About Univeritas 21

Universitas 21 (U21)is an international network of 23 leading research-intensive universities in fifteen countries. All Universitas 21 member institutions are research-led, comprehensive universities providing a strong quality assurance framework to the network's activities. Collectively, its members enrol over 700,000 students, employ over 145,000 staff and have approaching 2.5 million alumni.  The network's purpose is to facilitate collaboration and cooperation between the member universities and to create opportunities for them on a scale that none of them would be able to achieve operating independently or through traditional bilateral alliances.
Established in 1997, U21 engages in a number of activities, informed by our core underlying principles:

1. a global focus and perspective
2. a commitment to excellence
3. a commitment of those involved to collaborative and co-operative work and spirit while ensuring there are clear outcomes
4. a determination to achieve added value
5. a constant striving for innovation and the creation of multilateral opportunities for members
6. sustainability of activity

www.universitas21.com

Universitas 21 Jointly Awarded PhD

U21has established a unique framework for jointly awarded PhDs amongst 16 U21 members. As a member of the U21 Network, University College Dublin has signed a memorandum of understanding to award PhD degrees jointly with any of the 15 other member institutions on  a one-to one  basis.

Under this scheme, two partner universities will create a tailor-made programme of study for each student, taking individual research needs into account and enabling collaboration with another of the network’s universities.  This exciting opportunity will enhance considerably students’ research and employment opportunities on an international scale.

The 16 institutions - from across the globe - currently involved in this ground-breaking programme are:

University of Auckland
University of Birmingham
University of British Columbia
University of Delhi
University College Dublin
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
University of Hong Kong
University of Korea
University of Lund
McGill University
University of Melbourne
University of New South Wales
University of Nottingham
University of Queensland
University of Virginia.

Benefits

Clear benefits for students of these jointly awarded PhDs are access to:

• an academic research programme enhanced by the collaboration of different high- quality research environments and cultures;
• training and facilities of two research-intensive universities; 
• the added value of international networking;
• a head start in future career planning and professional development.

The terms of participation of individual students on a jointly  awarded PhD will be agreed on a case-by-case basis, and a separate student-specific Universitas 21- Memorandum of Agreement (MoA)  must be drawn up and approved by the student, both Partner Universities and the identified supervisor/s (advisor/s) of each Partner University.

U21 Exploratory scholarships: Exploratory funding is available  from UCD Graduate Studies to enable members of UCD academic staff to visit one of the U21 universities to develop partnerships that will lead to the development of a  joint PhD programme.  The visits can be used to strengthen existing relationships as well as initiating new links with researchers at fellow U21 universities.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University postgraduate full scholarships (Masters and PhD)

Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) has 25 (full) scholarships for graduate and Phd students from overseas in 2012.Five of those places are reserved Universitas 21 university students. Further details about the scholarships are available at the following link: SJTU 2012 Scholarships For more information contact Guo Liang, Deputy Director - International Relations in SJTU (guoliang@sjtu.edu.cn).

Universitas 21 is an international network of 23 leading research-intensive universities in fifteen countries and UCD is the only member from Ireland (www.universitas21.com).

UCD Student Wins Prize at U21 Graduate Research Conference

UCD Scholarship student Mr Graham O’Neil attended the Universitas 21 Graduate Research Conference in Food in Malaysia and won a prize for a poster he presented there. UCD Graduate Studies and the UCD Institute for Food and Health had a call for applications for a co-funded scholarship to attend the Universitas 21 Graduate research conference in Food at University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih & Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Mr Graham O Neill, a PhD student in the Institute of Food and Health was successful in that competition. This is the third research conference organised by and for postgraduate research students from across the U21 network. The topic “Food” represents an interdisciplinary topic that allows diverse and complementary research specialisms to contribute to solving some of the most important questions that face humankind. The conference allowed U21 postgraduate students to integrate science, engineering, health, social science, business and humanities into a themed series of talks, posters and networking activities during the conference. This included professional development activities on the nature and challenges of interdisciplinary research. The conference provided an inclusive, multi-disciplinary context to examine topics including: food shortage; food security; farming; cultural, historical and social issues; human health; transport and the environment

Mr Graham O Neill

Graham’s under graduate degree was in Food Science in the UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, where he graduated with an honours degree in 2009. Graham is now registered as a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Dolores O'Riordan researching the encapsulation of bioactive milk hydrolysate's for incorporation into foods. To be accepted into the the U21 conference ,Graham had to submit a research paper to the Conferencece organizers which was accepted. His paper will be included in the conference proceedings that are distributed to all participants at the conference.

If you would like further information on theointly awarded PhD or the exploratory scholarship , please contact:

Dr Emer Cunningham
UCD Graduate Studies
Email:  emer.cunningham@ucd.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 716 4047
www.ucd.ie/graduatestudies