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School of Law

Postgraduate Research Scholarship Opportunities

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Trinity Postgraduate Research Award

Applicants to the PhD programme at the School of Law to commence in September 2025 are eligible to be in consideration for a Trinity Research Doctorate Award (TRDA). This award comes with a stipend of €25,000 per year and fees write-down for the four years (full-time) of a Structured PhD programme as offered by the School of Law.

The conditions of the award are:

  • Open only to new entrants to the full-time research doctorate register (EU and non-EU).
  • The holders must engage in full-time research and must register for a research doctorate degree at Trinity College, the University of Dublin.
  • Continuation on the research register is dependent on evidence of satisfactory annual progress and successful completion of the confirmation process at 18 months after first registration.
  • Both the doctorate researcher and supervisor will agree to participate in the pilot Trinity’s Supervisor: Research Student Agreement.
  • TRDAs cannot continue beyond a fourth year on the full-time research doctorate register and cannot be split across doctorate researchers.

Award Criteria & Timeline

This award will be highly competitive. Normally postgraduate awards will be made only to applicants who are placed in the first class at a moderatorship or final examination or who obtained equivalent status at a final degree examination in a professional subject, and in a Masters degree. The guiding criteria for the award are:

  • formal academic results to date
  • PhD research proposal's cogency and promise
  • academic and intellectual achievement outside of formal results
  • academic and intellectual achievement relativised to candidate's circumstances

Applications

To be in consideration for the TRDA. You must make your application for this award in conjunction with your Ph.D. application. This process is done online using tcd.ie/courses. Applicants should fully complete the application process at tcd.ie/courses and additionally submit a personal statement (max 400 words) indicating why they should receive this award to law.postgraduate@tcd.ie by 15 May 2025. The personal statement should include::

  • Full name
  • TCD Application number
  • Supervisor name
  • PhD Research title
  • Personal statement (max 400 words)

Candidates are informed of the outcome of their application from June onwards. Further information is available at Graduate Studies website.


Above, Postgraduate Research Student Scholarship Recipients 2023-24

Scholarships of Limited Application

Frances E. Moran Research Studentship

This studentship is offered by the Trinity Trust for research in any area of Irish, European or international law . The grant will normally be of one year’s duration. The successful candidate will be required to register for the degree of Ph.D. or M.Litt. The successful candidate may be required to assist with tutorial work in the Law School for four hours per week. Applications should be addressed to the Director of Teaching and Learning (Postgraduate). Value: Ph.D. or M.Litt. fees for the year will be paid, together with a tax-free stipend of €1,841 – €2,222.

All new successful applications will automatically be considered in our application review for this studentship. Continuing students who wish to apply for this studentship will receive a call to apply directly by the School of Law in April 2025.

John A. Boland Memorial Scholarship (Law):

The John Boland memorial prize was founded in 2007 by subscription in memory of John Boland (LL.B., M.A., Barrister-at-Law, 1954), former U.K. Public Trustee, who founded the UK Trust for TCD (then called 'The London Trust for TCD'), and who was a very loyal graduate serving Trinity in many capacities. The Prize is awarded annually by the U.K. Trust for Trinity College Dublin for a new incoming research postgraduate student in Law. Award to be decided on the basis of merit in application and all new successful applications will automatically be considered in our application review for this scholarship. Value: €1,000 p.a.

Government of Ireland Scholarships 2025/26

The Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship (GOI-IES) programme supports high-calibre international students who wish to study at master’s or PhD level in Ireland. The programme is funded by the Government of Ireland in partnership with Irish higher education institutions and managed by the Higher Education Authority. Under the initiative, 60 scholarships are awarded each year for one year of full-time study at master’s or PhD level.

The programme is open to applicants studying in any field. The offer is open to students from non-EU/EEA countries and is applicable to all fields of study.

Students who are successful will receive:

  • A €10,000 stipend for one year’s study
  • A full fee waiver of all tuition and other registration costs at the higher education institution for one year.

    • The deadline for the submission of applications is 5pm (Irish time) 5 March 2025.

    The Application Process

    Applicants are required to be in possession of a conditional or final offer for admission to Trinity at the time of application for the scholarship and will be required to submit a copy of offer letter when applying for Government of Ireland Scholarship. We suggest you apply to Trinity College Dublin by 6 February 2025 if you are considering applying for the Government of Ireland Scholarship. This will allow us time to review your application. We cannot guarantee applications submitted after this date will be reviewed in time.

    Applications should be submitted by the individual student applicants and not by host Institutions.

    The postgraduate course application should be submitted via this portal.

    The closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm Irish time on 5 March 2025.

    Late applications will not be accepted.

    This is an external scholarship, the School of Law cannot advise on application processes and outcomes.

    Further information on the evaluation criteria and assessment process can be

    found here.