Global Human Development Programme Structure
All students within the programme will adhere to all UCD and relevant College-level requirements for a structured PhD and specific programme requirements for the PhD in Global Human Development. This includes, inter alia, the acquisition of a minimum of 30 taught credits at UCD, a formal transfer assessment and completion of a Research and Professional Development Plan (RPDP). All students will submit their final dissertation to UCD and upon successful completion of their examination, will be awarded a UCD PhD.
The Global Human Development PhD programme is unique in that the students will only spend certain trimesters at UCD.
The modules for the Global Human Development programme for 2024-25 are outlined below.
Students may register for other modules depending on their research theme with permission from their supervisor and the relevant Module Coordinator.
Other Modules
Additional Modules
There are a range of additional discipline-specific and other modules across the university that are available to graduate research students. Click here to access these modules.
Auditing Modules
Students enrolled to any graduate programme at University College Dublin have the opportunity to enrol to a module for Audit from within the list of modules offered by the University. A student may audit a module if they wish to attend the module but not gain any credits for the module. This means that they do not receive a grade for the module, but the module will appear on the student’s transcript as having been audited.
Students must seek the permission of the relevant Module Coordinator in order to do this, as well as the Programme Coordinator for the programme in which the student is enrolled.
The registration process for this will also fall under Graduate Studies.
Application Timelines
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September Start Students
Applications accepted between 1st October and 30th June
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January Start Students
Applications accepted between 1st February and 15th October
Application Procedure
Entry Criteria
The entry requirements for the PhD in Global Human Development (GHD) is a Master degree (MA or M.Sc.), with an overall grade of 2.1 (GPA 3.6) in the areas of Agricultural Science, Business Studies, Economics, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine, Politics, Sociology and other related areas of study whose ultimate focus is Global Human Development, in particular, poverty reduction.
Duration: 3-4 Years Full Time
Entry to the programme is in September and January
In general, SPIRe only accepts full-time students.
We can, however, accept part-time students under the following conditions:
- They provide a multi-year commitment from their employer for payment of fees
- They have written agreement from their employer to take time off for taught modules, seminar presentations, etc
Note: SPIRe only accepts students who have a full scholarship or alternative external funding, to include a full fee remission and appropriate living expenses.
Self-funded applicants are not eligible.
Application Timeframes
Applicants should comply with the relevant timeframes as laid out above.
Process
Applications for PhD programmes are made directly to the school. They do not go through the central UCD applications system.
The following documents must be provided. An omission of any element may result in the application being deemed ineligible.
Note: Please do not include additional documents e.g. Secondary/High School transcripts, passport pages, etc.
Required Documents
- Cover letter, stating reasons for interest in the Global Human Development programme.
- Thesis proposal (1,500-2,000 words maximum, excluding bibliography)
Please note that SPIRe requires the proposal to be submitted as a separate word or pdf document using the following headings. Proposals may not be accepted if they do not comply with this requirement.
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- provisional thesis title
- a statement of the research question
- a brief literature review that points to research gaps the PhD project could address
- an outline of theoretical approaches considered
- a brief discussion of the proposed methodology
- Copies of Academic Transcripts (Undergraduate and Postgraduate)
- C.V. or Resume (2 pages maximum)
- Evidence of English language competence, where non-native English speaking applicants have NOT obtained previous university degrees from a university in an English-speaking country.
Applicants must provide a cert that complies with UCD Minimum English Language Requirements and the certificate should be no more than 2 years old.
- Two academic references: These should be sent directly by the referees to (opens in a new window)dara.gannon@ucd.ie with the applicant's name in the Subject field. If sent by email, they must be from an institutional email address and ideally on institutional headed paper. SPIRe reserves the right to verify all references. Sending only the contact details of referees is not sufficient.
The above documents should be sent by email to (opens in a new window)dara.gannon@ucd.ie