The Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme is an established national initiative, funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and managed by the Irish Research Council.
This programme aims to support suitably qualified applicants to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at an eligible higher education institution in Ireland for either one or two years. Among its features are:
- individual, prestigious awards for excellent research in the name of the applicant;
- an objective selection process using international, independent expert peer review;
- funding across all disciplines, from archaeology to zoology; and
- awards for bottom-up, non-directed research.
Pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging fields of research or those introducing creative, innovative approaches are welcomed. Proposals of an interdisciplinary nature are also encouraged as it is recognised that advancing fundamental understanding is achieved by integrating information, techniques, tools and perspectives from two or more disciplines.
Who?
All applicants must:
- have been awarded their doctoral degree within the five-year period before 31 May 2022. For the purposes of this condition, the date of graduation will be taken into account; or
- have been certified as having fulfilled within the five-year period before 31 May 2022 all the requirements for the award of a doctoral degree, including the submission of the hardbound corrected thesis, but have not yet graduated.
An applicant’s period of eligibility may be extended as a result of any properly documented eligible career break, provided the grounds for the extension started before the call deadline. Eligible career breaks include maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, extended sick leave and carer’s leave. Only career breaks taken by the applicant as a statutory entitlement will be considered eligible. Career breaks explained by working outside of academia or by being unemployed for a period of time will not be considered as valid reasons to extend the eligibility window. Check the full eligibility criteria here.
What we offer
- a salary of €38,632 in the first year of the award and €39,186 in the second year of the award*;
- employer’s PRSI contribution; and
- eligible direct research expenses of €5,000 per annum.
How to apply
Potential applicants should read the call documentation carefully to ascertain whether or not they are eligible to apply. Indicative versions of the applicant, mentor and referee forms are provided for information purposes only. All participants must create and submit their forms via the online system.
Key dates
- Call open 16:00 (Irish time) 2 September 2021
- FAQ deadline 16:00 (Irish time) 14 October 2021
- Applicant deadline 16:00 (Irish time) 21 October 2021
- Mentor and referee deadline 16:00 (Irish time) 4 November 2021
- Research office endorsement deadline 16:00 (Irish time) 18 November 2021
- Call outcome End of March 2022
- Award start date 1 September 2022
If you do not find the answer to your query in the call documentation, you should contact the research office in your proposed institution which will provide information and clarification on the call. Research offices can send any queries they are unable to clarify to postdoc@research.ie.Please note that the timings provided here are indicative and may be subject to change.
* This corresponds with points 1 and 2 respectively on the IUA’s researcher salary scale at the time of call opening but may be subject to change under the current national pay agreement. Any such changes will be applied in line with updates to the IUA’s researcher salary scale.
For reasons of transparency and fairness to all applicants, we will not enter into written or telephone correspondence with any individual about the assessment process or their eligibility to apply.
If you are interested in the call, please check our event with Elaine Pereira Farrell, Brazilian researcher in Ireland who was already awarded with this fellowship, about this call and with information about research in Ireland in general (event in English).