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Call for PI-led Applications for a Trinity Research Doctorate Award (TRDA) 2025-26 linked to the Trinity / National Parks & Wildlife Service Project

Introduction

Applications are now sought for 1 new Trinity Research Doctorate award (TRDA) linked to the National Parks and Wildlife Service funded project Transforming Trinity’s Herbarium (PI: Peter Moonlight). This is an eight-year project that will fully digitise and image the collections in Trinity’s herbarium and secure the futures of the collections for the future, and Trinity has committed to funding a total of three PhD studentship awards over the lifetime of the project. The TRDA in 2025-26 is being offered to fund a research doctorate that will make significant use of and enhance the collections of the Trinity herbarium and support the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030.

The Trinity herbarium is the most significant global collection of specimens of dried plants, algae, and fungi in Ireland, with specimens dating back to approximately 1750. It is accompanied by one of Europe’s most complete botanical libraries, and archives relating to the collections. Applications are welcomed that make use of any aspect of the herbarium’s holdings. If you wish to discuss the holdings of the herbarium, please contact Dr Peter Moonlight (moonligp@tcd.ie).

The TRDA will cover tuition fees (either EU or non-EU) for the recruited student for four years (full-time), as well as providing an annual stipend of €25,000. No additional funding is available to cover research or travel costs and students are liable for non-tuition fee-related charges (e.g., SLC charge, IRP costs).

The call to is open to Early Career Researchers (appointed in or since 2021/22) across all disciplines in the university and is intended to support those who are seeking to recruit their first or second doctoral student as principal supervisor.

Conditions of the Award

• Staff member appointed in or since the academic year 2021/22 and eligible to act as principal supervisor for a research doctorate student under current Calendar regulations.
• Recruit new entrants to the full-time research doctorate register (EU and nonEU) in the academic year 2025-26 (September / March register)
. 
• The student must register for a full-time research doctorate degree at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin.
• Both the doctorate researcher and supervisor(s) will agree to participate in the Trinity’s Supervisor - Research Student Agreement.
 
• The TRDA cannot continue beyond a fourth year on the full-time research doctorate register and cannot be split across doctorate researchers.
 
• The successful PIs will not be in receipt of any other Trinity Research Doctorate Award allocated in 2025-26.

Co-supervision is encouraged, and in line with College regulations, a Thesis Committee will be required to be put in place for all students. Awards will be made on a competitive basis and continuation of funding is contingent on satisfactory student progress, which must be reviewed and reported annually.

The allocation of the awards across the two categories is subject to the final decision of the Evaluation Panel.

Making an Application

Each application will be expected to identify how the research will enhance the collections of the Trinity herbarium and support the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030. Applicants may make submissions to other TRDA categories of award, but if successful, will be awarded under one category only.

Priority will be given to supervisors who are not currently in receipt of a PI-based or School-based TRDA. If a student is in receipt of other additional funding (internal or external), the total stipend received by the student cannot exceed a total stipend ceiling of €25,000 per annum.

Application Form for Trinity Research Project Awards: Trinity Herbarium

Evaluation Scheme for Applications

The purpose of the scheme is fourfold. First, it is aimed at rewarding and encouraging excellence of research; second, it seeks to galvanise and enhance the research trajectories and career development of early-career academics and, ideally, to be a ‘game-changer’ for them; third it is aimed at ensuring that Trinity can attract the very best PhD students; and fourth, it seeks to enhance the collections of the Trinity herbarium and support the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030. The evaluation scheme for applications, detailed below, reflects these broad policy concerns.

As will be outlined in the application form, applicants are asked to submit the following:

i. A detailed statement of the proposal in question (max 1,500 words). In this section, applicants should outline their proposal in more detail in the style appropriate to their discipline. The evaluation panel is particularly concerned with (a) the innovative nature of the proposal and its overall significance, and (b) the potential for research outputs and impact arising from the proposal. Due to character restrictions in MS Forms, please upload your proposal in a .pdf format not exceeding 1,500 words.

ii. A lay abstract of the proposal in question (max 400 words). Applicants should be conscious that it is entirely possible that their proposal will be reviewed at all stages by someone who is not located in their discipline or familiar with their field of research. The lay abstract should ensure that the proposal is comprehensible and accessible to people who have no knowledge of the relevant field and evidence consideration has been given to the project’s contribution towards enhancing our local and global social and sustainability ambitions.

iii. Explain how the proposed PhD thesis will enhance the collections of the Trinity herbarium and support the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030 (max 250 words).

iv. The role of and impact for the student (max 200 words). In this section, applicants should focus on the way a student funded under such an award will be involved in the project and the extent to which such involvement will be of benefit to them beyond merely funding to support their PhD study.

v. A brief CV (100 words) and a statement of the impact that an award would have on the applicant’s research trajectory (max 200 words). One of the policy imperatives behind this award scheme is to enhance research careers of applicants who are at the early stage of building their research team and profile. The ideal is that these awards can act as game-changers for the research trajectories of successful PIs. Thus, applicants are asked to outline in this section the reasons why they, personally, would be appropriate recipients of an award given this policy imperative.

vi. A statement of current and future (over the next five years) research funding of which the applicant is or will be in receipt (max 200 words). This information is sought for two reasons. First, reviewers may consider it as one of the many relevant factors in assessing the degree of impact that one of these awards may have on an applicant’s career. Second, some projects will involve significant infrastructural or consumable costs that cannot be covered under the scheme, and it is important, in deciding on such an application, that the evaluation panel is confident that this additional funding is in place.

Evaluation Criteria

The applications will be scored out of a total of 100 marks and allocated across four categories as follows:

i. 25 marks for the quality of research design and methodology.

ii. 35 marks for research impact including overall significance and degree of innovation of the project.

iii. 20 marks for evidence related to the impact of an award on the PI/Supervisor’s research trajectory.

iv. 20 marks for evidence related to the impact of an award on the student’s research trajectory.

Evaluation Process

All completed applications will be reviewed and scored by an evaluation panel to include the Chair of Botany, Trinity’s Vice-President for Biodiversity and Climate Action, and a representative of the NPWS. Final selection will be carried out by the same panel as well as the Dean of Research and chaired by the Dean of Graduate Studies.

Timelines

Applications will open on Friday, November 1, 2024 with the final date for receipt of completed applications on Friday, January 24, 2025. Late applications will not be considered. It is expected that the results of the application process will be known by end of March 2025. Applicants will be contacted thereafter, and the list of successful applicants will be published on the Graduate Studies Office website.

Process following a Successful Application

Successful applicants may, immediately after being notified of this fact, start to look for a PhD student to be funded under this award. PIs are encouraged to advertise as widely as possible.

An award may only be used to fund a new entrant on the PhD register (in other words, it may not be used to fund the duration of the studies of an existing PhD student), eligible to register in September 2025 or March 2026.

Responsibility for the recruitment of the PhD student to a particular project lies with the PI on the project (subject to the fact that discretion as to whether to admit any student to the PhD register rests with the relevant discipline/school and ultimately with the Dean of Graduate Studies). Where a student who has been recruited to the project is, for whatever reason, unable to continue to be in receipt of such funding (for example because they discontinue on the PhD register/obtains alternative external funding) then the PI may recruit another PhD student (including an existing new entrant whom they are supervising) for the remaining duration of the four-year award. If the PI is unable to continue to work with the student (for example if the PI leaves the university), then the funding will remain with the student and the School may transfer them to a new supervisor.

In the highly unlikely event that a successful PI is unable to recruit a PhD student to the project in question then the PI may apply to the Dean of Graduate Studies to defer the award for one year. The decision as to whether or not to do so rests with the Dean.

For the avoidance of doubt, the operation of the Trinity Research Doctorate Award scheme is distinct from and does not affect any other funding schemes within the university (for example Gratton, Hamilton, Kinsella Challenge-based Awards etc).

Obligations of Successful Applicants

Successful applicants will be expected to report annually outlining the progress of the research project and work with Trinity Development & Alumni (TDA) and Trinity Communications to support interested alumni and support research student developments within the University.

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