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Ireland Applications open Closes 1 December 2026

John & Pat Hume Doctoral Awards

Maynooth University's Hume Awards are among the better-funded institutional PhD scholarships in Ireland, and unusually for an Irish university award, they are open across every discipline rather than being tied to one funded project. The package is four years of a EUR 25,000 annual stipend, EUR 2,000 a year for research expenses, and EU tuition fees paid — roughly LKR 8.6 million a year in stipend alone at current rates. Crucially for Sri Lankan applicants, successful non-EU awardees may apply for a non-EU fee waiver, which closes the gap between the EU fee the award covers and the higher non-EU rate. Do not skip that detail: the award as published covers EU fees, and the non-EU waiver is a separate application you make after being offered the scholarship, so confirm it in writing before you commit. The process has one structural feature that catches international applicants out. You cannot apply cold. You may only apply with a supervisor who has already submitted an Expression of Interest advertised on the Maynooth website, and you must upload an academic reference from that supervisor as part of your application. That means the real work — identifying a Maynooth academic in your field, exchanging emails, agreeing a project — has to happen in the autumn, before the student call even opens. The student application window has run 1 December to late January in recent rounds, for entry the following September. Awardees must study full time and be physically present on campus in Maynooth; this is not a remote or part-time route. Competition is strong across all four Maynooth faculties.

2027/28 round expected to follow the usual pattern: supervisor Expressions of Interest advertised in autumn 2026, student applications opening around 1 December 2026 and closing late January 2027 — confirm on maynoothuniversity.ie

Maynooth University

University-funded

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payments

Stipend

EUR 25,000 per year

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Research Expenses

EUR 2,000 per year

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Duration

4 years, full time

info How this award actually works

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Who awards it

Maynooth University — not Lanka Scholar. We are not the awarding body and cannot grant, reserve or guarantee this award.

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How you are considered

Through your admission application. Awards like this are usually assessed automatically from the application you already submit — there is typically no separate scholarship form to fill in.

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What it covers

EUR 25,000 Stipend + EUR 2,000 Research Expenses + Fees, for 4 Years. This is a reduction in tuition, not a full ride. You still fund the remainder, plus living costs and the balance your visa requires you to show.

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Where we come in

We make the admission application strong enough to be competitive — course choice, documents, references and deadlines. The funder makes the decision.

fact_check Eligibility Criteria

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Open to International Applicants

Sri Lankan nationals can apply. The award as published covers EU tuition fees, and successful non-EU applicants may then apply for a non-EU fee waiver to cover the difference — get this confirmed in writing before you accept.

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Supervisor Expression of Interest Required

You may only apply with a supervisor who has submitted an Expression of Interest advertised on the Maynooth website, and you must upload an academic reference from that supervisor. Start contacting potential supervisors in the autumn.

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New PhD Entrant, Full Time

You must be a new entrant starting your PhD in the first semester of the relevant academic year. Only full-time students are eligible, and awardees must pursue their research on campus at Maynooth.

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All Disciplines

Offered across every department and both faculties — arts, humanities and social sciences as well as science and engineering. That breadth is unusual among Irish PhD funding, most of which is project-tied.

account_tree Application Process

Identify a Maynooth supervisor in autumn

Watch the Graduate Research Academy pages for the supervisor Expressions of Interest. Email academics whose work matches yours with a short proposal, CV and transcripts well before the student call opens.

Agree a project and secure the reference

Your chosen supervisor must have an EOI in the system and must write you an academic reference. Without both, your application cannot proceed.

Submit the student application

Applications open around 1 December and close in late January
Submit your research proposal, transcripts, CV and supervisor reference
Applications close at 23:45 GMT on the closing date — do not leave it to the last evening

Apply for the non-EU fee waiver if offered the award

If you are successful, submit the separate non-EU fee waiver request. Confirm the final fee position in writing before you accept the offer or apply for a visa.

Apply for your Irish study visa

Once your award and fee position are confirmed, apply for the Irish long-stay (D) study visa with your offer letter, funding evidence and proof of accommodation. Allow several months.

Why Maynooth University?

Maynooth is a research-intensive Irish university about 25 km west of Dublin, on a campus that mixes an 18th-century college with modern research facilities. It is smaller and more affordable to live in than central Dublin while still being on the commuter rail line into the city.

EUR 27,000

Annual Stipend + Expenses

4 yrs

Funded Duration

All

Disciplines Eligible

Looking for a scholarship because of the cost?

Then start here instead. Scholarships are competitive, usually partial, and decided by someone else — they are the least reliable way to make studying abroad affordable. Your destination and course choice move the number far more, and both are entirely within your control.

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