TII Fellowship Programme

TII is committed to the development of longer-term research and, in April 2007, initiated a Research Fellowship Programme as an integral part of its on-going Research Strategy. The Programme enables universities and institutes to apply for financial support for PhD and post-doctoral programmes covering subjects that are relevant to the aims of TII. The Call for Proposals is specific to research topics identified by TII, although other topics outside those specified may be submitted for consideration. PhD programmes are normally three years while post-doctoral programmes can be one to three years in duration.

The first Call for Proposals for this programme was published in April 2007 and other Calls were also organised in subsequent years. The projects commissioned through the Research Fellowship Programme can be viewed on the TII website: see Research Profiles. It not intended to publish a Call every year: Calls will be initiated when a specific requirement is identified within TII.

Evaluation and Selection

Fellowships will be awarded to the academic institution following TII evaluation of the applications. Applications will be reviewed and assessed under the following headings:

The assessment of the projects will be co-ordinated by the TII Research Manager. Technical evaluation will be carried out by appropriate TII staff: external review may also be carried out at the discretion of TII. On the basis of this review, the submissions will be ranked and selected for inclusion in the programme.

Following this selection process, an initial meeting with the first ranked project team will be held to discuss the details of the project, clarify the project objectives and agree the project costs and timescales. TII may invite other interested parties to the meeting if appropriate. Following the meeting, the research proposal will be revised, as necessary. Note that projects will only be included in the programme if they conform to TII requirements in terms of quality, cost and timescale. TII may wish to re-assess the original submissions if this is felt appropriate.

Form of Submission

Submissions will be accepted from suitably qualified academic researchers in universities or other equivalent research institutions. The submissions will be made on a standard form devised by TII and will include the following:

• Description of project including objectives, justification, work plan and timescale;
• Methodology;
• Expected outcomes;
• Breakdown on funding;
• CVs of relevant staff (main applicant, supervisor, student, etc).

The application must be made in conjunction with a third level institution that has relevant experience and a proven track record in the selected area(s). The Fellowships will be supervised by appropriate experts in the post university/institute and by relevant TII personnel, where appropriate.

Submissions can include costs directly associated with setting up the project. An annual budget for each Fellowship comprising fixed stipend plus other acceptable costs will be provided as part of the application. It is expected that the stipend will be about €20,000 per annum for a PhD, and €40,000 for a post-doctoral Fellow. TII will consider varying this stipend to fit with recognised pay structures within individual institutions.

Acceptable costs might include:

• Student fees
• Equipment required to carry out the project
• Travel and subsistence for presentation of research results
• Conference fees (subject to the approval of TII)
• Overhead expenses incurred by the university/institute.

Further information

Please contact Albert Daly, Head of Research and Standards, at Albert.Daly@tii.ie