Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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261. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to recent changes in the eligibility criteria for funding of current PhD candidates who commenced their research prior to 1 September 2025; his views on the impact this will have on this cohort of candidates who would have had a reasonable and legitimate expectation of being able to apply for funding given the previous eligibility criteria; whether he is concerned at the potential loss of public-interest research that may not now proceed due to the financial burden; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52165/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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It would seem that the Deputy is discussing the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme (GOIP) is an established national initiative, funded by my Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and managed by Research Ireland.

The GOIP is unique in the Irish research landscape and complements other channels for funded postgraduate education in the Irish ecosystem. It is designed to support researcher-driven scholarship across all disciplines through individual, prestigious awards for excellent research in the name of the applicant.

The number of applications has significantly increased over recent years from 1,142 in 2020 to 1,620 in 2025. Additionally, the programmes are highly competitive, with an overall success rate of 14.5%. The number of awards issued by Research Ireland increased from 210 in 2024, to 237 in 2025 and several changes have now been introduced to improve the success rates for applicants.

1. Degree Verification Timeline

Research Bodies have always held responsibility for endorsing all the content of applications including all the degrees listed therein. Transcripts have not been required since 2022 however Research Ireland conducts checks to confirm that awardees are satisfying the eligibility criteria and Research Offices maintain the responsibility for verifying transcripts to Research Ireland. To ensure due diligence and appropriate governance of funding, Research Ireland cannot issue Letters of Offer to applicants for whom transcript verification is not complete.

The GOIP has a stipulated start date of 1 September. To achieve this start date transcript verification must have been completed by 31 July so that a Letter of Offer may be issued to the Research Body for signature and return.

A second start date of 1 March has been approved which coincides with registration within the research bodies and facilitates applicants who cannot provide transcripts by 31 July.

2. Supervisor Endorsement Limits

The GOIP scholarships are individual, prestigious grants for excellent research in the name of the postgraduate applicant; and provide them with the opportunity to direct their own research project at the early-career stage, working with supervisors.

It is important to note that, effective changes to the GOIP 2026 programme funding call, will provide for a primary supervisor to endorse only one application as primary supervisor, they may act as co-supervisor on multiple applications, promoting collaborative supervision practices.

This change was made to support both applicants and supervisors more effectively, and drive greater use of the full spectrum of supervisory and mentor resources, across disciplines, in the Irish research system.

Analysis of recent applications shows that while some supervisors support multiple applications, very few are linked to more than one successful outcome. It is worth highlighting that there are many opportunities to act as a primary supervisor across a range of relevant programmes within the Research Ireland portfolio.

3. Timing of Award Notifications

Research Ireland endeavours to notify applicants of outcomes as soon as is feasible.

To ensure a robust and rigorous review of applications, assessment on the GOIP is a 2-stage process. Unsuccessful applicants at stage 1 will be notified that they are not proceeding to stage 2 in February/March 2026.

Final decisions following the outcome of stage 2 of the process will be announced at the end of April 2026. These changes have been introduced in the interests of improving applicant success rates and delivering a more impactful programme overall.