Postgraduate Doctoral Degrees

Students that excel in their undergraduate studies and enjoy their experience of research during their undergraduate training may want to continue their education by pursuing a PhD degree. Doctoral research allows students to probe a scientific problem at a very deep level and make an original contribution to advancing knowledge in a particular field. 

[This section will be updated shortly.]

Postgraduate Funding

Although the State funds undergraduate fees, postgraduate students are liable for their fees. Students can receive funding for their fees and maintenance from a number of different sources:

• Postgraduate Scholarship Support Scheme

Postgraduate Scholarships are awarded by the University under the Postgraduate Support Scheme. Students should contact their department to discuss these opportunities.

Full-time registered postgraduate degree students with a relevant first class honours or second class honours, grade 1, in their degree/higher diploma/results, qualifying for entry to the relevant Masters programme, are eligible to apply for scholarship support in the department where they are registered as postgraduates.

The scholarships are divided into different categories based on the total number of tutorial or demonstrating hours undertaken by the postgraduate student in the year. In addition, the student is often also granted a fee waiver. A student in receipt of a scholarship is not precluded from receiving a maintenance/non fee award from another agency such as Enterprise Ireland or Industry. Scholarships can be paid or supplemented from research grants.

For details of the exact amounts, rates, etc., please contact the department of interest. To avail of these awards, prospective students will have to apply through the relevant department as soon as possible but no later than mid-July. Students should contact the department to establish the exact deadline.

• Demonstrating and Tutorial work

Students who do not qualify for a scholarship in accordance with the above scheme or where scholarship funds are not available to the School, may be appointed to carry out demonstrating or tutorial responsibilities.
The current rates of pay for students for demonstrating and tutorial work are available from the School of Mathematical Sciences administrative office.

• Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme. Please visit http://www.research.ie/ for further details.

• SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) is Ireland’s single national awarding authority for all higher and further education grants, please visit https://susi.ie/eligibility/postgraduate-student for complete details.

• Awards from Research Grants

These are typically awarded to students pursuing a PhD degree. These grants are usually associated with a project, on which the student has to work as a research assistant. It is quite common for this work to lead to a thesis topic. Such grants typically include fee waivers. For further information about available positions, please contact the School of Mathematical Sciences.

• The Donal McCarthy Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Statistics

Dr. Donal McCarthy, who was President of UCC from 1967 to 1978, was a former Director of the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Central Statistics Office, Ireland has funded this scholarship to promote university research in the area of official statistics.
Applicants for this scholarship should have (at least) a Second Class Honours primary degree in Statistics or a related quantitative discipline, and have an interest in methodology for applications to Official Statistics (click here). Relevant topics would include survey sampling, multivariate methods, time series and small area estimation. The holder of the award will carry out research leading to the award of a postgraduate (MSc or PhD) degree. The scholarship is funded by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Opportunities will be provided to work on data from on-going projects of current interest to the CSO.
The scholarship shall be subject to the following conditions of award and tenure:

•     The award shall be known as "The Donal McCarthy Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Statistics".
•     The scholarship, which is currently valued at c. €10,000 is tenable at NUI, Cork, and is awarded to support full-time postgraduate studies in the area of official statistics.
•     The holder of the scholarship shall pursue research under the general direction of the Head of the Department of Statistics.
•     The holder of the scholarship shall be required to register for a higher degree (MSc or PhD).
•     The scholarship shall be tenable generally for one academic year, but may, subject to satisfactory progress, be extended for a maximum of three years.
•     A competition for the scholarship shall take place each year, with an application for renewal being considered together with applications from other candidates. Applications, comprising a curriculum vitae and the name of two referees, must be submitted to the Head of the Department of Statistics by 31st August each year.
•     The applications shall be considered by a Board comprising members of the Statistics Department and the Central Statistics Office. The award shall be made by the Academic Council on the recommendation of this Council.

• NUI Travelling Studentships - Please visit http://www.nui.ie/awards/travelling_Studentships.asp for complete details.