Up to 10 awards will be granted to PhD students from anywhere in the world through the President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA) to carry out their research work here in Ireland.
Each research body in Ireland, a university or institute of technology, is invited by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to submit up to eight candidates that represent leading-edge research in the areas of science and engineering.
PIYRA awardees will be selected on the basis of research that supports ICT or biotechnology and that has received international attention.
In order to qualify for entry, researchers must have received their PhD no earlier than October 2002 and must commence their grant by December of next year.
Because SFI wants to source the most promising young researchers worldwide, it has stipulated that the candidate need not be affiliated presently with the university or institute nominating them, so they do not have to be presently working with the research body.
The award of up to €1m will last for five years. Deadline for submissions is 17 October 2007, with awardees announced in March 2008.
Last year’s four awardees came from the fields of nanotechnology and genetics.
By Marie Boran
