Trinity Research Doctorate Awards (TRDA)

The Trinity Research Doctorate Awards are Trinity College Dublin's own fully funded PhD scheme, funded from alumni donations and the university's commercial revenue rather than from a national research council. That matters, because unlike most Irish state funding the TRDA explicitly pays tuition at either the EU or the non-EU rate — so a Sri Lankan awardee is not left covering a fee gap. Each award provides EUR 25,000 a year plus fees for four years of full-time study, which is around LKR 8.6 million a year in stipend at current rates. For the 2026-27 round Trinity advertised 12 PI-based awards, split across two categories: one reserved for early career researchers appointed from 2020/21 onwards, and one open to academic staff at all grades as a joint student-and-PI application. There is an important structural point Sri Lankan applicants need to understand. These awards are applied for by the Trinity academic, not by you directly. The application is submitted by a principal investigator entitled to act as principal supervisor, and in the joint category you are named alongside them. Your route in is therefore to find and convince a Trinity supervisor first, ideally months ahead, and then to be nominated. Awardees must be new entrants registering in September or March of the relevant cycle. Two limitations worth stating plainly: if you hold other funding, your total stipend cannot exceed EUR 25,000 a year, so this does not stack; and research costs beyond tuition and stipend — consumables, fieldwork, conference travel — are the student's responsibility unless the supervisor covers them from a separate grant. The 2026-27 call closed at noon on 26 January 2026, with results announced by end April, and the scheme runs annually on that rhythm.

2027/28 round expected to open in late 2026 with a late-January 2027 deadline, mirroring the 2026-27 cycle (closed 26 January 2026, results by end April) — confirm on tcd.ie/graduatestudies/awards