Scholarships

Campus Life Services aims to support students in residence to enjoy the best student living experience by providing high quality management and maintenance of their accommodation and delivering a programme of activities to help residents meet other students and get the best out of campus life.

As part of its commitment and support of the cultural experience at University of Limerick and in particular the performing arts. Campus Life Services is offering a PCC scholarship of the value of €5000 towards accommodation to an undergraduate student of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.

This scholarship is only available for applicants of Irish World Academy undergraduate programmes.

In order to be considered for this scholarship, applicants must:

1. Fill out this form 
2. Submit a personal letter indicating their experience, qualifications, and how the scholarship would benefit them.
3. Submit a video recording that demonstrates their performance abilities and skills (2-4 mins duration). This must be a video file (e.g. .avi, .mp4, .mov, etc.) and not a Youtube link. Please submit the letter and video to IrishWorldAcademy@ul.ie and include ‘PCC Scholarship’ as the subject line.

Deadline for submissions: 16th August 2025 at 5pm 

For further information please email us 

The RTE Lyric FM Scholarships were established in 1999 in support of the MA in Classical String Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.

The aim of the Scholarship is to supports young talented string players who wish to study at UL. Since the Scholarship was established in 1999, it has been awarded to students from Ireland, Australia, Malaysia, China, Hungary, Romania, Spain, Italy and the US.

For further information on how to apply please email us. 

Recipients of all Irish World Academy scholarships and fee wavers may be required to engage in some work for the Academy.  

Such work can be an important experience in the professional development of the student and is invaluable to the life of the Academy.  

Conditions will be agreed with the Academy Director before the commencement of the scholarship / fee waver.

A scholarship fund is available for study on taught MA programmes at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. Known as the Stepping Stones Scholarships, there are two different kinds of scholarships available.

Stepping Stones Scholarships for Non-EU Students

These scholarships target international students on taught MA programmes at the Academy who have a demonstrable record in a performance and/or academic specialisation relevant to a programme of study at the Academy. Priority will be given to:

• applicants experiencing demonstrable financial challenge
• applicants from parts of the world underrepresented at the Academy
• applicants with projects that resonate with the spirit of the Stepping Stones initiative: equality of arts practices, an interdisciplinary vision, and desire to build bridges between arts practices
• applicants for programmes with a higher number of available places

The closing date for the Stepping Stones Scholarships for Non-EU students is 4pm, Friday 21st February 2025.

There is more information available on studying at UL as an international student 

General Stepping Stones Scholarships

These scholarships are open to all applicants to taught MA programmes at the Academy.  There are three €1,000 general scholarships available.  Priority will be given to:

• applicants experiencing demonstrable financial challenge
• applicants with projects that resonate with the spirit of the Stepping Stones initiative: equality of arts practices, an interdisciplinary vision, and desire to build bridges between arts practices
• applicants for programmes with a higher number of available places

The closing date for General Stepping Stones Scholarships is 4pm, Friday 9th May 2025.

Application Process

• Applicants must apply for the programme through the normal university procedures.
• In the application form, where a candidate is asked to indicate how they will fund their study, they should indicate that they will be applying for a Stepping Stones scholarship (they should also include other forms of funding as appropriate).
• The initial application for the scholarship should be coordinated by the course director of the programme. If a candidate has been offered a place on the programme and wishes to apply for the scholarship, they should send the following to the course director:

(1) A personal letter indicating how their application meets the scholarship criteria

(2) A letter from one of the referees included on their application form, indicating how their application meets the scholarship criteria

• Once the course director has received this information and is satisfied that he/she would like to support this application to their programme, he/she should include a letter of support with the two letters from the applicant, as well as a copy of the application form and any relevant audition materials. This material should be forwarded to the Barbara Christie who will arrange to review applications with the Director and relevant course directors.

The Sionna PhD Scholarships are offered to incoming (accepted) and first year PhD candidates. The scholarship is to support early stage doctoral researchers to commence their doctoral journey and to explore additional national and international funding opportunities. The scholarship is for one year only. The funding will be equivalent to half an EU fee for the first year of study. Applicants must apply within one month of receiving an offer on a programme.

For further information on how to apply please contact:

Barbara Christie, Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.

Phone: +353 61 202030; Email: Barbara.Christie@ul.ie

The Universal Music UK Sound Foundation is generously providing a bursary, for which MA in Community Music applicants may be eligible. 

It is not possible to apply to be considered if you are in receipt of SUSI or any other funding grant/bursary/scholarship. If your application is successful, it would be for a partial fees contribution. Universal Music UK Sound Foundation conditions:

• Nominated students must be from UK or Eire and under the age of 25.
• Students must show clear financial need (evidence of application for a student loan would be an example but there may be others).
• Provide information in support of the nomination e.g current achievements and how the funding would help the nominated students excel in their studies.

Funding must be used to pay students’ fees only (it can’t be used for maintenance).

If you would like to apply, please email Jean Downey and Dr Kathleen Turner to confirm.

Please submit a letter, in an email attachment, addressing each of the bullet points above. Be assured that information received is provided in confidence to the bursary application.

Jean Downey – jean.downey@ul.ie

Dr Kathleen Turner – kathleen.turner@ul.ie