The competition for 2020 studentships will open in December 2019.
The value of a DAERA postgraduate studentship
A full DAERA award includes the cost of approved fees as well as maintenance support.
DAERA pay fees directly to your university. Other expenses which may be covered are:
- conference expenses if you are presenting your research
- Research Training Support Grant – paid by DAERA to your study centre
- overseas fieldwork – DAERA may contribute to costs where it is essential to your research programme
Eligibility criteria
Residency and citizenship
To be eligible for a full DAERA Studentship award, you must have been ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland for the full three-year period before the first day of the first academic year of the course.
For a tuition fee only award, you must have been resident in the European Economic Area or Switzerland throughout the three-year period immediately preceding the date you make your application for an award.
You must be a British citizen, EU national or relevant family member of an EU national. You may be eligible for support if you are the child of either a Swiss national or Turkish worker or if you have indefinite leave to stay in the UK.
Academic qualifications
You must hold or expect to get at least one of the following:
- a first or upper second class honours degree
- a lower second class honours degree plus a Masters degree in a subject of direct relevance to the proposed research topic
You must provide official, final results of qualifications used to meet the academic requirements before the start of the studentship.
Previous study
If you already hold a doctoral degree or you have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year or equivalent part-time basis, funded from any source, including self-financing, you are not eligible for a studentship.
Research topic
Your research proposal must be in line with one of DAERA's priority research areas for 2020. These will be available when the 2020 competition opens in December 2019.
The application process
When applying for a DAERA Postgraduate Studentship, you must include a unique research proposal supported by at least one supervisor from the proposed study centre. You must also send an academic reference from the institution of your primary degree and the offer of a place at the proposed university, supporting your research proposal.
As the number of DAERA awards is limited, only eligible candidates will be invited for interview. It may be necessary to shortlist candidates to go forward to interview.
Studentships will start in October and funded for 3 years.