Research Ireland Enterprise Fellowships

The Enterprise Fellowship programme supports late-stage PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to apply to either stream.

The placement stream also allows for applications from academic members of faculty. 

Placement stream

• Applicant: Faculty member, Postdoctoral researcher, late-stage PhD
• Fellow is based in Industry/Enterprise
• Formerly Industry RD&I Fellowship

Partnership stream

• Applicant: Postdoctoral researcher, late-stage PhD
• Fellow is based in the HEI
• Formerly Enterprise Partnership Scheme (Postdoctoral)

Research Ireland’s Industry RD&I Fellowship Programme seeks to support academia-enterprise interactions through the placement of an academic researcher with an industry partner. In the context of this call, industry partners includes a wide range of enterprises including SMEs, multinational companies, registered charities and social or cultural organisations.  Awards under this programme can be made to academic researchers (at faculty, postdoctoral and late-stage PhD level) wishing to spend time in industry worldwide through the temporary placement of academic researchers with an industry partner.  

As Research Ireland works to align the suite of enterprise facing fellowship programmes previously offered by SFI and IRC we are making some preliminary changes to the Industry RD&I Fellowship Programme, these include: 

• We will accept applications from all disciplines. 
• Charities and NGOs are eligible partners subject to them meeting the State aid requirements set out in the Programme Call.  
• A third research category (Fundamental Research) has been introduced to facilitate partnerships with Charities and NGOs. 

Research Ireland’s Enterprise Partnership Scheme (Postdoctoral) is a national initiative linking excellent researchers in all disciplines to enterprise; in the context of this call, enterprise partners can range from multinational corporations to SMEs, non-governmental organisations, and, where justified, public sector agencies. The scheme provides researchers with the opportunity to pursue research in partnership with enterprise while based at an eligible research body. 

Through this co-funded programme, researchers develop new, advanced knowledge and skills linked with industry and employer needs. The programme trains early-career researchers for the diversity of employment opportunities in industry, the public sector and the non-government sectors. For enterprise partners, the scheme provides a flexible route to research talent and innovation in an area closely aligned with its strategic interests.

As Research Ireland works to align the suite of enterprise facing fellowship programmes previously offered by SFI and IRC we are making some preliminary changes to the Enterprise Partnership Scheme (Postdoctoral) Programme, these include: 

• There is no longer a five years post PhD cap on applicants 
• Any point on the Postdoc salary scale can be requested 
• Waivers for the first-year contribution from the eligible Enteprise Partners will no longer be offered.