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Internal Funding Calls
Co-fund Scholarship Programme

SETU invites applications for SETU PhD/Research Masters Co-Fund Scholarship Programme on a 'Rolling Call' basis. Expressions of Interest can be submitted to the research office for consideration during the course of each semester. The purpose of which is to promote the exploration and application of knowledge. The scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis and research proposals should be aligned with SETU strategic objectives.

Co-fund Awards 

Awards will be made on the basis of excellence and subject to funding being available. SETU reserves the right not to award all scholarships. SETU welcomes applications from academic and research staff members interested in supervising PhD/Research Masters students to be funded under the PhD/Research Masters Co-Fund Scholarship Programme Rolling Call.

The overall purpose of this Co-Fund Scholarship programme is to:

  • Promote high quality research in line with the University's strategic objectives and the provision of research and development training for highly skilled graduates leading to the award of a PhD/Research Masters;
  • Support the increase in PhD numbers at SETU, in line with national priorities; and
  • Develop and build on our relationship with enterprise to enrich the pool of knowledge through collaboration and by enabling knowledge exchange with government departments and agencies, enterprise and civic society and other research performing organisations.

Under this programme successful applications will link excellent researchers, students and enterprise across all disciplines within the University. The scheme aims to facilitate collaborative, innovative projects with enterprise and to equip graduates with relevant skills. At the end of the project, the PhD/Research Masters researcher will gain workplace skills and a degree by research. The enterprise benefits from high value and in-depth research in an area closely aligned with their strategic interests.

Submit your expression of interest, full applications must be submitted within 3 weeks of an EOI.

  1. Enterprise Partners may be based anywhere in the world and include: an established business/company (including SMEs and MNCs), a registered charity, a social, cultural or not-for-profit or non-governmental organisation, a semi-state commercial organisation, a Government Department, statutory agency or a Research Performing Organisation (RPO) that will Co-Fund the researcher for the duration of the award.
  2. A public body is a public service body with specific scientific or cultural infrastructure that is integral to the conduct and completion of the proposed research.
  1. Applications from supervisory teams involving new supervisors are particularly welcome and will be reviewed favourably in line with the evaluation criteria and scoring, in order to continue to expand the research supervisory capacity of the University. In such cases, supervisory arrangements must comply with Postgraduate Research Degrees Regulations and Procedures.
  2. Those wishing to put forward a Co-Fund application are asked to complete an expression of interest form in advance of completing an application. Expressions of Interest should be submitted by supervisors and not by prospective students.
  3. As this is a Rolling call Expressions of interest (EOI) can be completed online. Completed application forms will be assigned to evaluation panels based on the categories selected on the EOI. All applicants must submit an EOI in order to be considered for full applications.
  4. Once called to apply, following a successful EOI,  full applications should be submitted to  the Research Office, within approximately 3 weeks. Download the Application Form. The upper limit is 11 pages excluding appendices (supervisor profiles, and reference list and letters of support, where applicable) and declaration sheet. The supervisor sheet may be duplicated to provide co-supervisor details, where applicable. Supervisor profiles must not exceed three pages, except for the Primary Supervisor we have allowed 4 pages.
  5. The evaluation panel will not consider project submissions which exceed the stated page limits and word counts, or those which do not use the application form template provided.
  6. An electronic copy of the completed full application form (using template provided) with relevant signatures is all that is required. The Email subject line should include the applicant’s name, followed by the name of the scholarship programme which you are applying for:
    • Option 1: SETU Co-Fund PhD *(Enterprise Partner contribution required) 
    • Option 2: SETU Co-Fund Research Masters *(Enterprise Partner contribution required) 

Prospective applicants may be interested to inspect the following documents: