2025
September 2025:
UCD Classics Research Ireland Postdocs 2026
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, University College Dublin, 1 year or 2 year
The School of Classics at University College Dublin (UCD) welcomes preliminary enquiries
from suitably qualified candidates regarding the forthcoming 2026 Government of Ireland
Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme, funded by the Department of Further and Higher
Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and managed by Research Ireland. The funding
call is due to open on Thursday 11 September.
This highly competitive programme, run across all academic disciplines, provides
outstanding postdoctoral researchers with the opportunity to pursue a research project in their
chosen area of interest, working with a research mentor at an eligible Higher Education
Institution in the Republic of Ireland. Pioneering proposals addressing new and emerging
fields of research or those introducing creative, innovative approaches are welcomed.
Proposals of an interdisciplinary nature are also encouraged as it is recognised that advancing
fundamental understanding is achieved by integrating information, techniques, tools and
perspectives from two or more disciplines.
The fellowships include: a salary of €47,273 in the first year of the award and €47,880 in the
second year of the award (if a two-year award is sought); employer’s PRSI contribution;
eligible direct research expenses of €5,000 per annum.
Applications will only be accepted through Research Ireland’s online application system, and
must be submitted no later than 16.00 (Irish time) on Thursday 23 October, 2025. Candidates
will be notified of the outcome by Research Ireland at the end of April 2026. The start date
for the fellowships is 1 September 2026.
Full details, including call documentation, will be available from 11 September 2025 here:
https://www.researchireland.ie/funding/government-ireland-postdoctoral/
Publication Requirement Applicants must have publications or other research outputs:
EITHER they must have authored or co-authored at least one peer-reviewed research paper,
that has been published or accepted for publication; OR they must have demonstrable
equivalent intellectual property output (other publications and research outputs).
Eligible individuals should, in the first instance, contact a potential research mentor in the
UCD School of Classics as soon as possible to discuss their proposed project. All potential
applicants will need to have draft material ready by Monday 29 September, for internal
review by the School of Classics Research Committee.
Research interests of the eligible members of the UCD School of Classics are summarised
below, and profiles are available at: https://www.ucd.ie/classics/about/staff/
Dr Martin Brady: Latin epic poetry (especially Ovid and Lucan), epic tradition, classical
reception.
Dr Jo Day: Aegean Bronze Age archaeology; Greek archaeology; early ceramic technology;
eating and drinking in antiquity; sensory archaeology.
Assoc Prof Philip de Souza: Political, social and economic history, especially warfare,
seafaring and piracy.
Dr Helen Dixon: Transmission and reception of Latin literature (especially in the fifteenth-
century); Latin palaeography; history of classical scholarship.
Dr Matthew Evans: Social history and archaeology of the Hellenistic and Roman Aegean;
epigraphy; application of digital technologies to art and material culture.
Dr Christopher Farrell: Xenophon, fifth- and fourth-century Greek history and historiography,
and ancient political thought.
Dr Bridget Martin: Greek tragedy, death in Classical Greece, funerary iconography, widening
participation and outreach.
Assoc Prof Alexander Thein: Late Roman Republican - Augustan politics and culture,
especially the civil wars of the 80s BC; Sulla; political violence.
Dr Conor Trainor: Hellenistic and Roman Greece, Greek and Roman pottery, ancient cities,
ancient economies, urban sustainability, and ancient resource systems.
General enquiries about applying through UCD School of Classics can be addressed to:
philip.desouza@ucd.ie
Assoc Prof Philip de Souza
Director of Research, UCD School of Classics
