2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme: Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs)

2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme: Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs) FAQ Deadline 4pm (Ireland time) Friday 13 th November 2015 Please note that the deadline for receipt of FAQs is 16:00 (GMT) Friday 13 th November 2015. FAQs must be submitted no later than this date. FAQs that have been added to this document since the last version was published are in pink font. Similar questions have been grouped below in the following themes: 1. Eligibility; 2. Eligible Funding; 3. Application Form; 4. Applying to the Scheme. 1. ELIGIBILITY a. Am I eligible to apply to the GOI Postdoctoral Scheme? An Applicant is interested in applying for the 1 year GOI post doc scheme. This person meets eligibility requirements in terms of PhD graduation etc. This person is currently employed with the University on a short term contract basis in a part time teaching role. This role will continue until May 2016. If successful the applicant will have completed this role in advance of taking up any award. Would this have any bearing on the individuals eligibility for this scheme? An Applicant who is a permanent member of staff in an Irish HEI/RPO or in an international HEI is ineligible to apply. As the Applicant in this case is currently employed on a short term contract basis, he/she is eligible to apply. I want to apply for the two-year fellowship. As part of this application can you also propose as one of your activities ensuring to publish your PhD as a monograph? It is at the discretion of the Applicant to propose what aims and objectives he/she expects to achieve as part of the Fellowship. All information provided will be evaluated by the International Board of Assessors using the evaluation criteria included in the 2016 Guide for Applicants. I applied last year for the fellowship but my application was deemed ineligible. Am I required to complete the section Description of modifications made to this proposal if the proposal has been previously 1

submitted, but was unsuccessful under an Irish Research Council scheme? No. If the application was not evaluated then it is not counted as an unsuccessful application. The guidelines for the post-doc call state that applicants can be from anywhere in the world and that while the majority will be awarded to EU citizens, there will be a proportion to exceptional applicants from outside EU." We have had some very specific queries from applicants about this and in particular, whether the EU in this instance also covers EEA countries such as Switzerland, Iceland etc. Can you please clarify if EU includes EEA countries here, especially Iceland, since that's my home country. Icelanders can definitely apply for most of the EU grants, like Marie Curie, but it would be important for me to know if my nationality has an effect on my chances with the IRC. (It should be noted that Switzerland is not in the European Economic Area). The Application Form for the scheme invites applicants to indicate the COUNTRY of their citizenship and, separately, whether the applicant is ORDINARILY RESIDENT in the EU or outside the EU (Non-EU). Residents of Non-EU countries in the EEA (i.e. Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) and Switzerland are not resident in the EU and should therefore indicate Non-EU under the residency question in the application form. If an applicant applies and then decides to withdraw from the competition, does he/she lose out on another opportunity to apply for the Grant? There is a student who may interested in applying who is pushing hard to complete the PhD defence by the deadline of 29th Feb 2016, however if they do not meet this deadline, they will be deemed ineligible. They therefore, do not want to waste a future chance to apply if they don t complete their Viva by the 29 th of Feb 2016. Applicants should consider carefully whether they will be able to meet the condition of having fulfilled all the requirements for the award of a doctoral degree (e.g. viva/thesis defence), where such is required, before the 29 th February 2016. As outlined in the terms and conditions applicants may only re-apply to each scheme on one subsequent occasion. If an application undergoes evaluation, then that application counts as one of the two opportunities an Applicant has to apply to an individual Irish Research Council scheme. I recently applied for the 2015 Enterprise Partnership Scheme and was unsuccessful. I am hoping to resubmit this application to the upcoming Government of Ireland Scheme 2016. If I am unsuccessful this time am I 2

ineligible for future schemes or do I have another opportunity to submit to both schemes (1 additional time each) in future? As outlined in the terms and conditions applicants may re-apply to each scheme on one subsequent occasion. I have unsuccessfully applied for the then IRCSET Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme twice previously in 2009 and 2010. However, while my application was evaluated each time, I was not actually awarded my PhD in time to be eligible for either fellowship, had I been successful. Am I eligible to apply again, considering I would have been ineligible to receive the previous two fellowships? No. Unsuccessful applicants may only re-apply to each Irish Research Council Scheme on one subsequent occasion (with effect from 21 st October 2009). If an applicant has previously submitted more than one application to a particular scheme, and the applications were evaluated and deemed to be unsuccessful, he/she is not eligible to apply again under that scheme. Please note that ineligible applications that are not evaluated do not count towards this limit. Can you please clarify whether previous unsuccessful EPS Postdoctoral applications are counted toward the limit of 2 applications for the GoI Postdoc Scheme? No. Unsuccessful applicants may only re-apply to each Irish Research Council Scheme on one subsequent occasion (with effect from 21 st October 2009). The EPS Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme are two different schemes. Therefore, an Applicant who has applied twice to the EPS Postdoctoral Fellowship and has been unsuccessful is eligible to then apply to the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme. A potential applicant submits her thesis in November. However, she is due to have a baby in December. And she won t be able to defend until after the IRC deadline for having been awarded the doctoral degree, i.e., Feb 29, 2016. Is there any chance that the deadline for receiving her degree could be extended forward for maternity reasons? The Irish Research Council may allow an extension on the basis of maternity leave granted whilst in employment. In order for an application for an extension to the viva to be eligible, the applicant must be able to furnish documentary evidence of maternity leave from employment and a copy of the birth cert for the child in question. 3

We have an applicant who had to perform a mandatory period of military service immediately after the award of his doctoral degree from on 30/11/2010 placing the applicant outside of the eligibility dates by exactly 3 months. Can you please confirm whether the IRC will grant an extension in this case and what documentary evidence would need to be supplied to support the extension? The IRC may grant an extension if the Applicant can provide independent certified written evidence of the mandatory service at the award offer stage if the proposal is recommended for funding. The Applicant should confirm that he/she requires an extension to this 5-year period on grounds of a career break in the application form. The Applicant should then confirm the details and the dates in the available free text box. I graduated with a PhD at University of Ulster at Belfast in 2010. I had to put my career on hold to care for a family member who was sick. I am wondering if this would be an acceptable extenuating circumstance to allow for extra time beyond the five-year time limit? Extension to the five-year period can be considered where the applicant has been granted carer s leave from employment and can provide documentary evidence of same. I am employed on an hourly paid assistant-lecturer contract on a yearly basis (not a CID nor equivalent). My workload amounts to 0.22 of a full time teaching post. My teaching load in terms of contact hours does not exceed 50 hours per term, but I am also being paid for preparation of the teaching hours. Can I apply for the post-doc without having to amend my contract? An Applicant who is not a permanent member of staff in an Irish HEI/RPO or in an international HEI is eligible to apply. Note that as per the 2016 Terms and Conditions, Fellows (award holders) are permitted to undertake additional duties such as teaching. However, teaching responsibilities should not be excessive and should not prevent researchers from carrying out their research activities. Therefore, the total work (which includes both contact hours and preparation hours) is not to exceed a total of 50 hours per academic term. I received my PhD within the 5 year eligibility period. With regard to the question: Have you been employed as a postdoctoral researcher for more than 5 years? I have been employed as a postdoctoral researcher on a HRB/ICE programme for 4+ years (under 5) am I eligible to apply? Yes. An Applicant who has been awarded their Doctoral Degree within the five-year period before the 29 th February 2016 and who has worked as a postdoctoral researcher for less than 5 years is eligible to apply. 4

I am currently a post-doc researcher in the University of Cambridge in the Faculty of Classics, but currently resident in Denmark. I completed my PhD in Classics at Cambridge in summer 2012 (having submitted in September 2011), graduating in January 2013. May I ask if there is any possibility of applying for postdoc funding in Ireland, for projects to take place in Ireland in 2016, and if so what I would need to do to apply? As per the Guide for Applicants, the eligibility requirement for the 2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme is that an applicant must have either graduated or have been certified as having fulfilled all the requirements for the award of a doctoral degree, including a viva/thesis defence, within the five-year period between 29th February 2011 and 29th February 2016. In this instance, and on the basis that the graduation date falls in January 2013, the Applicant is eligible to apply. Please be advised that the 2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme and the online application system is now open. Please click on the following link for further details and all supporting documentation http://www.research.ie/scheme/2016-government-ireland-postdoctoral-fellowship. I would like to know whether it is possible to apply for a third time to the 2- year postdoc fellowships of IRC, the other two being unsuccessful. I have a question relating to my eligibility for the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme 2016. I have made two unsuccessful applications for this Scheme: the first in 2012 and the second in 2014. Can I still apply for the 2016 Scheme? If you have previously submitted more than one application to a scheme and were unsuccessful, you are not eligible to apply again under that scheme. The one-year and the two-year postdoctoral fellowships count as one scheme. May I please request information regarding the postdoctoral fellowship offered by IRC. a) Is it dedicated for Early Career Researchers only? Or is it also applicable to senior researchers (PhD done in 2002) with around 65 peer reviewed journal papers, 12 Book chapters and over 40 conference papers (age 45+)? b) Which time will the next Fellowship call 2015 will be announced? c) Is it applicable to candidates with Masters Degree with 18 years of experience in Industrial R&D? All in the area of Science and Engineering. 5

(a) The Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (GOIPD) Scheme is intended to support suitably qualified applicants at an early stage of their postdoctoral career. As per the 2016 Terms and Condition, in order to be eligible for a GOIPD Fellowship, an Applicant must be able to demonstrate that she/he was awarded her/his doctoral degree no earlier than the 28 th February 2011. An Applicant who graduated with a PhD in 2002 is not eligible on that basis. (b) The current Fellowship Call is the 2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme and it opened on the 9 th October 2015. (c) As per point (a) above, candidates with a Master s degree but no doctoral degree are not eligible to apply. As I graduated in 2011 this is the last year I am eligible to apply for IRC Post doctoral funding. Is it possible to apply twice - as I have two areas of research that I would love the opportunity to pursue. Both follow on quite naturally from my research during the PhD and subsequent skill development; they are very different in scope and I am unsure which one is more likely to meet with approval for funding and so would like to submit two proposals. Is that possible? As per the Guide for Applicants, applications to this scheme will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered for funding if the applicant submits more than one application. I am in the process of applying for the GOI Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2016. I graduated with a PhD on 1st July 2010. Now I realise this falls outside of the 5 year time-frame, but in that time I have been caring for my sick daughter. How do I go about applying for Carer's Leave? I fall outside of the five years by 7-8 months or so. It is the applicant s responsibility to apply for Carer s Leave. The Irish Research Council is unable to advise on this matter. The Applicant may wish to contact the Department of Social Protection for relevant information. My doctoral degree was awarded on 8th December 2010. I was not employed from October 2011 and June 2012 (approx. 9 month) in order to take care of my one year old son. I have two questions: (1) Am I eligible for the fellowship (I believe that I meet all other eligibility criteria)? (2) What documentation will the IRC require as documented evidence of this career break? As stated in the Terms and Conditions, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellows must not have graduated earlier than/before the 28 th February 2011. 6

Extension to this five-year period can be considered on provision of certified documented evidence of an eligible career break; career breaks of up to 5 years are taken into account. Eligible career breaks include: maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, prolonged sick leave, carer s leave. In order to be eligible to apply the applicant must have certified documented evidence of the relevant leave. Please note that unemployment does not constitute an eligible career break. For the purposes of career break, how long does the IRC consider one term of parental leave to be? How long does the IRC consider one term of maternity leave to be? The Irish Research Council will allow up to a maximum of 42 weeks (paid 26 weeks and unpaid 16 weeks) per child in relation to maternity leave. In terms of documentary evidence, copies of birth certs and evidence of employment during the unpaid 16-week period will be required should an offer of funding be made. In relation to parental leave, the Council will allow up to a maximum of 18 weeks. In terms of documentary evidence, copies of birth certs and evidence of employment during this period will be required should an offer of funding be made. Could you please clarify the rules on extension to the application eligibility period for career breaks. I was awarded a PhD from a UK university in July 2007 which is under nine years from February 2016. The terms and conditions last year mention possible extensions to the eligibility period of up to five years for career breaks. I have had three children since 2007. Would I be eligible to apply in 2016 and what evidence would I need to provide of my career breaks to extend the eligibility period? I have also been working part-time for the Open University as an associate lecturer over this period. Extension to this five-year period can be considered on provision of certified documented evidence of an eligible career break; career breaks of up to 5 years are taken into account. Eligible career breaks include: maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, prolonged sick leave, carer s leave. The Irish Research Council will allow up to a maximum of 42 weeks (paid 26 weeks and unpaid 16 weeks) per child. In terms of documentary evidence, copies of birth certs and evidence of employment during the unpaid 16-week period will be required should an offer of funding be made. In this instance, based on a graduation date in July 2007 and applying the maximum of 42 weeks per child, the Applicant is not eligible to apply. 7

Are scientists who have taken a career break eligible to apply? There is an excellent postdoc who has a great project in mind. She worked in industry for several years after receiving her PhD and then she took a career break to raise her children. She has now moved into the academic field. Therefore, although she was awarded her PhD >5 years ago, she has only recently (2 years) began a postdoctoral career. It would seem a terrible shame if these kinds of talents, with expertise in industry, could not be supported to develop this expertise in the academic arena by these GOI fellowships, given the national strategic research objectives. As stated in the Terms and Conditions, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellows must not have been employed as a Postdoctoral Researcher for more than 5 years at the closing date of the call. Extension to this five-year period can be considered on provision of certified documented evidence of an eligible career break; career breaks of up to 5 years are taken into account. Eligible career breaks include: maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, prolonged sick leave, carer s leave. Working in industry is not an eligible career break for this scheme. I am employed on an hourly paid assistant-lecturer contract on a yearly basis (not a CID nor equivalent). My workload amounts to 0.22 of a full time teaching post. My teaching load in terms of contact hours does not exceed 50 hours per term, but I am also being paid for preparation of the teaching hours. Can I apply for the post-doc without having to amend my contract? In order to apply, an Applicant must not be a permanent member of staff in an either an Irish HEI/RPO or an International HEI. In this instance, the Applicant is not a permanent member of staff and is therefore eligible to apply. b. Do I meet the cut-off point for application to the Scheme? I did Ph.D in Jan.2009. Can I apply for the postdoc position? As per the Guide for Applicants, the eligibility requirement for the 2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme is that an applicant must have either graduated or have been certified as having fulfilled all the requirements for the award of a doctoral degree, including a viva/thesis defence, within the five-year period between 29th February 2011 and 29th February 2016. If the Applicant graduated in January 2009, then he/she is not eligible to apply. I have read terms and condition of the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship but it is still not clear if I am eligible to apply or not. I am submitting my PhD thesis for examination on Feb. 25, 2016 and I will get my 8

certificate of completion in May/June 2016. Please inform me that am I eligible to apply for Oct 2016 intake? The Council confirms that the Applicant, who has not yet graduated, must fulfil the following criteria at the time of application submission: have formally submitted your thesis for examination have examiners appointed to your viva/thesis defence examination have a viva/thesis defence scheduled for a date NO LATER THAN 29 th February 2016. We note that the Applicant is due to submit their thesis on the 25 th February 2016 and, therefore, will be unable to confirm by the 24 th November 2015 (the Applicant deadline) that they have formally submitted their thesis for examination. In order to be eligible to apply, the thesis must be submitted, examiners must be appointed, and the visa/thesis defence examination must be scheduled before the application form is submitted. May I ask whether the 5 year limit refers to people who have defended their thesis within 5 years or just those who have finished their thesis from 2011 till Feb. 2016? As per the Guide for Applicants, the eligibility requirement for the 2016 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme is that an applicant must have either graduated or have been certified as having fulfilled all the requirements for the award of a doctoral degree, including a viva/thesis defence, within the five-year period between 29th February 2011 and 29th February 2016. An Applicant must not have graduated earlier than 28 th February 2011 in order to be eligible. If at the time of submission an Applicant has not yet graduated, an Applicant must be in a position to confirm the following: o have formally submitted your thesis for examination and o have examiners appointed to your viva /thesis defence examination and o have a viva/thesis defence scheduled for a date that is NO LATER THAN 29 th February 2016. Should an application be recommended for funding, the Applicant will be asked to provide evidence that the viva/thesis defence took place no later than 29 th February 2016. 9

2. ELIGIBLE FUNDING I would be grateful if you could please clarify the following T&C: 4.3 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellows: 4.3.3 must not be a permanent member of staff in an either an Irish HEI/RPO or an International HEI.' As per the eligibility flowchart in the Guide for Applicants 2016, an Applicant is not eligible to apply for a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship if s/he is a permanent member of staff in an either an Irish HEI/RPO or an International HEI. 3. APPLICATION FORM If I include a Figure in my proposal, with a Figure title, are the words of this title counted in the word count of that particular section? Applicants can upload supplementary information (e.g. relevant diagram or figure) in the Proposed Research section of the application form. Any supplementary information must be uploaded as a separate PDF document. On that basis, the figure title can be included with the figure in the PDF document with no effect on word counts. Figures cannot be inserted into the individual field questions where word counts apply. Is there a particular type of referencing system (e.g. Harvard) that the Irish Research Council would like applicants to use? No. The Council does not have a preferred referencing system. It is at the discretion of the Applicant which referencing system to use. I wish to include photographs of a psychological test proposed in my research project. This includes photographs of real people (two volunteers sitting at a table, to give an idea of what the test would look like). Is it allowed to submit images of real people as part of the application? It is recommended to only use plain text in the online application form. Supplementary material should include only essential information required for the interpretation and understanding of the proposed research (rather than additional information about the research proposal itself) and can be uploaded in PDF format. 10

Will my referees have access to the text of my application in the online application system? Referees do not have access to the application form. I am interested in applying for the Government of Ireland postdoctoral fellowship 2016. Specifically I am interested in the one year fellowship, in order to prepare my doctoral dissertation for publication as a monograph. The IRC FAQs and guidelines indicate that the one year fellowship can be used to bring a doctoral thesis to publication, either in part or as a monograph. However, it appears that it is the one application form for both the one and two year options, and the form is based on the assumption that the proposed project will be a significant development, differing from your doctoral thesis (see section 6.14 of the application form, see also pp. 14-15). It is not very clear how an applicant, like me should tackle this application. Section 6.14 of the application form requests the Justification and demonstration of significant development outline how the proposed research is a significant development, differing from your doctoral thesis, if appropriate. It is for the Applicant to use his/her judgement and outline the significant development if appropriate or confirm that he/she is applying for a one year fellowship with the intention of preparing their doctoral dissertation for publication. Can you tell me when the deadline will be for this year's Government of Ireland postdoctoral fellowship? The Applicant Deadline is 4pm (Ireland time) Tuesday 24th November 2015 How many individual referees report needs to be submitted before the referee report submission deadline? Can they be from the same country from where the applicant has applied? You must associate two Referees with your application, neither of whom may be your named Academic Mentor. Referees may be any nationality. I would like to apply for the IRC at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (Geophysics Section). I would like to know to whom do I have to address for future queries or who would be the contact of the Research Office in my Institution? It is the applicant s responsibility to identify the correct contact point in the chosen Research Office. The Irish Research Council does not offer advice in this regard. 11

4. APPLYING TO THE SCHEME a. How do I apply to this scheme? An application to the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered for funding if it has not been submitted via the online application system. No hardcopies or emailed forms will be accepted. b. What publications and supporting documentation should be included? In the section on 'Publications and Other Research Outputs', applicants must provide details of their selected top 5 peer-reviewed publications. Instructions under the next section on 'Other Publications and Research Outputs' indicate that outputs listed there will NOT be considered as part of the applicant's research track record. Please clarify. The Other Publications and Research Outputs section of the application form allows applicants to include publications that are in press. It is the publications in press that are not considered part of the research track record. For Publications and Other Research Outputs, how many peer-reviewed articles are sufficient? If an applicant only has two, should she also submit samples of her written work? As per the Terms and Conditions 2016, an applicant must have authored or coauthored at least one published peer-reviewed research publication; or demonstrable equivalent intellectual property output; or provided samples of their written research work. There is no requirement to submit samples of written work if an applicant has at least one peer-reviewed research publication or demonstrable equivalent intellectual property output. c. How do I choose a Mentor and Host Institution? Is it possible for a Professor Emeritus to be a mentor? Yes, where the institution is satisfied that the Professor Emeritus is able to commit to the mentorship for the full duration of the award. How can I obtain an academic mentor? It is the applicant s responsibility to locate a Host Organisation and an Academic Mentor. The Irish Research Council does not offer advice in this regard. 12

There is an Applicant who plans to continue some research from his/her PhD project which involves comparing a French and a Japanese philosopher. There are two very good scholars in Ireland who would be appropriate to work with. The Applicant wonders if it is possible to apply to work with one of them at UCD while also including the second (at NUI Galway) as part of the application? If he/she were awarded the fellowship he/she would like to reside and conduct research at UCD, but would like to have a second official advisor in Galway. Only one Academic Mentor (and associated Irish Research Body, through which the Academic Mentor is employed and through which the award will be administrated) can be formally nominated. In the event that more than one Academic Mentor is involved, only one Academic Mentor will be provided with login details to access the system and to complete the Academic Mentor in Ireland Form. Both Academic Mentors will be asked to confirm their willingness to co-mentor the applicant after the offer of an award has been made. It is possible for the two Academic Mentors to be located in different Irish Research Bodies. The applicant s choice of the principal Academic Mentor and Irish Research Body forms a key element in the preparation of his/her application. As stated in the Terms and Conditions, Fellows must maintain an actual presence within their respective departments/schools in their Irish Research Body during their Fellowship and reside within a reasonable travelling distance of the nominated Irish Research Body. The Applicant must choose which of the two institutions s/he wishes to formally nominate. I am interested in a post-doc in Ireland. My Ph.D is in the area of fish processing and utilization. Kindly link me up with an institution/mentor in this area in Ireland. It is the applicant s responsibility to locate a Host Organisation and an Academic Mentor. The Irish Research Council does not offer advice in this regard. d. General online-application queries. It states that mentors "can support more than one Fellow BUT the projects must be distinct and original with no significant overlap." Does this apply to each call individually or over different calls? That is, if my mentor is already supporting another "related" project which was accepted a year ago does this hurt my chances now? Or would it only do so if someone else were to apply with a similar project to mine at the same time? The two projects are not really "overlapping" as I understand the term and my initial impression would have been that the fact that there are two postdocs working on similar issues would be viewed positively. 13

All proposals are assessed on their own merit and quality in an open competition via international peer review. The evaluation criteria for the 2016 GOIPD Scheme is outlined in Appendix IV on page 45 of the 2016 Guide for Applicants. The originality (relationship to the state-of the-art ) and innovative nature of the project is a key evaluation criterion and therefore, should be an important consideration for Applicants. Applicants should write their proposals in such a way that their application addresses all the evaluation criteria, including demonstrating the originality (relationship to the state-of the-art ) and innovative nature of the project. The international assessment board will then review and evaluate the excellence of the applicants and their proposed projects using the evaluation criteria provided. An Academic Mentor has two potential applicants both working on the same poem but with quite distinct approaches and proposed outputs one plans to focus on genre and intertextuality in the poem, the other is interested in philosophical/scientific ideas in the poem, and their relation to the contemporary political context. Also, one is applying for the one-year Fellowship, the other for the two-year Fellowship. Is it acceptable for the Mentor to support both Fellows? The International Assessment Board will evaluate projects on a number of evaluation criteria as outlined in the Guide for Applicants. The originality (relationship to the state-of the-art ) and innovative nature of the project is a key evaluation criterion and therefore an important consideration for Mentors. It is at the discretion of the Mentor, whether he/she decides to support both Fellows in this case. What was the success rate under the 2015 GOIPD call? The overall success rate for the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship 2015 scheme was 15%. Can you please confirm whether an Academic Mentor needs to be a full member of staff of a HEI for the full duration of the Postdoctoral Fellowship? Can the mentorship be transferred part-way? The HEI/RPO must ensure an Academic Mentor is appointed with responsibility for supporting and guiding the Fellow for the full duration of the Fellowship. This Academic Mentor would normally be a Principal Investigator, or other suitably qualified person, with an employment contract in place for the full duration of the Postdoctoral Fellowship. While the Council expects Fellows to complete their research at the Host Organisation originally proposed, the Council recognises that exceptional 14

circumstances may call for a change of Mentor. In this case, the Fellow and the proposed new Mentor must write to the Council stating the case for the change. The Council will examine the submission on its merits and respond with a decision on whether funding will continue in the new circumstances. The online application form does look for details of the institution/organisation with which a referee is associated, as well as their position. What should I input into these windows, where a referee is retired? The Applicant may input the institution/organisation where the referee worked before retirement. The applicant can indicate the position that the referee held previously but should also indicate that the referee is now retired. I was wondering if the IRC have a Gantt template that applicants use to submit on the online system? It is the applicant s responsibility to create or find their own Gantt template. The Irish Research Council does not offer advice in this regard. I applied to the 2015 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme and was unsuccessful. I am thinking of applying again this year but I was wondering, out of interest, what score was the cut-off point for a successful application in 2015? Applications in the Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) were evaluated in two separate panels. Therefore, applications in the AHSS were not in competition with applications in STEM. The cut-off point for a successful application in AHSS (as agreed by the 2015 International Assessment Board) was a total score of 92 out of 100. The cut-off point for a successful application in STEM (as agreed by the 2015 International Assessment Board) was a total score of 89.5 out of 100. When will the Postdoctoral Fellowships begin? Can the postdoctoral fellowship start sooner that 1st Oct 2016, considering the outcomes are announced in April? All Postdoctoral Fellowships must commence on 1st October 2016. Are reasonable vouched expenses for meals, for example on a research trip, considered eligible costs? The application form states that subsistence/per diem rates are not an eligible cost. Living expenses (e.g. rent, food and phone) are ineligible research expenses costs. 15

No. Vouched expenses for meals and drinks are not considered eligible research costs. 16