Elite Sports Programme

Elite Sports Programme

The pursuit of excellence is part of the mission of University College Dublin. In sport, support for talented athletes is delivered at three levels, the UCD Sports Scholarship, the UCD Graduate Sports Scholarship and the UCD Ad Astra Academy Elite Sports Scholarship Programme.  

Whether you are a potential applicant to the UCD Ad Astra Academy Elite Sports Programme, an interested parent, or just browsing, we hope you will find the site informative and relevant. You should find everything you need here, from background information on the Ad Astra Academy through to application procedures, details on our current athletes and insights into their daily lives.

Our mission is simply "to maximise the potential of our sport athletes in their sporting and academic endeavours while studying at UCD", and the rest of this site explains the processes, people and facilities we have put in place to achieve this.

Yours in sport,

Professor Catherine Blake (Director)

Closing date for applications to the Ad Astra Elite Sports Scholarship closed on 31st January 2025 for entry in September 2025