Fee Waivers and Scholarships

Closing date: 5pm on Monday, 20 May 2024

The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) is pleased to announce its funding call for the academic year 2024/25. Fee waivers from individual schools and departments as well as faculty-level fee waivers are on offer.  

Eligibility

Fee waivers are open to new and current research postgraduate students, unless otherwise stated. Current students must be in good academic standing (i.e. they must have passed their most recent progression panel).

Prospective PhD students are particularly encouraged to apply and need not have completed an application for acceptance onto an AHSS research postgraduate programme before doing so (see the application process How to apply for a research degree | University of Limerick (ul.ie)). However, they are advised to make contact with a prospective supervisor prior to submitting an application for a fee waiver. A list of AHSS faculty and their research interests can be found Find an expert | University of Limerick (ul.ie). If awarded a fee waiver, new applicants will be required formally to register for an AHSS PhD programme by 1 September 2024.

All awardees are required to submit an application for the Irish Research Council (IRC) postgraduate scholarship scheme to the faculty review process in the year of their award. For this reason, the AHSS funding application form is modelled on the IRC application form. If a student is ineligible for IRC funding in the year of their award, they may pursue alternative similar funding and devise with the ADR Dr. Christina Morin an appropriate review process.

Current and prospective students on taught postgraduate programmes are ineligible for this funding call. These students should contact ahsspg@ul.ie for information on available funding.

Current and prospective students housed in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (IWAMD) are also ineligible with the exception of number 1 ‘Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Fee Award’ below.  Details of IWAMD’s internal funding scheme can be found Scholarships – Irish World Academy

1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Fee Award 

1 award available:

Duration: Up to 3 years

Value: EU fees (€5,600, subject to review; renewable up to 3 years)

Open to: new PhD applicants to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences including Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. 

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately.

2. School of English, Irish, and Communication Postgraduate Fee Award

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,600, subject to review)

Open to: preference will be given to new PhD applicants to the School of English, Irish, and Communication.

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately. 

3. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Fee Award

7 awards available:

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,600, subject to review)

Open to: new and current PhD students (enrolled no longer than 4 years full-time, or 6 years part-time) in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately.

4. School of Law Fee-waiver for New PhD Candidates

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,600, subject to review)

Open to: new PhD candidates

5. School of Law Fee-waiver for New or existing PhD Candidates

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,600, subject to review)

Open to: new and current PhD candidates (enrolled no longer than 4 years full-time, or 6 years part-time) 

6. Centre for Irish-German Studies / School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics/AHSS:

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,600 subject to review) and bursary (€500 p.m.)

Open to: preference will be given to new PhD candidates focusing on Irish-German business or migration topics.

Fee Waiver Application Process

Applicants should submit the following materials to Ann-Marie Hickey at annmarie.hickey@ul.ie by 5pm on Monday, 20 May 2024:

1. Completed application form. Please be sure to specify your ‘home’ School or Department at the start of the attached application form, even if there are no School- or Department-specific awards on offer.
2. One academic reference (from someone other than the supervisor/prospective supervisor).

Fee Waiver Assessment Process

All applicants to the scholarships and fee waivers above will automatically be considered for available faculty-level fee waivers, as per the following assessment procedure. All applications will be assessed and scored in the first instance by the students’ ‘home’ Schools and Departments, whether or not those schools and departments have fee waivers or scholarships on offer this year. The following evaluation criteria will apply:

Schools and departments will rank all applicants in their areas and agree school or department awards, if any. They will each then forward the names and application materials of their top 3 ranked candidates to be considered by members of the AHSS Postgraduate Research Committee, who will review the application materials according to the evaluation criteria outlined above and produce a new ranking for the award of the faculty level fee waivers.

We will endeavour to notify applicants by Tuesday, 11^th June 2024.  A reserve list of applicants for faculty level fee waivers will be created in the event that anyone awarded a fee waiver chooses not to avail of it. Schools and departments will operate their own reserve lists for their internal awards, but note that applicants cannot hold both a school/department fee waiver and a faculty one.

Terms and Conditions

Awards are offered for the 2024/25 academic year and cannot be deferred. Registered students who go on official leave during the course of their fee waiver or scholarship should inform their supervisor(s) and ADR Christina Morin (ahssadr@ul.ie) to ensure that they can avail of the remainder of their award following their return from leave.

Informal queries may be sent to Ann-Marie Hickey Research Administrator, at annmarie.hickey@ul.ie, or to Dr. Christina Morin, Assistant Dean for Research, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (ahssadr@ul.ie).

Contact ahsspg@ul.ie for information on taught postgraduate funding and scholarships.

Information on general scholarships open to all undergraduate students can be found on the undergraduate scholarship page while details of programme-specific undergraduate scholarships can be found on each course page.