PhD Politics & International Relations

Politics and International Relations Programme Structure

In addition to writing the PhD thesis, SPIRe PhD students in Politics and International Relations must complete 50 credits of coursework, at least 40 of which should be completed by the time of the transfer to Stage II, which takes place within 12-18 months on the program.

Of these 50 credits, 30 will be devoted to required methodologically oriented courses (focusing on research design, quantitative methods and qualitative methods). The remaining 20 required credits (and any additional credits beyond 50) can be filled with modules selected in consultation with the student's supervisor.

Application Procedure

Entry Criteria

Applicants to our Politics and International Relations research degree programme must have completed and earned a minimum of a 2.1 grade (GPA: 3.6) in a taught Masters (MA, MSc, MLitt, etc.) programme in the area of politics and international relations or a cognate field and articulate a research interest that fits with the expertise of SPIRe’s academic staff. Staff Profiles can be found here.

Duration: 3-4 Years Full Time 
Entry to the programme is in September only

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.

For details on the UCD Iseult Honohan Doctoral Scholarship, click here

For details on the IRC Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship, click here

Application Timeframes

Applicants should comply with the relevant timeframes as laid out above.  The rolling deadline only applies to candidates with other external full funding (to include fees and stipend).

Honohan and IRC applications will only be accepted within the stated timelines.

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

• Application Form (fillable word doc)

• Cover letter, stating reasons for interest in the Politics and International Relations 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.

• • 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