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2025 Fellowship Applications

The School of Music at University College Dublin invites expressions of interest from scholars wishing to apply for Government of Ireland (GOI) or Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships with a start date of Autumn 2026. These prestigious fellowships are open to candidates of all nationalities wishing to pursue postdoctoral research for a period of one to three years, depending on the scheme, with mobility requirements in the case of MSCA Fellowships.  

The deadline for the first round, which is internal to UCD, is Friday 30th May 2025 (5pm Irish time).

For candidates who are successful in this first round, the School of Music at UCD will offer bespoke support to prepare for a final submission to the funder(s).  The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call will close on 10th September 2025 and the GOI Postdoctoral Fellowships call is expected to close mid-October 2025.

The UCD School of Music selects applicants for both schemes as part of a single competition. You are welcome to apply for support for only one scheme of your choosing or for both schemes together. Please note, however, that it is not possible to apply for more than one type of fellowship within each scheme (for example, to apply for both a one-year and a two-year GOI postdoctoral fellowship).

2025 Application Process

If you would like to apply, please send the following as a single PDF document to music@ucd.ie by 5:00pm Irish time on 30th May 2025.

  • A covering note detailing which exact scheme or schemes you wish to apply for and confirming that you meet the essential eligibility criteria with regard to mobility (MSCA) and time since PhD (MSCA and GOI). If you intend to apply for a MSCA Global Fellowship, please also indicate which global partner you would intend to include, and whether you have yet been in contact with that institution.
  • CV (Successful applicants for both schemes are likely to have at least one significant peer-reviewed publication. For the purposes of this internal competition in particular, we are happy to hear about work that is forthcoming or in press – please simply list this appropriately on your CV.)
  • A short summary (1,000 to 2,000 words) of your proposed research project, to include aims and/or objectives, central research questions, and methodology.
  • A short description (up to 350 words) of how your work would fit with that of a potential mentor (or mentors) and, where applicable, with other members of the School or University (see faculty profiles). Please note that Professor Thérèse Smith and Professor Harry White are not available to act as mentors for this competition. In the case of interdisciplinary projects, you are welcome to suggest co-mentors from outside of the School of Music.

We recognise the competing time pressures of early career scholars and seek to keep this internal selection process as simple as possible. As such, we do not require a cover letter, writing sample, or any other materials. We are also happy at this stage for considerable flexibility in length of summary research proposal, to allow you to reuse other materials as easily as possible. As long as that proposal stays within the range specified above, its length will not be taken into account in the selection process. You are encouraged to contact informally a potential mentor in advance of the above deadline, but are not at all obliged to do so.

Other enquiries may be sent to (opens in a new window)music@ucd.ie. Please note that we are unable at this stage to provide general advice on whether there is a suitable mentor in the School. We would advise instead that potential applicants review individual faculty interests and contact the best-matched potential mentor directly in the case of any doubt.

External Application Details

Please note that the information presented here is provisional, based on details of the most recent round, as the next round of this scheme has not yet formally opened.

The Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme allows fully-funded fellowships of either one or two years. One-year fellowships allow the opportunity to develop publications from your PhD. Two-year fellowships allow the opportunity to develop either a new project or a project that expands significantly on your PhD. 

Applicants should have been awarded their PhD within the 5 years leading up to 31 May 2026 (the date of graduation is used for this purpose). Applications are also permitted from final year dissertation students, as long as the PhD is due to be completed, including submission of corrected thesis, by 31 May (it is not necessary to have graduated in this instance). There are no prior nationality or residency requirements.  More information is available at: (opens in a new window)http://research.ie/funding/goipd

The final funder deadline is expected to be in mid-to-late October 2025.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships offer a greater number of fellowship routes and eligibility options than do GOIPD Fellowships. We therefore strongly advise that you check carefully your eligibility against the details provided directly by the European Commission (see links provided below).

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships allow fully-funded fellowships for one to three years. The purpose of the fellowships is to "enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility." This is usually achieved (in a university setting) through the completion of an individual research project under the supervision of an experienced academic. The key eligibility requirement is some kind of international mobility. There are two schemes:

 European Postdoctoral Fellowships: For researchers wishing to move from any country to the relevant EU member state or associated country (in this case, Ireland). Researchers would stay at UCD for a period of 12-24 months.

Global Postdoctoral Fellowships: Allow an outgoing phase of 12-24 months in an institution in a “third country” (not an EU member state or associated country), followed by a 12-month “return period” to an EU or associated country institution (in this case, UCD).

In practice, European Fellowships are suitable for researchers wishing to move to Ireland from any other country. Global Fellowships are suitable for researchers wishing to spend time in Ireland and another country. Current Irish residents wishing to spend time at UCD through a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship would normally be eligible only for the Global Fellowship route.

Applicants should have been awarded their PhD within eight years of the MSCA deadline (10 September 2025). Career breaks and “experience outside research” do not count towards the eight-year maximum, nor does time spent in third countries by EU / associated country nationals or by long-term residents who wish to reintegrate into EU / associated country research.

The fellowships provide a living allowance equivalent to a competitive salary, alongside additional mobility and family allowances where applicable; exact amounts vary depending on personal circumstances, fellowship route, and host country (for the outgoing phase of Global Fellowships).

An overview of the relevant information is available here: (opens in a new window)https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/calls/msca-postdoctoral-fellowships-2025

The final funder deadline will be 10 September 2025.

Current Fellows

Dr Francesco Milella González Luna, Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow
Mentors: Dr Tomás McAuley (Music) and Dr Ivar McGrath (History)
Project Title: The impact of the Atlantic circulation of Italian opera in the crisis of the Spanish empire between 1770 and 1820

(opens in a new window)Dr Sarah Raine, Science Foundation Ireland-Irish Research Council Pathway Fellow
Mentors: Associate Professor Jaime Jones (Music)
Project Title: Improvising Across Boundaries: Voicing the experience of women and gender minority improvising musicians

Recent Fellows

Dr Chrysi Kyratsou, Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-2024)
Mentor: Dr Jaime Jones
Project Title: Musicking Encounters And Pathways To Inclusion: Uses Of Music Among Asylum- Seekers In Greek Reception Centres

Dr Kyle Kaplan, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2023)
Mentors: Dr Tomás McAuley (Music) and Professor Brian O’Connor (Philosophy)
Project Title: Intimate Critique: Henze, Adorno, and the Aesthetics of Recommitment

Dr Matthew Thomson, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023)
Mentor: Dr Frank Lawrence
Project Title: Courtly Song and Bodily Desire in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century France

Dr Patrick Nickleson, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-22)
Mentor: Dr Jaime Jones (Music)
Project Title: X-Marks: First Nations and Settler Epistemologies of Graphic Scores

Dr Joe Mason, Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-21)
Mentor: Dr Frank Lawrence (Music)
Project Title: Music and Violence in Thirteenth-Century France

Related Links

UCD School of Music

Newman Building, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
T: +353 1 716 8178 | E: music@ucd.ie