The IRC Employment Based Programme (EBP) 2018

The 2018 IRC Employment Based Programme has now opened

EBP FAQs - 12th March 2018

Guide for Applicants

Evaluation Criteria & Detail

Assessment Board advice to applicants

2018 EBP Terms and Conditions

DCU-specific information produced by the Graduate Studies Office is available in Section 10.1 of the Information for Staff page on the GSO website.

The Irish Red Cross Health in Justice Programme will also co-support one 48-month PhD award under the scheme. The applicant should hold a Master’s degree in Psychology, Sociology or related subject and be willing to undertake a 4-year PHD programme:

Applicants interested in preparing an application under this co-funded strand should contact the Irish Red Cross directly with an expression of interest as soon as possible and in advance of submitting their application. The point of contact is: Carrie McGowan CMcGowan@redcross.ie The Irish Red Cross Health in Justice Programme will select which potential applications they will support.

The 2018 EBP scheme has a closing date of 16:00 (Irish time) on Thursday 12th April 2018. Applicants to the 2018 GOI scheme are eligible to apply as are those who will apply to the EPS scheme later in the year. (If successful in the GOI they must withdraw from the EBP competition).

The EBP scheme welcomes applications from new entrants (and continuing students - see section 4.5 of the T&Cs) from any discipline - no thematic or subject limitations apply to proposed research projects. Those who apply may also be existing employees of the organisation.

The aim of the scholarship (as per section 3.4 of the Terms & Conditions) is to:

- Embed the scholar in a professional research and innovation environment for training and development whilst simultaneously providing postgraduate education leading to a Masters by Research or PhD (3.4.1); and  facilitate research collaboration, knowledge transfer and networking between scholars & their host HEIs and Irish-based employers (3.4.2).

Notes from the Terms & Conditions:

- During the funding term scholars must exclusively spend all of their working time on the Research Project at Masters or PhD education level and on their Training & Career Development activities as per their Training & Career Development Plan (section 5.3)

- The Scholar's salary will be negotiated between the Scholar and the Employment Partner - the net salary must not be less than €16,000 p.a. or the graduate entry salary to the organisation (6.11)

- The Employment Partner is required to contribute a minimum of €8,000 p.a. - the Scholar should not be out of pocket due to having to commute between the Employment Partner and the HEI (6.12)

- Scholars must be primarily based with the Employment Partner and must be employed by the partner as a full-time employee either temporarily or permanently for the duration of the award. 

- Scholars must meet insititutional requirements for a structured programme (4.8; Appendix 1)

- For example only, a model of income and tax to be deducted is presented in Appendix 2 below

- The scholar must spend the minimum period of time in the host HEI that is necessary to meet the requirements to successfully complete their postgraduate research qualification. This time should be planned and agreed by the scholar, the host institution and the Employment Mentor (9.3)

- Ethical approval (where required) is required before the scholarship can commence or within three months of the start date (9.33)

Please note the following: 

•   ACADEMIC SUPERVISORS have to be pre-registered on the IRC online system if they haven’t been registered for previous schemes. They should email graduatestudiesoffice@dcu.ie for this to happen.
•    The EMPLOYMENT PARTNER (ie. the organisation) needs to be pre-registered on the IRC online system (by the CANDIDATE completing the ‘Request Enterprise Partner Registration’ form) if it hasn’t been registered for previous schemes. Only after the Employment Partner has pre-registered will the candidate be allowed to ADD the Employment MENTOR to their application, so there should be no delay in pre-registering the Employment Partner.
•  The EMPLOYMENT MENTOR and two REFEREES do not need to pre-register on the IRC online system.
• While Referees can submit their Referee form as soon as they have been added to an application, ACADEMIC SUPERVISORS and EMPLOYMENT MENTORS  can only complete their respective forms after the applicant has submitted their full application (by Thursday 12th April). The IRC online system will contact the nominated Employment Mentor using the email address on the application to notify them to complete their online form.
• Once the application has been submitted, Referee and Employment Mentor details can’t be changed.
• The deadline for Academic Supervisor, Employment Mentor (and two Referee) forms is 16:00 (Irish time) on Thursday 19^th April 2018. Neither an Academic Supervisor nor an Employment Mentor can act as one of the referees. The Graduate Studies Office then has to endorse the application by 16:00 (Irish time) on Thursday 26^th April 2018.

Important dates:

• Call opens - 1st February 2018
• FAQ deadline - 4pm (Irish time) 5th April 2018
• Applicant deadline - 4pm (Irish time) 12th April 2018
• Supervisor, employment mentor and referees deadline - 4pm (Irish time) 19th April 2018
• Research Office endorsement deadline - 26th April 2018
• Outcome of scheme - 25th June 2018
• Scholarships commence - 1st October 2018

2018 EBP Application Flowchart

Irish Red Cross Health in Justice Programme

Appendix 2 - an example of a model of income and tax to be deducted

2017 documentation:

2017 EBP Assessment board advice to applicants following 2016 scheme