Introduction
The postgraduate community in the Department of Computer Science is central to our research, and we are committed to expanding the department's role in attracting and graduating high-quality researchers. We're looking for bright students who have achieved high marks in their undergraduate degree. This is typically a first-class honours in Computer Science or a closely-related discipline, although students with a second class honours primary degree can also be considered. Typically, a research MSc. takes between one and two years, and a PhD. takes three or four years. A student will usually register for an MSc. initially, and can then transfer to the PhD. register after a year, based upon satisfactory progress. At present our research degrees do not involve coursework.
How to Apply
The first step is to identify a potential supervisor. This involves deciding on a general research area that you're interested in, and to contact a member of the department's staff that's working in that area. The best approach is to look through the staff web pages and the list of Research Groups/Projects in the department.
When you have identified a member of staff that is a potential supervisor, you should email him or her: tell them a little bit about your background and what you're interested in researching. Establishing a dialogue with a potential supervisor is an essential first step; the staff member will then be able to guide you through the rest of the process.
Financial Assistance
Research postgraduates are typically (though not exclusively) funded during their research. Support varies depending on the source, but at best, funding can include payment of fees, a salary and travel expenses. Note that all funding programmes are highly competitive, and most are contingent on the applicant securing high marks in their primary degree.
There are four main possibilities for funding:
- A staff member may have secured funding themselves; usually this varies considerably from one person to the next, and from one year to the next. Typically many of us will be seeking funding throughout the year, and so the exact state of funding may not be clear until late Spring.
- You can get funding yourself, through the national IRCSET/Embark programme. This is more student-oriented, and is quite competitive - you'd need to be at or near the top of your class. Some details are on the IRCSET main page. IRCSET usually invite applications in Jan/Feb, with results in late March. The ideal would be for you to have contacted a potential supervisor by then, and to seek their advice when filling out the application.
- NUI Maynooth runs its own funding programme; more details on this are available from the NUIM Graduate Studies web page.
- In certain situations, local authorities in Ireland may pay postgraduate fees and/or provide maintenance support. One good indication might be if they have provided support for your undergraduate degree. This is essentially external to us, so you should contact your own local authority directly to see if there are any opportunities.
Closing Date
Applications for entry to the Ph.D. programme may be made at any time but, as we mentioned above, your potential supervisor will be able to guide you through this. The academic year starts in September, and if you're thinking of a research degree, you should contact a potential supervisor as soon as possible to maximise you chance of getting funding.
Enquiries
For further information, you can contact Dr. John McDonald, who is the research postgraduate coordinator for the Department of Computer Science.
More information is also available from the NUI Maynooth Graduate Studies web page.
