Fellowships

The School of Music at UCD is a leading hub of musical research in Ireland and regularly hosts externally-funded postdoctoral fellows.

Current and Incoming Fellows

Dr Matthew Thomson, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023)
Mentor: Dr Frank Lawrence
Project Title: Courtly Song and Bodily Desire in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century France

Dr Kyle Kaplan, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2023)
Mentors: Dr Tomás McAuley (Music) and Professor Brian O’Connor (Philosophy)
Project Title: Intimate Critique: Henze, Adorno, and the Aesthetics of Recommitment

Fellowship Applications

The School of Music welcomes enquiries from scholars wishing to spend time at UCD on an externally funded fellowship. If UCD is able to host your application, you will get:

• support from an individual mentor or supervisor through the application process
• further School-level support through an internal review process
• access to additional support from UCD Research and Innovation, including tailored guidance documents

If your application is successful, you will join a friendly and diverse group of scholars and continue to benefit from individual mentorship throughout your time at UCD. You will also benefit from the sector-leading postdoctoral career development framework offered by UCD Research Skills & Career Development.

We run regular internal competitions to select applicants to support for the Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme (funded by the Irish Research Council) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme (funded by the European Commission). The deadline for this year's internal competition (for both schemes) was 19 January 2022. Details of that competition are, however, still available below, as a reference point for future years.

Enquiries relating to other externally funded schemes are welcome. Such schemes might include Leverhulme Study Abroad Studentships (for current UK residents), Wellcome Trust Early Career Awards, IRC Enterprise Partnerships, and other European Research Council or Irish Research Council funding schemes. If you wish to apply for such a scheme, please contact the faculty member you are most likely to work with as soon as possible, and at least ten weeks in advance of the funder's deadline.

UCD is committed to creating an inclusive environment where diversity is celebrated, and everyone is afforded equality of opportunity. To that end the university adheres to a range of equality, diversity, and inclusion policies. We welcome applications from everyone, including those who identify with any of the protected characteristics that are set out in the aforementioned policies. The University continues to affirm its commitment to addressing racism and discrimination and the College of Arts and Humanities EDI Committee has released a statement in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Government of Ireland and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

We are no longer accepting applications for support for this year's competition, as the internal deadline of 20 October 2022 (5pm Irish time) has passed.

Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowships

Please note that the information presented here is provisional, based on details of the most recent round, as the next round of this scheme has not yet formally opened.

The Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme allows fully-funded fellowships of either one or two years. One-year fellowships allow opportunity to develop publications from your PhD. Two-year fellowships allow opportunity to develop either a new project or a project that expands significantly on your PhD. The salary for Fellows starting in 2023 is €40,023, rising to €40,583 in the second year of two-year fellowships, with a €5000 p/a research allowance.

Applicants should have been awarded their PhD within the 5 years leading up to 31 May 2023 (the date of graduation is used for this purpose). Applications are permitted from final year dissertation students, as long as the PhD is due to be completed, including submission of corrected thesis, by 31 May (it is not necessary to have graduated in this instance). There are no prior nationality or residency requirements. The average success rate in recent years has been around 15%. More information is available at: http://research.ie/funding/goipd/

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

Please note that the information presented here is also provisional, based on details of the most recent round, as the next round of this scheme has not yet formally opened. Please note also that Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships offer a greater number of fellowship routes and eligibility options than do GOIPD Fellowships. We therefore advise that you check carefully your eligibility against the details provided directly by the European Commission (see links provided below).

European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions allow fully-funded fellowships for one to three years. The purpose of the fellowships is to “support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research,” targeting researchers “who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers.” This is usually achieved (in a university setting) through the completion of an individual research project under the supervision of an experienced academic. The key eligibility requirement is some kind of international mobility. There are two schemes:

European Fellowships: For researchers wishing to move from any country to the relevant EU member state or associated country (in this case, Ireland). Researchers would stay at UCD for a period of 12-24 months.

Global Fellowships: Allow an outgoing phase of 12-24 months in an institution in a “third country” (not an EU member state or associated country), followed by a 12-month “return period” to an EU or associated country institution (in this case, UCD).

In practice, European Fellowships are suitable for researchers wishing to move to Ireland from any other country. Global Fellowships are suitable for researchers wishing to spend time in Ireland and another country. Current Irish residents wishing to spend time at UCD through a Marie Skłodowska-Curie action would be eligible only for the Global Fellowship route.

Applicants should have been awarded their PhD within eight years of the Marie Curie deadline. Those who have successfully defended the thesis but not yet formally received the award of PhD are also eligible to apply. Career breaks and “experience outside research” do not count towards the eight-year maximum, nor does time spent in third countries by EU / associated country nationals or by long-term residents who wish to reintegrate into EU / associated country research.

The fellowship comes with the following monthly stipends (subject to the usual tax and pension deductions):

• Living Allowance: €6071 when in Ireland (Marie Skłodowska-Curie stipend of €5080 per month, adjusted to 119.5% of this amount by a standard EU formula designed to reflect differences in living costs in different countries; a different country-specific adjustment would be applied if spending time in a third country as part of a global fellowship)
• Mobility Allowance: €600
• Family Allowance (where applicable): €660

An overview of the relevant information is available here, and further details (with information relating to the 2023 call) are available here.

Application Procedure

We are selecting applicants for both schemes as part of a single competition. You are welcome to apply for support for only one scheme of your choosing or for both schemes together. Please note, however, that it is not possible to apply for more than one type of fellowship within each scheme (for example, to apply for both a one-year and a two-year GOIPD fellowship).

Successful applicants for both schemes are likely to have at least one significant peer-reviewed publication. For the purposes of this internal competition in particular, we are happy to hear about work that is forthcoming or in press – please simply list this appropriately on your CV. There should be an excellent fit between your research and that of a potential mentor or pair of co-mentors (see faculty research profiles here: https://www.ucd.ie/music/about/faculty/). Please note that Professor Harry White is not available to act as mentor for these competitions and that Professor Thérèse Smith is available as mentor only for one-year projects. In the case of interdisciplinary projects, you are welcome to suggest co-mentors from outside of the School of Music.

If you would like UCD to consider hosting an application, please send the following as a single PDF document to music@ucd.ie by 5pm Irish time on 17 January 2024.

• A covering note detailing which exact scheme or schemes you wish to apply for and confirming that you meet the essential eligibility criteria with regard to mobility (Marie Skłodowska-Curie) and time since PhD (Marie Skłodowska-Curie and GOIPD). If you intend to apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship, please also indicate which global partner you would intend to include, and whether you have yet been in contact with that institution.
• CV
• A short summary (1000 to 2000 words) of your proposed research project, to include aims and/or objectives, central research questions, and methodology.
  • If applying for a one-year GOIPD fellowship, this summary is likely to cover the overall scope of your dissertation, but should also include details of the specific publications you wish to work on arising from your dissertation.
  • If applying for both a Marie Skłodowska-Curie and an GOIPD fellowship for a substantially similar project, only one such summary is required. You may, however, take the summary as referring primarily to the proposed GOIPD application, and add an optional additional statement (up to 500 words) detailing how a Marie Skłodowska-Curie application would depart from this.
  • If applying for Marie Skłodowska-Curie and GOIPD fellowships for substantially different projects, you may include two summaries of 1000 to 2000 words each.
• A short description (up to 350 words) of how your work would fit with that of a potential mentor (or mentors) and, where applicable, with other members of the School or University. Again, please note the importance attached to this fit.

We recognise the competing time pressures of early career scholars and seek to keep this internal selection process as simple as possible. As such, we do not require a cover letter, writing sample, or any other materials. We are also happy at this stage for considerable flexibility in length of summary research proposal, to allow you to reuse other materials as easily as possible. As long as that proposal stays within the range specified above, its length will not be taken into account in the selection process. You are welcome to contact informally a potential mentor in advance of the above deadline, but are not at all obliged to do so.

Other enquiries may be sent to Dr Tomás McAuley (tomas.mcauley@ucd.ie). Please note that we are unable at this stage to provide general advice on whether there is a suitable mentor in the School. We would advise instead that potential applicants review individual faculty interests and contact the best-matched potential mentor directly in the case of any doubt.