Applicants are selected on the basis of their academic record; their basic clinical skills and potential; their research skills; and their personal suitability for the role of clinical psychologist.

Academic requirements.

Applicants for the course must hold an honours degree in psychology or an honours diploma in psychology making them eligible for graduate membership of The Psychological Society of Ireland or the British Psychological Society. In judging academic suitability for the programme, account is taken of the honours grade of the primary degree and also of additional degrees in related fields such as counselling or health psychology.

Relevant clinical experience requirements.

Applicants must have at least a year’s relevant clinical experience during which they have developed the basic clinical skills required for establishing working relationships with clients or patients on the one hand and professional colleagues on the other. Clinical skills and potential are judged by taking into account the way in which candidates have made use of the opportunities available to them to engage in relevant clinical experiences. Work as a psychological assistant, a care assistant, a nursing assistant, a research assistant on a clinical research project, or a post-graduate research degree where the project was conducted in a clinical area are typical examples of the types of experience that are considered to be relevant in this context. Completion of short courses and workshops which have contributed to the development of clinical skills are also taken into account in judging clinical skill and potential.

Research skills.

An applicant's research skills are taken into account in judging their suitability for the programme. In judging research skills, account is taken of completion of clinical or other research projects as part of postgraduate degrees; participation in clinical research projects; publication of research reports; presentation of research at conferences; development of computing skills; and of qualifications obtained in related fields such as research psychology or statistics.

Personal suitability for the role of clinical psychologist and working in health service organisations.

An applicant's personal characteristics relevant to the role of clinical psychologist and working in health service organisations are taken into account in judging their suitability for the programme. These include a knowledge of the role of psychologists within the HSE and other health service organizations; a commitment to public service provision; potential for developing a capacity for self-reflection; and potential for developing interpersonal skills essential for working in health service organizations. In judging personal characteristics account is taken of steps applicants have taken to learn about the role of clinical psychologists in the health service and to begin to develop as reflective practitioners. This includes participating in self-reflective workshops and personal therapy or counseling.

The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology is a sponsored programme and the sponsorship entails the payment of a trainee clinical psychology salary for the duration of the programme.

To date sponsorship has also included the partial payment of fees on behalf of the sponsored trainee and health care agencies have made a 60% contribution towards fees on behalf of the trainee clinical psychologist for each of their three years on the programme.

Please note: these arrangements are all subject to review in light of current and future national developments in the funding of clinical psychology training. All offers of trainee clinical psychology places are made subject to funding.
Most sponsorships are (opens in a new window)HSE funded and trainee funded through such sponsorships complete placements of supervised clinical practice outside the greater Dublin area within the geographical area serviced by the sponsoring agency. Placements outside the sponsoring agency are only undertaken in exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the sponsor. An exception is usually made for the final specialist placement which may be undertaken outside the country. Successful applicants should therefore consider re-location to the sponsoring region or make arrangements to commute to that region.

A day per week over 3 years is set aside for research and the final six week academic block is set aside in third year for writing the final draft of the major research project. Psychologists in clinical training receive a minimum of 30 hours individual supervision for their thesis during their second and third years. In addition they complete coursework on research methods, statistics and computing listed below under academic course work. Altogether 2000 hours are available for research over 200-250 days, and postgraduates are expected to devote some evenings and some weekends to research.

The following projects are completed:
A 25,000 word report on a major doctoral research project. The research must make an original publishable contribution to knowledge in the broad field of clinical psychology. Before conducting the doctoral research project, postgraduates write and defend a 2000 word thesis proposal. When the 25,000 word report is complete, postgraduates summarize key findings in a publishable 4,000 word journal article.
Two 2,000 word service-based research projects are completed in the first year to demonstrate competence in both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Academic coursework is covered in six six-week academic blocks each containing at least 36 half-day teaching sessions or approximately 100 hours coursework per block, except the final block which is reserved largely for writing the final draft of the major research project. Thus, overall there are 500 hours of coursework in the programme spanning 100-150 days. Academic courses are grouped into the following conceptual areas:

• Child and adolescent clinical psychology
• Adult clinical psychology (including the psychology of the older adult)
• The psychology of intellectual disabilities
• Neuropsychology
• Personal and professional development

Four 4,000 word essays (one each in the areas of child and adolescent clinical psychology, adult clinical psychology, the clinical psychology of older adults, and the clinical psychology of intellectual disabilities) to demonstrate competence in systematically reviewing literature and drawing conclusions to inform clinical practice.
Three 4,000 word case studies (one each in the areas of child and adolescent clinical psychology, adult clinical psychology, and the clinical psychology of intellectual disabilities) to demonstrate competence in applying theory and research to clinical practice.

Each psychologist in clinical training completes six  4.5 month placements of supervised clinical practice. All placements contain a minimum of 65 days (or 500 hours) yielding a total of 390 days (or 3,000 hours). These placements provide training and clinical experience in the following areas:

• Child and adolescent clinical psychology
• Adult clinical psychology
• The clinical psychology of intellectual disabilities
• The clinical psychology of older adulthood
• Specialist areas.

Most trainees take a bank/credit union loan in order to fund their fee payments.

The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology is a sponsored programme and the sponsorship entails the payment of a trainee clinical psychology salary for the duration of the programme.  A place on the programme is tied to the offer of employment with a sponsor for the three years of the programme.  

To date sponsorship has also included the partial payment of fees on behalf of the sponsored trainee and health care agencies have made a 60% contribution towards fees on behalf of the trainee clinical psychologist for each of their three years on the programme.

Please note: these arrangements are all subject to review in light of current and future national developments in the funding of clinical psychology training. All offers of trainee clinical psychology places are made subject to funding.

Most sponsorships are (opens in a new window)HSE funded and trainee funded through such sponsorships complete placements of supervised clinical practice outside the greater Dublin area within the geographical area serviced by the sponsoring agency. Placements outside the sponsoring agency are only undertaken in exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the sponsor. An exception is usually made for the final specialist placement which may be undertaken outside the country. Successful applicants should therefore consider re-location to the sponsoring region or make arrangements to commute to that region.

Application Details

Intake for 2025

All offers of trainee clinical psychology places are made subject to funding.

Step One:

Please download and carefully read the Notes for Applicants 2025 and the  Clinical Psychology Application Form 2025. (Please note the 2025 application form and notes have been amended, only the 2025 application form will be accepted).

Step Two:

Step three:

Fill in your application form (using the Notes for Applicants 2025 as your guide).  Once your application is complete save it as one Pdf file naming it as follows: Surname, Forename (i.e. Blogs, Jane), if you have not studied in UCD before you should include ID and transcripts (these should be included in the single pdf you are uploading). 

Step four:

Programme Administrator, Muriel Keegan (opens in a new window)Muriel.keegan@ucd.ie (7168120) or (opens in a new window)Julia.McKeon@ucd.ie(7168363)

Professor Alan Carr, and Professor Gary O’Reilly are Joint Programme Directors

Professor Jessica Bramham, Clinical Neuropsychology Lecturer
(opens in a new window)Dr. Keith Gaynor, Clinical Psychology Lecturer
(opens in a new window)Dr. Kathy Looney, Clinical Psychology Lecturer

Dr. Paul Dalton, Clinical Psychology Lecturer
Ms. Sara Hollwey, Clinical Placement Director/Director of Personal & Professional Development
Dr. Jacintha McLauglin, Senior Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Sarah Carroll, Senior Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Niki Nearchou, Research Director

Academic staff from the School of Psychology and clinical supervisors from the course placements are involved in teaching, research supervision and the supervision of clinical practice.

University College Dublin (UCD) welcomes applications from EU and EEA students. Prospective applicants with UK citizenship and who meet the criteria for EU/EEA fees may apply to the course. Applications from Non-EU students are possible. As clinical psychology trainees are employees of the Health Service Executive (HSE) or other approved Health Care Agencies, we require that all applicants have the right to work in Ireland without restriction at the time of application, for the duration of the course, and for three years post-graduation to fulfil their obligations to their sponsoring agency.  Non-EU applicants are therefore not considered unless they provide evidence at the time of application of an existing right to work (and the right to residency) in Ireland for the duration of the course and the required post-qualification three years.   

Please also note that the current Non-EU university fee for the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology is currently €30,320 for each year of the programme.

As is the case for all applicants, undergraduate and post-graduate qualification requirements must be PSI/BPS equivalent and evidence of their equivalence is necessary at application stage. Applications without this will not be considered.  If English is not the applicants first language, evidence of the ability speak, read and write English fluently is necessary at application stage. Again, applications without this will not be considered.  Following successful application to the course, Garda Clearance is sought for all trainees. It should be noted that Garda clearance can be delayed for people applying from outside of the ROI.

The course is a full time doctoral level training programme in clinical psychology. Students complete 6 clinical placements under the supervision of a Senior Clinical Psychologist in child, adult, intellectual disability and specialist clinical settings.  They also complete 6 related academic teaching blocks and a doctoral level piece of research. 

Students on the doctoral programme in clinical psychology are required to fulfil different roles during their training, including academic and clinical practice roles.  Consequently the course is governed by the University’s Fitness to Practice and Fitness to Study policies as well its regulations on the completion of academic coursework and assignments. If a student encounters a difficulty they should discuss it with a member of the course team in the first instance, who will support the student and ensure where appropriate the matter is resolved locally, and where necessary will direct the student to the correct procedure or policy.