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.

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.

Spring 2025 Call

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

The College will award Doctoral Bursaries to successful applicants who are registered for a doctoral degree (PhD/MD/Doctorate) in the College of Medicine and Health related to conference/course activities taking place between 1st October 2024 and 22nd September 2025.  

Student applicants can apply for:  

1. 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 [Travel Bursary].  

OR 

2. 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].  

Full details about Eligibility, How to Apply and an Application Form are available below. 

CoMH Doctoral Bursaries Guidelines (Spring 2025)

CoMH Doctoral Bursaries Application Form (Spring 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 use this email to ircgoiapplications@ucc.ie