Who should apply?

• DOROTHY seeks to fund outstanding research on public health crises and their legacies. Your research project must concern public health crises.
• DOROTHY is open to researchers from any discipline and encourages interdisciplinary research. Applications from the medical humanities or social sciences are just as welcome as studies concerning epidemiology, biotechnological innovation or environmental health.
• DOROTHY is a postdoctoral research fellowship. You must be an Experienced Researcher. This means that, at the call deadline, you must be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience.
• DOROTHY includes 18 months in an institution outside of Ireland, followed by 18 months at an institution with Ireland. Ensure you are able to commit to the mobility requirements. Different requirements may be in place depending on your nationality. See more details in the Guide for Applicants. (Please note: an updated version of the Guide for Call 2 will be available soon.)

The Irish Research Council hosts other opportunities that may be more appropriate if you do not fit the above criteria. Our DOROTHY funding partners the Health Research Board and the Environmental Protection Agency also host other funding opportunities.

What to do ahead of applying

1 | Satisfy eligibility criteria
DOROTHY is a postdoctoral research fellowship. Applicants must be an Experienced Researcher (ER). The definition of ER in the H2020 MSCA programme will be applied: ERs must, at the call deadline, be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience.

DOROTHY welcomes applicants from all over the world. However, mobility criteria apply – see below for more details.

See the Guide for Applicants for more details.

2 | Identify a topic
DOROTHY is open to applicants from all nationalities and disciplines, provided that their research topic relates to public health crises and their legacies. Applicants from the sciences, engineering, arts and humanities are equally welcome to apply.

DOROTHY funds researcher-led projects, meaning that you should design and propose an original research project that emphasises your own contribution and development as a researcher.

3 | Confirm your supervisors’ support
The DOROTHY programme will involve working with two academic supervisors, one in Ireland and one abroad. Ahead of applying, contact potential supervisors to ask if they would be happy to work with you and support your application.

In Ireland, your supervisor should be employed by one of Ireland’s eligible Higher Education Institutions. Look at different institutions’ websites and learn about their research specialisms. Visit staff profile pages to read about their research. If you find a potential supervisor whose research interests match with your project, send them an email with details of your project on public health crises and the DOROTHY programme, asking whether they would be happy to support your application and work with you. You may also wish to share the DOROTHY Supervisory Charter with them, to help them understand what supervision entails.

4 | Engage in international mobility
All DOROTHY projects start with an outgoing phase in an institution outside of Ireland (18 months followed by reintegration into an Irish HEI). Applicants from all nationalities are welcome provided they have not resided in the outgoing phase country for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline.

All DOROTHY projects start with an outgoing phase in an institution outside of Ireland for 18 months. Conduct research to find institutions whose research expertise would make them a good home for your project, and contact potential supervisors.

There are two requirements to consider when choosing an outgoing phase host:

• You must not have resided in the outgoing phase country for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline.
• If you not are a national or long-term resident of an European Union (EU) Member State or Associated Country, your outgoing phase host must be within an EU Member State or Associated Country. See more details of mobility requirements here.

5 | Identify a non-academic secondment
In addition to identifying two academic supervisors in Ireland and abroad, applicants are encouraged to include a non-academic secondment (between 3 and 6 months). Should a secondment not have been envisaged at proposal stage, it can be inserted at a later stage, in agreement with the supervisory panel. A non-exhaustive list of interested secondment hosts is available here.

6 | Prepare your submission

Submissions will be completed through the Smartsimple submission portal.

Please see an indicative application form for Call 1 here. Please check back for updates, and a guide to using the Smartsimple system, when the call for applications opens.

Researchers at risk

Researchers at risk are encouraged to apply for DOROTHY COFUND. ‘Researchers at risk’ include researchers, scholars and scientists at all stages of their careers who are experiencing threats to their life, liberty or research career, and those who are forced to flee or have been displaced because of such threats.

While some researchers at risk have recognised refugee status, asylum status, or similar protection status, a more significant proportion of those seeking the assistance of NGOs specialising in the field of scholar protection are outside the refugee process, seeking or holding temporary visas/work permits through visiting research/scholar positions at host institutions in Europe or elsewhere, outside their home countries.

DOROTHY COFUND seeks to provide support for researchers at risk to aid application. For example, for refugees under the Geneva Convention, the duration of the refugee procedure will not be counted as a period of residence in the country of the proposed outgoing phase.

Support for researchers at risk to apply for DOROTHY COFUND will be provided on a case by case basis. In the first instance, researchers should contact the research office in their proposed main (Irish) host institution. The research office will be able to liaise with the DOROTHY COFUND team.

Further information is available on Scholars At Risk or through emailing SAREurope@mu.ie.

Questions about applying

Please note that all questions concerning the DOROTHY application process should be directed to the Research Office at your proposed host institution. The Irish Research Council will not respond to questions concerning eligibility or the application process from individual applicants. This ensures transparency and fairness to all applicants.

If the Research Office is unable to answer your query, they should send the query to the IRC by emailing dorothy@research.ie with the subject line ‘DOROTHY 2023 FAQ’. Queries received from Research Offices will be answered through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) process. A FAQs document is available on the DOROTHY website and will be updated frequently until the applicable deadline.

 

 

Key dates

Please see below for the key stages of the application process.

Deadlines will be strictly enforced and applications received after the times given below will be deemed ineligible without exception.

 

Call open	1 March 2023
Deadline for applications	4 pm Irish time, 21 June 2023
Supervisor endorsement deadline	4 pm Irish time, 28 June 2023
Research office endorsement/verification deadline	4 pm Irish time, 5 July 2023
Interviews	Q4 2023, TBC
Outcome	Q4 2023, TBC