Instructions for PhD prospects

Attend a PhD programme in Ireland

If you would like to attend a PhD programme in TU Dublin there are a few options for funding in Ireland. I would be happy to work on a proposal for funding with anyone with appropriate academic background who is interested in my research topics (automated reasoning, explainable artificial intelligence, computational argumentation, defeasible reasoning, expert systems, fuzzy reasoning, and other similar topics).

Initial requirements

Before reaching out you will need to have some idea of the research topic you would like to work on, and some basic questions for a proposal. Writing a full proposal can take a few months. We will iterate together on each question many times, but for an initial contact please send a first draft for the following topics (with as many answers as you can provide):

1. What’s the specific question addressed by the research? (on any of my papers you can see the research questions I have previously worked on)
   • Why is it important? Or, if you prefer, why does it matter to address it?
   • Is there a research gap identified in the literature?
2. What’s the (working hypothesis about the) specific answer?
   • How do you support or justify it?
   • What are the objections or criticisms that can be raised and yet overcome?
3. What are the key papers that motivate the project and explain relevant theory?
4. What’s the methodology?
5. What’s a general timeline? For example, for each semester or each year of the 4-year programme.
6. Why you? Why TU Dublin? Why me as supervisor?

For any research funding proposal we will need to address these questions, regardless of templates or page limits employed.

What do you need to initially send me?

You will need to send the following documents to lucas.rizzo@tudublin.ie:

1. A document with draft answers for the requirements above.
2. Your academic CV.

Other requirements

To addend the PhD programme you will need to meet the following requirements:

1. Entry requirements for TU Dublin.
2. Visa requirements.
3. English language requirements.

Possible funding opportunities

In Ireland

Some common calls include IRC and TU Dublin internal funding . These are quite competitive but run every year and cover tuition fees, conference/publication fees, and a monthly salary (around 1.6k€ net) for 48 months. You can have a look at previous calls to see what is necessary to apply.

Abroad

If you are coming from abroad, you might have access to other government fundings that would sponsor your PhD in Ireland. I would be happy to work as your supervisor so you can apply to these type of calls as well. In that case, please also let me know any requirements and deadlines for submitting an application.