College has today approved a proposal to consolidate its internal postgraduate research schemes and increase the stipends to €25k per year starting from September 2023.
The change comes as part of the Postgraduate Renewal Programme, which aims to fundamentally renew postgraduate education at Trinity and is currently in its first stages following consultation with members of the college community.
The increased stipend will apply to existing students on Trinity’s three internal research schemes for the duration of the award – the Ussher, 1252 Postgraduate Research Studentships and the Provost PhD award – as well as students beginning their research in September on a new programme bringing all three schemes together.
College Board also approved a proposal to waive the fee differential charged to individual schools for postgraduate researchers who are recruited through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Irish Research Council (IRC) and the Health Research Board. This will be introduced as a pilot for all researchers beginning their studies in September 2023.
In an email statement, Dean of Graduate Studies at Trinity Martine Smith said: “Both of these initiatives are important steps in a much bigger ambition, which is to transform the funding landscape for PhD researchers and to fundamentally review the supports for PhD researchers and supervisors alike.
She continued: “We are acutely aware that the students who will benefit from this stipend uplift represent only a small proportion of our overall cohort of research students”.
“A national review of the funding supports for PhD students is underway and we will continue to advocate through this forum as well as through the Irish Universities Association for living stipends for all PhD students as an essential policy move”, she finished.
In a statement to The University Times on the stipend increases, TCD Postgraduate Workers Organisation (PWO) said: “This is definitely a step in the right direction, and also a clear sign to other universities and funding agencies that the current stipend is far too low”.
Despite this, they said, they would “like the university to go further and apply pressure on the departments to follow suit, and raise the funding level those being funded by TCD at any level to 25k”.
“Additionally, many of our demands in the Fair Researcher Agreement can only achieved through an employment based model for postgraduate researchers. This includes access to sick and personal leave, and addressing the visa issues faced by non-EEA researchers.”
This article was updated on February 22nd to include a statement from TCD PWO.
