Fee Waivers and Scholarships

Closing date: 17.00 Irish local time Monday, 14^th September 2026

Duration of scholarship: 4 years full-time (part-time not possible)

Starting date: 1^st December 2026

Award summary 

The funded PhD position is offered as part of the larger research project Posthumanist sociolinguistics and journalistic practices: Reporting on climate change in Irish and German media. The project is funded by Research Ireland and the Irish Environmental Protection Agency. The PhD Scholarship includes a student stipend of €25,000 per annum plus EU student fees for a duration of 4 years (for non-EU applicants additional fees may apply based on the difference between EU fees and international fees, see UL’s course fees website).

Overview

In view of the increasing severity of weather events and unprecedented meteorological extremes, climate journalism aims to inform and warn audiences about climate change and promote ways of mitigating global warming. These efforts have so far, however, shown too little effect, and European traditional media outlets (i.e. newspapers and broadcasters) are frequently criticised for their human-centred coverage and representations of climate change. Despite this criticism, there is a significant lack of knowledge about the multimodal (i.e. linguistic and semiotic) reporting practices of journalists working in climate coverage.

Through a comparative study of Irish and German media based on a mixed-methods approach, the overall aim of the project is to examine how journalists reporting on climate issues try to engage with and inform about the topic of climate protection. In this context, it sheds light on issues that lead to misrepresentations of climate change in Irish and German media to foster a more meaningful engagement of journalists and the public with climate change. 

As part of this larger project, the successful candidate will compile a corpus of newspaper articles related to climate change topics using one Irish and one German broadsheet paper. The compilation and analysis of the newspaper corpus will be the core area of research work of the PhD candidate, and the datasets generated will serve as the basis to develop the independent doctoral thesis. In the corpus of newspaper articles, the successful candidate will identify discursive patterns and possible trends in linguistic representations of climate change and anthropocentric news frames. They will also conduct an in-depth multimodal analysis of the evolution of human-centred discourses in both countries and compare the differences between economic and cultural contexts, and political agendas regarding climate change.

For the duration of the PhD Scholarship (2026-30), the successful candidate will be based in the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics. They will be supervised by Dr Sarah Josefine Schaefer (PI of project) and Prof. Helen Kelly-Holmes, working primarily with Dr Schaefer across all phases of the project and also benefiting from participation in different activities (e.g. career development training at UL, conference participation, joint publications, workshop organisation).

Eligibility criteria

Essential 

• Level B2 (CEFR) or equivalent in written and spoken English and German

• Honours undergraduate degree (Level 8 NFQ or equivalent) at 2.1 or higher (or equivalent), with a major/minor specialization in Linguistics, German, English, Journalism or related fields 

Desirable 

• MA-level degree (Level 9 NFQ or equivalent) in Applied Linguistics/Sociolinguistics, Journalism, Sociology/Social Sciences or related fields

• Openness to interdisciplinary methods and some experience in qualitative and quantitative methods

• Some knowledge of/experience in discourse analysis and/or linguistic corpus analysis

Application process

Please include the following in your application which should be sent to helen.kelly.holmes@ul.ie:

• a cover letter (max. 1000 words) explaining your suitability for undertaking doctoral research, why you are interested in this project and what you think you can bring to it

• a curriculum vitae with details of relevant educational history and/or employment experience and training received

• a writing sample (e.g. a chapter from your BA or MA thesis or an academic publication) 

• contact details of two academic referees

• transcripts of university-level grades (including certified translations in English if obtained in a language other than English or German).

Interviews for the position will be held online in September 2026.

Contact information

Informal enquiries about this opportunity may be addressed to Prof. Helen Kelly-Holmes helen.kelly.holmes@ul.ie.

Closing date: 5pm on Thursday, 30 April 2026 

The deadline has now passed for these opportunities and all fee waivers and scholarships for 2026/7 have been allocated. 

The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) is pleased to announce its funding call for the academic year 2026/27. Fee waivers from individual schools and departments as well as faculty-level fee waivers are on offer.

Eligibility

Fee waivers are open to incoming (i.e. not currently registered) and current research postgraduate students, unless otherwise stated. Current students must be in good academic standing (i.e. they must have passed their most recent progression panel).

Prospective PhD students are particularly encouraged to apply and need not have completed an application for acceptance onto an AHSS research postgraduate programme before doing so (see the application process How to apply for a research degree | University of Limerick (ul.ie). However, they are advised to make contact with a prospective supervisor prior to submitting an application for a fee waiver. AHSS faculty and their research interests can be browsed on PURE, UL's research information system. If awarded a fee waiver, new applicants will be required formally to register for an AHSS PhD programme by 1 September 2026.

All awardees are required to submit an application for the Research Ireland postgraduate scholarship scheme to the faculty review process in the year of their award if they are eligible to do so. For this reason, the AHSS funding application form is modelled on the application form used for the Research Ireland postgraduate scholarship scheme. If a student is ineligible for Research Ireland funding, or if the scheme does not run as anticipated in the year of their award, they may pursue alternative similar funding and devise with the ADR an appropriate review process.

Current and prospective students on taught postgraduate programmes are ineligible for this funding call. These students should contact ahsspg@ul.ie for information on available funding.

Current and prospective students housed in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (IWAMD) are also ineligible for the opportunities below. The IWAMD operates its own fee waiver scheme; applicants should contact the academy directly for information. 

Details of IWAMD’s internal funding scheme can be found on the IWAMD website.

1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 1-Year Postgraduate Fee Waiver 

9 awards available

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,700, subject to review)

Open to: incoming (i.e. not currently registered) and current PhD students (enrolled no longer than 4 years full-time, or 6 years part-time) in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately.

2. School of English, Irish, and Communication Postgraduate Fee Waiver

1 award available

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,700, subject to review)

Open to: preference will be given to incoming (i.e. not currently registered) PhD applicants to the School of English, Irish, and Communication.

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately. 

3. School of Law Postgraduate Fee Waiver (Incoming Candidates Only) 

1 award available

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,700, subject to review)

Open to: Incoming (i.e. not currently registered) candidates only

4. School of Law Postgraduate Fee Waiver (Incoming and Current Students)

2 awards available

Duration: 1 year

Value: EU fees (€5,700, subject to review)

Open to: incoming (i.e. not currently registered) and current PhD students (enrolled no longer than 4 years full-time, or 6 years part-time).

The School of Law reserves the right not to award a fee waiver in any given cycle where the applications received do not meet the required standard.

5. School of Politics and Public Administration Postgraduate Fee Waiver

1 award available

Duration: 1 year (with renewal for up to four years subject to satisfactory progression)

Value: EU fees (€5,700, subject to review)

Open to: incoming (i.e. not currently registered) candidates only 

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately.

The PhD researcher in receipt of a PPA fee waiver is expected to apply for the Research Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship or other alternative sources of funding, where eligible. PPA offers extensive supports to candidates preparing external funding applications.

6. School of Sociology Postgraduate Fee Waiver

1 award available

Duration: 1 year 

Value: EU fees (€5,700, subject to review)

Open to: incoming (i.e. not currently registered) candidates only

Associated tutoring: the successful candidate may have tutoring opportunities, for which they will be paid separately.

The successful applicant must be supervised by a Sociology faculty member at Assistant Professor or Associate Professor B level. This individual can be sole or co-supervisor. The applicant is expected to apply for a Research Ireland scholarship if eligible.

Please note that the School of History and Geography operates its own Geography fee waiver scheme, however, all prospective and current History and Geography students are also eligible for faculty fee waivers and can apply for them in addition to the school’s fee waivers.  See School of History and Geography | University of Limerick

Fee Waiver Application Process

Applicants should submit the following materials to Ann-Marie Hickey at annmarie.hickey@ul.ie by 5pm on Thursday, 30 April 2026:

1. Completed application form. Please be sure to specify your ‘home’ School or Department at the start of the attached application form, even if there are no School- or Department-specific awards on offer.
2. One academic reference (from someone other than the supervisor/prospective supervisor).

Fee Waiver Assessment Process

All applicants to the scholarships and fee waivers above will automatically be considered for available faculty-level fee waivers, as per the following assessment procedure. All applications will be assessed and scored in the first instance by the students’ ‘home’ Schools and Departments, whether or not those schools and departments have fee waivers or scholarships on offer this year. The following evaluation criteria will apply:

Schools and departments will rank all applicants in their areas and agree school or department awards, if any. They will each then forward the names and application materials of their top 3 ranked candidates to be considered by members of the AHSS Postgraduate Studies Board, who will review the application materials according to the evaluation criteria outlined above and produce a new ranking for the award of the faculty level fee waivers.

We will endeavour to notify applicants by Thursday, 21^st May 2026.  A reserve list of applicants for faculty level fee waivers will be created in the event that anyone awarded a fee waiver chooses not to avail of it. Schools and departments will operate their own reserve lists for their internal awards but note that applicants cannot hold both a school/department fee waiver and a faculty one.

Terms and Conditions

Awards are offered for the 2026/27 academic year and cannot be deferred. Registered students who go on official leave during the course of their fee waiver or scholarship should inform their supervisor(s) and ADR (ahssadr@ul.ie) to ensure that they can avail of the remainder of their award following their return from leave.

Informal queries may be sent to ahssgradresearch@ul.ie or to Prof. Christina Morin, Assistant Dean of Research, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (ahssadr@ul.ie).

Please visit the Graduate and Professional Studies' website for up-to-date information on taught postgraduate funding and scholarships for AHSS students.

Information on general scholarships open to all undergraduate students can be found on the undergraduate scholarship page while details of programme-specific undergraduate scholarships can be found on each course page.