Doctoral Student Conference/Course Bursaries

Twice a year, in Autumn and again in Spring, the Graduate Studies Committee in the College of Medicine and Health invites applications for Travel Bursaries or Registration Bursaries from students registered for a doctoral degree (PhD/MD/Doctorate) in the College of Medicine and Health.

Application Guidelines - Autumn 2025

Graduate Studies in the College of Medicine and Health are now inviting applications for the Autumn 2025 call.

It is envisaged that the College will award up to 10 Doctoral Bursaries to CoMH students registered for a doctoral degree (PhD/MD/Doctorate), to cover activities taking place between 1st October 2025 and 21st September 2026. 

The purpose of these awards is twofold:

• To facilitate students who wish to present their work at an international conference.
• To facilitate the training of students who wish to acquire skills that are essential for their academic development, but which they cannot otherwise receive in UCC.

Student applicants can apply for:

• Up to €1000 in financial support that may be used towards the cost of travel, accommodation and registration fees for relevant conferences or training courses or research-critical travel* [Travel Bursary]. 

• Or up to €500 in financial support that may be used towards the registration fees for relevant online participation at conferences or training courses [Registration Bursary].

*Research-critical travel refers to trips that are directly necessary for the progress of the doctoral project and cannot reasonably be achieved without travel. Examples include accessing unique clinical/research material, use of specialist laboratories, facilities, or equipment not available locally. General networking or optional study visits will not normally be eligible.

Further details and guideline can be found by clicking on CoMH Doctoral Bursary Guidelines Autumn 2025

and the application form can be found here CoMH Doctoral Bursary Application Form Autumn 2025

Please note that all applications must be submitted by 5pm on Friday 7th November 2025.

Research Funding Opportunities

Research funding may be sought from the national funding bodies, mainly the Health Research Board (HRB), the Irish Research Council (IRC), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the National University of Ireland and the Universities Ireland North/South Scholarship scheme; from international funding bodies, including the European Commission through the Horizon Europe programme, Wellcome, and the US National Institute of Health (NIH) (subject to eligibly of any particular grant), and through charities and societies in a particular disease or research area, such as and The Irish Cancer Society and Breakthrough Cancer Research. 

These funding bodies put out calls (grants) for proposals which may be ‘top-down’, where the research idea is predetermined in order to address a particular policy or grand challenge, or ‘bottom-up’, where you are free to propose any research idea. Calls may or may not be aimed at a particular career stage. They may for open to a single applicant or an applicant team (consortium). For example, Fellowships are for single applicants and focus of the individual’s career development as much as the research idea.  

Keep an eye on the websites for open and upcoming calls. Also check out Research Professional, a very useful one-stop-shop where you can find all available grants from every funding body or society.   

The funding landscape is complicated and difficult to navigate, so don’t hesitate to contact the research support team at research@ucc.ie.

Relevant current and forthcoming grants

IRC queries will be dealt with by OVPRI. Please email ircgoiapplications@ucc.ie