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Post Graduate Education Programme

From Sept 2008, NIRSA will be offering a structured graduate education programme. This programme is compulsory for NIRSA funded students and is open to all incoming Social Science PhD students regardless of discipline. The programme is designed to provide:

a supportive and pedagogically rich environment in which to conduct a PhD project;
a range of research and critical academic skills that will enhance a student’s ability to complete their project.

The overall aim is to enrich and expand a student’s knowledge and skills so that they produce a piece of research with high standards of scholarship and in a timely fashion.

Pedagogically the modules will be delivered using minimal formal lecturing, instead employing styles of teaching that are more interactive and self-learning based, including reading seminars, workshops and online discussion. Each module will be accompanied by assessment exercises.

The programme is funded by the Irish Social Sciences Platform (PRTLI4) and GREP in Politics, Sociology and Public Policy (SIF 2) and students will have access to a range of courses in 9 partner institutions (NUIM, TCD, UCD, DCU, UCC, UL, ITS, MIC, QUB).

We would ask all departments within the faculty to encourage students to engage with this programme in order to enhance their academic development and prospects.

The Programme

The programme is modular and while we encourage all students to attend all elements, non-NIRSA funded students can select individual modules. The modules labelled C below are compulsory for NIRSA students – the topics labelled O are options within a designated module. In practice, all modules are compulsory for NIRSA funded graduate research students.

The total taught programme consists of 60 credits gained over 3 years, plus a thesis of 215 credits (total 275 credits). The thesis will be the sole means of assessment for the award of a PhD. The 60 credits will be used in part to assess yearly progress of NIRSA students.

Students will need to gain 25 credits in first year to proceed to Year 2, 25 credits in the second year to proceed to Year 3, and 10 credits in the third year to be able to submit their thesis.

You can download a list of the modules offered each year here.

Year 1: Semester 1

Module 1: Generic Skills. Organising and Managing Doctoral Research
(5 ECTS) C

2 full days in October, 2 full days in January. Module focuses on research planning, information sourcing and management, and is delivered by the Graduate School of Social Sciences in NUIM.

Module 2: Critical Thinking and Social Theory (5 ECTS) C

This module will examine the nature of social theory and illustrate the necessity of philosophical thinking in research by exploring how the meta-concepts of space, governance, the body have been conceptualised by different schools of thought and how this impacts on the kinds of research questions they ask and how they ask them. The module will consist of an introductory and concluding seminar and ten two-hour reading seminars.

Year 1: Semester 2

Module 3: Advanced Methodologies: Generating Data and Building Knowledge (5 ECTS) C

This module will examine how researchers seek to formulate their questions and generate data for their projects. The module will consist of an introductory and concluding seminar and ten two-hour workshops concerning NIRSA led real research projects. Each workshop will be delivered by a researcher who will explicate, with participatory pedagogies, the methodology they have applied in a specific project. The researcher will outline their project and the key question they are seeking to answer. Students will then discuss different ways of generating and analysing suitable data and debate the researcher’s preferred approach.

Module 4: Advanced specialised courses (5 ECTS) C

(students to select one module)

4a: Migration. O This course will examine advanced research and theory concerning migration. 50% of the course will be delivered through six two hour reading seminars and workshops. 50% will be delivered through 12 hours of contact time over a week through a masterclass speaker. Students will be sent readings in advance and discuss these using Moodle and other pedagogical tools, prior to the arrival of the masterclass speaker. The Masterclass speaker will run reading seminars and workshops.

4b: Youth. O This course will examine advanced research and theory concerning youth issues. Its format will mirror migration above.

4c. Balanced Development O This course will examine advanced research and theory on territorial planning and development. Its format will mirror migration above.

4d: O Applied Spatial Analysis. This course will be delivered by the National Centre for Geocomputation (NCG) at NUIM and will investigate the interpretation of spatial information using spatial statistics and GIS technologies.

4e: O Another advanced specialised module offered by a department in NUIM or an advanced specialised module delivered by another institution listed above. TBA

Module 5: ISSP Summer School (5 ECTS) C

This module will consist of a week long summer school organised by ISSP that bring together social science PhD students from across the island.

Year 2

Module 1: Generic Skills. Communications Skills and Professional Effectiveness (5 ECTS) C.

2 full days in October, 2 full days in January. Module focuses on writing and communication skills, time management and professional development, and is delivered by the Graduate School of Social Sciences in NUIM.

Module 2: Advanced Methods - Analysis and Interpretation. (5 ECTS) C

Content TBA

Module 3: Optional Modules (5 ECTS) C

(students to select one module)

Modules TBA. Modules can be taken from the those on offer from NIRSA, other social science departments in NUIM, or a module on offer in another partner institution.

Module 4: ISSP Summer School (5 ECTS) C

This module will consist of a week long summer school organised by ISSP that bring together social science PhD students from across the island.

Module 5: Teaching Skills (5 ECTS) C

Delivered by Quality Promotions Office or Sociology Department.
This module will aid the professional development of students by providing them training concerning teaching skills.

Year 3

Module 1: Generic Skills. Thesis Completion and Career Development (5 ECTS) C

2 full days in October, 2 full days in January. Module focuses on writing up, submitting, viva, submitting to journals and career development, and is delivered by the Graduate School of Social Sciences in NUIM.

Module 2: Optional Modules (5 ECTS) C

(students to select one module)

Modules TBA. O Modules can be taken from those on offer from NIRSA, other social science departments in NUIM, or a module on offer in another partner institution.