Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarships

Two UCD Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarships for 2026 - Applications Now Open!

Deadline: Friday 6th February 2026 at 5pm Dublin time

The School of Politics and International Relations (SPIRe) at University College Dublin is pleased to offer two new fully-funded Ad Astra doctoral scholarships.
One is on a project that broadly engages with themes related to environmental and climate-related risk, response, or resilience.
The other is on a project broadly related to authoritarian politics.

Each scholarship will provide:

• Tuition fees at up to the non-EU rate;
• A yearly stipend of €25,000; and
• An annual research budget of €4,000 for research-related expenses such as data collection, attending conferences, etc.

The scholarships are tenable for a maximum of four years, renewable each year subject to satisfactory progress. The scholarships are available on a full-time basis only.

Timeframe

The deadline for submission of applications is 5pm Dublin time on Friday, 6th February 2026.

Entries beyond the application deadline will not be considered.

Eligibility

• Applications are open to candidates interested in either of the following programmes:
  
  
  • PhD Politics and International Relations
  • PhD Quantitative and Computational Social Science (only with a SPIRe supervisor)

• Continuing students, students with a non-September start, students with a supervisor outside of SPIRe or students transferring only part of their PhD studies to UCD are not eligible for the scholarship.
• Applicants must have a minimum grade of 2.1 (GPA: 3.6) in a relevant Master's degree.
• Applicants who have not yet completed a Master's degree are eligible to apply but the award will be conditional upon a final minimum grade of 2.1. For applicants not currently holding an MA degree, the quality of the research proposal is particularly important.

SPIRe is the oldest and largest school of its kind in the Republic of Ireland. According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023, UCD School of Politics and International Relations is ranked in the top 100 in the world. It is a dynamic, growing, multi-faceted and highly-international school offering an exciting and professionally-valuable environment for academic development. Our staff are engaged in cutting-edge research across the whole spectrum of political science.  

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UCD Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarship: Environmental and Climate-Related Risk

This scholarship engages with themes related to environmental and climate-related risk, response, or resilience.

Applications are invited for projects that assess vulnerability; evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation and resilience-building interventions; analyse the political dynamics of environmental governance; or map the role of various actors (e.g., states, international organizations, civil society, private sector entities, etc.) in addressing climate and environmental insecurity. Proposals related to the climate-conflict nexus, climate-related displacement, early warning systems, or data-driven evaluations of climate policy and program effectiveness are also welcome.

Proposed projects should be empirically grounded and methodologically rigorous. Quantitative, computational, or mixed-method approaches are particularly encouraged, including but not limited to geospatial analysis, machine learning, predictive modelling, and causal inference techniques relevant to environmental or climate vulnerabilities.

Applicants may pursue the PhD in Quantitative and Computational Social Science (QCSS) or the PhD in Politics and International Relations. The intended track must be clearly specified in the application materials.

The successful candidate will undertake a PhD under the supervision of (opens in a new window)Dr. Elisa D’Amico, starting in September 2026.

Application Procedure

Applicants must fill out and submit the Application Form below.

The following documents will be required as part of the application form submission.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.  Please do not include any unrequested documents such as passport pages, birth certs, etc. 

• Brief Cover letter, stating reasons for interest in the SPIRe PhD programme (1-2 pages maximum).  

• Thesis proposal   (2,000 words maximum, excluding bibliography) which should include the following:

• • a statement of your proposed focus area within the broader theme of environmental and climate-related risk, response, or resilience
  • a brief literature review that points to work on which the proposed focus could build and on the research gaps which the proposal is going to address
  • a brief discussion of the proposed methodology

• Copies of Academic Transcripts   (Undergraduate and Postgraduate)

• C.V. or Resumé   (2 pages maximum)

• Evidence of English language competence
  Non-native English speaking applicants must provide a cert from one of the examining bodies listed on this page.
  The certificate should be no more than 2 years old and must meet the minimum requirements as noted on the above webpage.
  Certificates from examining bodies not on this list or that do not meet the UCD minimum requirements will not be considered.
  
  If you have obtained a degree from a university in an English-speaking country, you are exempt from having to provide an English certificate.

• Two academic referees: You are required to include the contact details of two academic referees, who have agreed to provide a reference, on the google form. If your application is successful, we will be contacting your referees to obtain references. 
  

Specific questions can be addressed to Dr. Elisa D’Amico ((opens in a new window)elisa.damico@ucd.ie)

Questions regarding the application process should be addressed to Ms Dara Gannon ((opens in a new window)dara.gannon@ucd.ie)

(opens in a new window)Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarship Application Form: Environmental and Climate-Related Risk

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UCD Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarship: Authoritarian Politics

This scholarship engages with themes broadly related to authoritarian politics.

Potential study areas could include, but are not limited to: authoritarian legitimation and propaganda; disinformation; media and censorship; elite behaviour; public opinion; authoritarian diffusion and learning; democratization and autocratization; and personalist rule.

Proposed projects should be empirically grounded and theoretically and methodologically rigorous. Quantitative, computational, or mixed-method approaches are particularly encouraged, including but not limited to natural language processing, machine learning, survey experiments, and network analysis. Projects using other appropriate and innovative methodologies will also be considered. 

The successful candidate will undertake a PhD under the supervision of (opens in a new window)Dr. Nikita Khokhlov, starting in September 2026.

Application Procedure

Applicants must fill out and submit the Application Form below.

The following documents will be required as part of the application form submission.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.  Please do not include any unrequested documents such as passport pages, birth certs, etc. 

• Brief Cover letter, stating reasons for interest in the SPIRe PhD programme (1-2 pages maximum).  

• Thesis proposal   (2,000 words maximum, excluding bibliography) which should include the following:

• • a statement of your proposed focus area a statement of your proposed focus area within the broader theme of authoritarian politics
  • a brief literature review that points to work on which the proposed focus could build and on the research gaps which the proposal is going to address
  • a brief discussion of the proposed methodology

• Copies of Academic Transcripts   (Undergraduate and Postgraduate)

• C.V. or Resumé   (2 pages maximum)

• Evidence of English language competence
  Non-native English speaking applicants must provide a cert from one of the examining bodies listed on this page.
  The certificate should be no more than 2 years old and must meet the minimum requirements as noted on the above webpage.
  Certificates from examining bodies not on this list or that do not meet the UCD minimum requirements will not be considered.
  
  If you have obtained a degree from a university in an English-speaking country, you are exempt from having to provide an English certificate.

• Two academic referees: You are required to include the contact details of two academic referees, who have agreed to provide a reference, on the google form. If your application is successful, we will be contacting your referees to obtain references. 
  

Specific questions can be addressed to Dr. Nikita Khokhlov ((opens in a new window)nikita.khokhlov@ucd.ie)

Questions regarding the application process should be addressed to Ms Dara Gannon ((opens in a new window)dara.gannon@ucd.ie)

(opens in a new window)Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarship Application Form: Authoritarian Politics