDF format. Could this include program code samples (referred to in the Proposed Research) or any other technical text? If so, is there a word count limitation for the supplementary material? Any supplementary information that accompanies your research proposal can be uploaded in PDF format. A word count does not apply to supplementary material, however supplementary material should include essential information required for the interpretation and understanding of the proposed research, rather than additional information about the research proposal itself. This can include program code samples if essential for interpretation of your research proposal. Is there any limit to the number of diagrams that can be uploaded under supplementary information? There is no limit but please see the previous answer with regard to the content of supplementary material. Does my referee need to refer to the research project that I plan to undertake? No. Can you let me know where the list of eligible higher institutions is located? The list of eligible higher education institutions can be found here: Where does a project from the discipline of physiotherapy and rehabilitation fit into the categories and subcategories outlined in the Guide for Applicants? Healthcare/medicine/rehabilitation are not mentioned in any of the category disciplines. Last year 2013 health promotion was a subcategory but it appear to have been removed this year? This scheme is open to all disciplines but which primary area from the defined list should be chosen by applicants in research areas such as Physiotherapy, Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry? Applicants should choose the discipline that most closely matches his/her proposed research, considering the methodology and techniques used in the research project. The list of other research areas provided for each Discipline is not an exhaustive list, and applicants may enter other areas specific to their research in the free text

8 box in the online system. If your subject is listed under 'Other Research Areas' in a specific 'Primary Research Area', do you have to choose that area? For instance, History of Art is listed under Cultures and Cultural Production in the IRC Guide for Applicants but it may be difficult to classify the research project using the predetermined list of disciplines. Is it possible to choose another 'Primary Research Area' such as Study of the Human Past and then choose a more appropriate discipline, such as History? Several colleagues and postgraduate students in my department have called attention to the absence of the discipline of anthropology in the IRC s Research categorisation. The online system and guide for applicants will be updated to reflect the following additions: - Under the Primary Area of Cultures and Cultural Production, Cultural Studies will be added as a Discipline - Under the Primary Area of Cultures and Cultural Production, Languages will be added as a Discipline - Under the Primary Area of Individuals, Institutions, Markets, Values, Behaviour, the Mind and Environment, Anthropology will be added as a Discipline. - Under the Primary Area of Individuals, Institutions, Markets, Values, Behaviour, the Mind and Environment, the discipline of Women s Studies has been updated to Equality Studies I am an MSc Physiotherapy student applying for the IRC postgrad GOI funding and have been unable to find a suitable 'discipline' heading in the application online - in the proposed research section. In previous years a heading of 'Health Promotion' was available, however this is not present this year. Which 'discipline' should health research be in? Applicants should choose the discipline that most closely matches his/her proposed research, considering the methodology and techniques used in the research project. The list of other research areas provided for each Discipline is not an exhaustive list, and applicants may enter other areas specific to their research in the free text box in the online system. "I have a student applying for an IRC postgraduate application under the theme of the National Forum Postgraduate Scholarship for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. However, we are having great difficulty filling in the primary area, discipline and other research area ( ) since none of the descriptions within the GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS 2014 match our project. Our field is mathematics education and there are no education/maths education/higher education/teaching/learning/pedagogy options on the application form. You can appreciate that we do not want to try to fit our project into the descriptions available as it is misleading and misrepresentative of probably any education based, and indeed National Forum based, research. So my questions is: Will the descriptions be broadened to accommodate

9 projects with education (mathematics education) as a primary area? Will the discipline and other research area then match accordingly"? In this case, under the Primary Area of Individuals, Institutions, Markets, Values, Behaviour, the Mind and Environment, the discipline of Education can be selected. In the free form text box further description of the research area can then be inputted. 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. Having just met my supervisor, we are unsure as to whether the application allows for the use of footnotes to be used as a form of bibliography for the different sections? With the word count of each section being considerably smaller than previous years perhaps you could offer clarification as how to reference citations. Footnotes should not be used as a form of bibliography. A bibliography can be uploaded as a PDF attachment as supplementary information. A word count does not apply to supplementary material. If I answer yes to question "Have you previously submitted all or part of a proposal to an Irish Research Council Scheme and been unsuccessful?" Am I then required to answer the following question concerning modifications to the proposal? My new proposal is in no way linked to the proposal I submitted last year. If your research proposal is not linked to the previous proposal please state this in the application form. Please also state any other changes or developments since

10 your last application such as training and development or research outputs. I have a student who has been resident in Ireland for over 17 months and is an Irish Citizen and holds an Irish Passport. The question arises with regard to the definition of being ordinarily resident - can the student apply for the PG scheme if they have been resident here less than 3 years, the definition of Ordinarily Resident is ambiguous for those who are Irish Citizens and hold Irish Passports. As per the Guide for Applicants: Applicants deemed to be citizens of the EU are those applicants who are either citizens of Ireland or of a Member State of the European Union AND have been ordinarily resident within a Member State of the EU/Ireland for a continuous period of three out of the five years prior to the application deadline. Ordinarily resident shall be deemed to refer to the applicant s place of legal and permanent residence. The ordinarily resident period for EU citizens will not be deemed as having been interrupted if an absence from that residence has been caused by: training or employment of the applicant or the applicant s spouse or parents; the full-time education of the applicant or her/his spouse; an absence or absences for cultural or personal reasons. All other applicants should indicate that they are non-eu. Thus for the example given of an Irish citizen, the applicant will be deemed as an EU citizen for the purposes of the scheme if they have been ordinarily resident within a Member State of the EU/Ireland for a continuous period of three out of the five years prior to the application deadline. Otherwise the applicant should select Non EU on their application form. Can a student that has already started a PhD apply for the Enterprise Partnership Scheme? Yes, they can still apply once they satisfy the conditions outlined in Clause 4.4 on page 5 of the Terms and Conditions. I have another question regarding the IRC application, this time the Sex/Gender Statement. My research is literary and textual and, while I'm using gender theory, I'm a bit confused about the way the Statement is worded because it seems to deal only with 'biological' impact and applications. I am planning interviews, but the interviewees have been chosen due to their connection to the poet I'm studying, rather than any sex/gender reason etc. Am I right in thinking that the 'yes/no' boxes refer to whether there is a sex/gender element in any of those particular areas of your study e.g where you are using human participants in interviews. Or should I answer 'yes' to human participants in that case, but then state below that, while there is no biological sex/gender element in my project per se, it does utilise gender theory etc.? Sorry for the long-winded question. I just find this particular section very confusing as it seems aimed directly at science students rather than at those in the humanities and reading around it hasn't really helped to clarify it. My supervisors are as confused as I am on this one. This question is relevant for all applications, regardless of discipline. Because your study involves human participants you should answer Yes to the question and the Guide for Applicants, Appendix II, provides guidance on how to handle this. For example, under the Research Implementation heading, the Appendix refers to how to examine data collection tools such as interviews for a

11 potential sex and / or gender dimension. You can also outline any other considerations that may be relevant, for example use of gender theory in this case. If an applicant has completed one year of his PhD in one Irish University but is transferring into his second year in another University, how can he/she indicate this on the online system? Once you choose the Irish Research Body you will be based in for the duration of the scholarship, the section in which you describe the degree you are currently registered for is automatically filled with the Irish Research Body you chose at the beginning. Applicants should select the HEI at which they will complete their degree. Under Section 4 of the online form, Proposed Research applicants can include information on time spent at previous institution(s). My title isn t appearing when I print a PDF of my application. Please remove any double quotation marks ( ) in your application title. You may use single quotation marks instead. My word count is saying it is exceeded limits but I know I have 300 words. Any bullet points pasted from Microsoft Word into the application will count as one word each. For example, a 300 word paragraph that has five bullet points in it will result in 305 words when pasted into the online system. I have had a number of students enquiring if they have to include their date of birth on the online system for the postgraduate scheme. I would be grateful if you could advise. The date of birth is requested as an identifier in the case of applicants with the same name. Personal details in relation to the applicant such as age, sex and nationality are not visible to the international assessors. Is it acceptable to include a third reference, in the form of a letter, with the supplementary material? If a particular organisation provide their support for a PhD project in the form of a letter of endorsement, is it acceptable to add the letter to the supplementary material? Supplementary material should only include essential information required for the interpretation and understanding of the proposed research, rather than additional information about the research proposal or applicant. APPLYING TO THE SCHEMES When will the categories, subcategories and headings become available? E.g. last year I submitted an application under the heading health promotion. Will there be more sub category options this year. When will the grading criteria become available? Both of these are available in the Guide for Applicants available on the Council website.

12 Can an academic supervisor support more than one student application? Can different PG applicants use the same primary supervisor? Yes, an academic supervisor can support more than one applicant. Can a co-supervisor be a referee? No. Can an applicant apply with a Professor to the EPS scheme if the Professor is a cofounder and equity holder of the enterprise partnership company? The Enterprise Mentor and Academic Mentor cannot be the same person. While the Academic mentor and the Industry mentor cannot be the same person, is there any conflict of interest if the academic mentor has equity and stake in the industry company. Is there a need to sign a conflict of interest or full disclosure form? Any such instances should be detailed in the application form and brought to the attention of the Research Office in the HEI to ensure that the application meets their own eligibility criteria for endorsement. I am currently registered as a first year research masters student and will be transferring later in the year to the PhD-track. If I am successful in achieving an IRC award, is there a date by which I will have to provide evidence that I have transferred to the PhD-track? All applicants must have been formally accepted by the relevant department/school for the degree for which they are to receive council funding by, at the latest, 1 st October Please note that applicants who have registered prior to September/October 2014 are not eligible to apply for funding unless they fall within the clauses on page 4 of the Terms and Conditions. If applicants fall within these clauses they are eligible to part-funding of their degree. Please see the table on page 5 of the Terms and Conditions for more information on the duration of funding available. Do you know if this is going to be the only EPS Scheme call in 2014? There will be only one EPS call per year. The 2015 call will be launched in the last quarter of Is it possible for a member of the applicant's doctoral panel (other than the supervisor) to act as a referee? Technically, a member of the applicant s doctoral panel (other than the supervisor) can act as a referee. However, in previous calls, the International Assessment Panel looked more favourably on references that were removed from the supervisory/doctoral panel, as these were seen as independent. With regard to the GoI Scholarships, is priority given to scholars that wish to pursue their MSc or PhD research at an Institution other than that where they did their undergraduate degree? No.

13 The last question in the Ethical Statement tab 'Does your research programme involve any of the following?' is to be answered by choosing only one of many options. My research involves more than one of the aspects listed, so I do not really know how to answer this question. To work around it, should I address all these aspects explicitly in the free text statement under the same tab? Or could the Council possibly change the OLS so that it allows to select more than one option? If you more than one option applies to your application, please select one from the dropdown menu and include any others within the free text box in this tab. My research will not require ethical approval (which is very clear from the research proposal) and my answer to the first question in the Ethical Statement tab is No. It appears unnecessary to request a confirmation to this effect from the Head of Department. If I answer No the second question in the Ethical Statement tab Confirmation has been received from the Head of Department that the above statement is true?, would it have negative implications for my application? It is the decision of the applicant as to whether their proposal requires ethical approval. Sign off by Head of Department acts as a further confirmation that the proposal does not require ethical approval. An important component of structured PhD programmes are teaching and learning modules which include activities such as workshops, self-study on teaching practice and some actual teaching which is then evaluated. Often these modules need to be completed in the first year of the PhD programme. Is teaching undertaken as part of these modules considered additional duties in the meaning of Art. 7.11? If yes please clarify under what circumstances are scholars allowed to undertake these specific teaching activities in the first year of the scholarship. An applicant on a Structured PhD who has a requirement to teach as part of their Teaching and Learning modules is allowed to teach. The Terms and Conditions will be updated at contract stage to reflect this. Are candidates who stay in the HEI where they did their undergraduate degree at a disadvantage? No. Do candidates need research experience or an MSc and/or papers in order to be competitive? There are no fixed criteria in relation to research experience. However, please note that postgraduate schemes are typically highly competitive, and that the Council grants awards on the basis of excellence During the evaluation process does the outer board assess the entire application rather than just the proposed research before it is sent to inner board? Yes, the outer board assesses the entire application. Can the enterprise partner be a non-irish based research institute with no branch based in Ireland? The Enterprise partner can be based anywhere in the world and does not have to have an Irish branch, and must meet the definition of Enterprise Partner in the Terms and Conditions: Enterprise Partner shall mean a business, a company, a registered charity, a social, cultural, not-for-profit, governmental or non-government organization.

14 If a candidate has a partial scholarship which will pay their PhD fees can they retain the fee money for use towards research costs as was the case under IRCSET? (In this case the candidate is a Scholar of TCD) No. Scholars who hold a fee waiver from their HEI, or where no fee is required, or where fees are paid in full or in part by a third party, must inform the Council and the appropriate offices in their HEI and will not be eligible for the fee portion of their scholarship. Regarding page 1 of the Application Form and appropriate theme option National Forum Postgraduate Scholarship for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Terms and Conditions, Appendix 2), does the 'Learning in Higher Education' refer to third-level only or does this also consider post-primary school? While the scholarships under this theme are focused on the higher education sector, a research project that focused on the transition between secondary school or further education would also meet the criteria for this theme. Is a potential applicant allowed to work as a research assistant in the same lab while doing her research masters? Scholars must engage full-time in research during the Funding Term and should not engage in any activity other than completing the Scholarship. The first year of the Scholarship should be devoted exclusively to the development of the research project and the Training and Career Development Plan. In exceptional circumstances, a Scholar may engage in other duties as an alternative to tutorial or demonstration duties in the second and subsequent years of the degree provided: the Scholar provides the Council with a written statement of support from their Academic Supervisor and obtains prior written permission from the Council. A template will be available for this purpose; the other duties are not excessive (do not exceed a total 50 hours per academic term) and do not prevent researchers, particularly at the beginning of their careers, from carrying out their research activities; the other duties are relevant to the research funded by the Scholarship and consistent with the training and career development plan agreed by the Scholar and Academic Supervisor.