2020IRCEBP
2020 IRC Employment Based Programme (EBP)
The 2020 IRC Employment Based Programme has now opened.
EBP FAQs - 13.2.20
The EBP scheme welcomes applications from new entrants from any discipline - no thematic or subject limitations apply to proposed research projects. Those who apply may also be existing employees of the organisation.
For the first time the IRC has included an eligibility chart for part-time students (page 7 of T&Cs). Part-time students who registered as far back as September 2014 are eligible to apply.
Applicants to the 2020 GOI scheme are eligible to apply. If successful in the GOI they must withdraw from the EBP competition. All scholarships must start on 1st September 2020.
Important dates:
- Call opens - Thursday 16th January 2020
- FAQ deadline (& TORA to be updated)- 4pm (Irish time) Thursday 20th February 2020
- Applicant deadline - 4pm (Irish time) Thursday 27th February 2020
- Supervisor, employment mentor and referees deadline - 4pm (Irish time) Thursday 5th March 2020
- Research Office endorsement deadline - Thursday 12th March 2020
- Outcome of scheme - end of May 2020
- Scholarships commence - 1st September 2020
DCU-specific information (including the following) produced by the Graduate Studies Office is available in the staff resources section of the GSO website at the following link: https://www.dcu.ie/graduatestudies/info-supervisors.shtml#Doc-policy (see Section 8 Information on Postgraduate Scholarship Programmes/Funding Schemes). These resources may help with the Career Training and Development Plan and Data Management Plan sections of the application.
2020 EBP - invitation to employment partners
2020 EBP - information for potential applicants
2020 EBP - information for academic staff
2020 IRC Documentation:
Evaluation Criteria & Detail (Appendix 111, page 39 Guide for Applicants)
Assessment Board advice to applicants (Appendix IV, page 40 Guide for Applicants)
2020 Guide for Employment Mentors
Indicative Forms:
2020 Indicative form for Applicants
2020 Indicative form for Supervisors
2020 Indicative form for Referees
2020 Indicative form for Employment Mentors
See details of last year's FAQs below:
2019 EBP FAQs
See the following from the 2020 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 6.3, page 8)
- 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 (7.12, page 12)
- 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 (7.13, page 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 on the normal terms and conditions for salaried employees (7.9, page 11).
- Scholars must meet insititutional requirements for a structured programme (Appendix 1, page 31)
- 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. (see section 9.3, 9.4 pages 14,15)
- Teaching duties are only permitted in the second and subsequent years of the degree (9.13, page 16)
- Ethical approval (where required) is required before the scholarship can commence or where there is a delay to providing this evidence, consent must be sought from the Council before the Research Project may commence. (9.35, page 21)
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. 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 5th March 2020. 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 12th March 2020.