School of Policy and Practice PhD Scholarship

Dublin City University

Dublin City University (DCU) is a leading innovative European University. It is proud to be one of the world’s leading young universities and among the world’s top 2% globally. DCU is known as Ireland’s University of Impact, with a mission to ‘transform lives and societies’ and focuses on addressing global challenges in collaboration with key national and international partners and stakeholders. DCU has over 20,000 students in five faculties spread across three academic campuses in the Glasnevin-Drumcondra area of North Dublin. Thanks to its innovative approach to teaching and learning, the University offers a ‘transformative student experience’ that helps to develop highly sought-after graduates. DCU is currently No. 1 in Ireland for Graduate Employment Rate and for graduate income (CSO). DCU is a research-intensive University and is home to a number of SFI-funded Research Centres. The University participates in a range of European and international research partnerships. DCU is also the leading Irish university in the area of technology transfer, as reflected by licensing of intellectual property. As a ‘People First’ institution, DCU is committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - a University that helps staff and students to thrive. The University is a leader in terms of its work to increase access to education and is placed in the world’s Top 10 for reducing inequalities in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.

DCU School of Policy and Practice

The School of Policy and Practice, DCU Institute of Education, is characterised by high-impact national and international research, innovative teaching and learning, and extensive engagement with local, national, and international communities. Our staff and graduate students are nationally and internationally renowned experts in the areas of education policy and professional studies, consistently disseminating research via high-impact publications and securing competitive research funding through various funding schemes such as Horizon Europe, Erasmus Plus, SCOTENS and the Government of Ireland Shared Island initiative. Academics in the school contribute to a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and outreach programmes offered at DCU, in addition to authentic and collaborative partnerships with schools and other education stakeholders. The school is also home to a vibrant community of Irish and international research students and university research centres: CARPE (Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice); EQI (The Centre for Evaluation Quality and Inspection); FETRC (Further Education Training Research Centre) and Create21 (Centre for Collaborative Research Across Teacher Education). Finally, with civic and public engagement to the fore, the School of Policy and Practice also engages with local, national, and international organisations and communities via various initiatives such as the Partnership for Learning programme, the DCU Changemaker Schools, the Northern Ireland Shaped Professional Learning Network initiative, and Volunteer Ireland among others.

PhD Focus

The purpose of this PhD is to explore an aspect of education that is within the following thematic areas:

• Education in Divided Societies
• Educational Attainment, Poverty and Policy on the Island of Ireland
• Educational Policy and Practice
• The use of Learning Analytics for Educational Evaluation and Planning
• Educational Evaluation
• Culturally Responsive Education
• Evidence-Informed Practice and Data-Informed Decision Making
• Community-based Educational Evaluation and Planning

Thematic areas in line with the government of Ireland's shared Island initiative will also be considered.

The Role

We are seeking an excellent PhD applicant willing to carry out research from a multidisciplinary and/or comparative perspective in line with the identified thematic areas. The selected candidate will receive an annual non-taxable stipend of €22,000, with EU fees payable each year for a minimum of four years. The successful candidate will start their PhD no later than December 2024.

The successful candidate will be required to work full-time on their PhD by publication and to contribute to selected research and teaching activities. Please see Appendix A for information on PhD by publication.

The successful candidate’s specific duties will include:

• Undertaking research leading to a PhD;
• Producing academic papers and reports throughout the course of the PhD;
• Identifying and making funding applications for further research on related topics;
• Attending research meetings and producing reports based on the work or on other general work happening in the school or centre;
• Contribute to teaching relevant to particular expertise.

The selected candidate will be based at the School of Policy and Practice at DCU Institute of Education. To further enhance the PhD student’s profile and allow the PhD student to publish in high-impact journals with a network of internationally renowned researchers, the successful candidate will also be provided with data sets derived from existing projects such as Horizon Europe and Erasmus Plus.

Entry Requirements

Applicants should have a specialised interest in at least one of the thematic areas and have developed a research proposal that will lead to a research degree or PhD.  The successful candidate will be required to register for a full-time research degree (PhD) at DCU Institute of Education. This scholarship is open to EU fee-eligible applicants only. 

You will be required to provide supporting documentation to confirm your EU status before a decision on your fee status can be confirmed.  The successful candidate will be allocated a supervisory panel for the duration of their studies which will contain at least one primary supervisor and an Independent Panel member.  The successful applicant will meet the eligibility requirements of Postgraduate Research students at IoE, Dublin City University as follows:

PhD: Candidates holding an appropriate Master’s degree obtained by research may apply for direct entry to the PhD register to conduct research in a cognate area. 

PhD-track: Candidates with a taught Master’s degree in an appropriate discipline with first or second-class honours, and candidates with a primary degree in an appropriate discipline with first or second-class honours, grade one, may apply and be considered for entry to the PhD-track register with a view to proceeding towards a PhD. Such candidates will undergo a confirmation procedure, as outlined in the Academic Regulations, before being admitted to the PhD register.  

• Applicants should indicate if they have any additional stipend or alternative external sources of funding. DCU School of Policy and Practice scholars on an annual stipend of €22,000 cannot normally be in receipt of a concurrent scholarship or educational grant greater than €4,000 per annum during the period of their scholarship.

Application Guidelines

To Apply: 

Please email the following documents to ioe.pp@dcu.ie .   

• Cover letter 
• Full Curriculum Vitae 
• Copy of transcripts of qualifications 
• Research proposal – please use the Institute of Education Research Proposal Form available here

The closing date for receipt of application documentation is 12 midday GMT on Friday, 7^th of June 2024.

Interview Dates

Shortlisted applicants will be required to attend an interview in person or via Zoom if necessary.

Interviews will take place in the week beginning 17^th  of June 2024.

Informal inquiries can be sent to Dr. Martin Brown, Head of School of Policy and Practice ( martin.brown@dcu.ie ) with the subject heading: Your Name: PhD Scholarship Informal Inquiry.

Appendix A

PhD by Publication:

The PhD thesis by publication should consist of: a. a set of published papers and/or papers accepted for publication; and b. an accompanying set of chapters no less than 10,000 words in length which sets the papers in the context of existing literature, gives a detailed overview of the theme(s) common to all papers included in the thesis, argues the coherence of these publications, and justifies the methodology adopted. This overarching critical document should evaluate the contribution that the research in the submitted publications makes to the advancement of knowledge in the research area. The maximum word length of the thesis, including the accompanying set of chapters, selected papers, references and notes, is 90,000. Only peer-reviewed book chapters or papers (published journal papers or papers accepted for publication) in reputable peer-reviewed outputs for the discipline(s) in question can be considered for inclusion when a thesis is submitted for examination. 

A minimum of three papers is required; however, the number of papers may be higher and vary across disciplines, in the length of individual papers, and in terms of the extent of the candidate’s contribution thereto.