Expression of Interest Deadline: August 20, 2025
Full Proposal Submission Deadline: October 2025
Host: Ireland
Location: Global
Duration: 6 Years
Overview
Global Talent Ireland aims to attract exceptional mid-career and established researchers from across the globe to Ireland. Researchers funded through this programme are required to transfer their research activities from their current location to an Eligible Research Body in Ireland.2 It is expected that successful Applicants will not hold another appointment once the Global Talent Ireland award commences. Given its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, Research Ireland welcomes applications from women and those from historically underserved communities. The programme budget includes the resources to build a research team (e.g., staff, consumables and travel) to carry out high-impact, world-class research, and additional start-up costs to support the researcher’s move to Ireland. Applicants for this programme may not have taken up employment in the Republic of Ireland prior to applying to this call.
The objectives of the call are:
- To attract excellent researchers to Eligible Research Bodies in Ireland.
- To reinforce the national Research and Innovation ecosystem.
- To support areas of strategic interest and help drive sustainable economic growth in Ireland.
This call will support the recruitment of exceptional researchers through two streams: “Rising Stars” and “Research Leaders”:
- Rising Stars are defined as mid-career researchers who have demonstrated research excellence, independence and leadership, and have shown exceptional potential to become a research leader of the future.
- Research Leaders are defined as world-leading researchers in their discipline with a demonstrated capacity for strategic and dynamic leadership on the international stage.
Benefits
| Category | Rising Star | Research Leader |
| Career Stage | 5–15 years post-PhD | 16+ years post-PhD |
| Award Duration | 6 years | 6 years |
| Research Funding | €1.5M | €2.5M |
| Startup Funding | €0.75M | €0.75M |
| Maximum Budget Request | €2.25M | €3.25M |
Who Can Apply
The programme is only open to Rising Stars and Research Leaders who are currently employed outside of Ireland.3 Joint Appointments whereby Applicants propose to hold a contract of employment in Ireland and another country concurrently will not be supported through this programme. Joint appointments in two Irish Eligible Research Bodies, or between an Eligible Research Body and the HSE may be supported if there is an appropriate management plan in place. This information must be provided at the EOI stage.
EOIs that are associated with Applicants who are currently employed in an industrial setting outside of Ireland are eligible through this call.
Rising Stars
Applicants applying to the Global Talent Ireland call as Rising Stars are required to:
- Have obtained a PhD qualification (or equivalent4) within 5-15 years of the current year (PhD certification must be dated between 2010 and 2020)
- Have an outstanding track record commensurate with their career stage and their field(s) of research
- Have secured independent research funding from competitive publicly funded sources as a Lead Investigator or Co-Investigator
- Have experience of supervising MSc- and/or PhD-level students
- Have demonstrated international standing (e.g., peer review, keynote talks, collaboration, conference and workshop organisation, etc.) as an indicator of research maturity.
Research Leaders
Applicants applying to the Global Talent Ireland call as Research Leaders are required to:
- Have obtained a PhD qualification (or equivalent4) at least 16 years prior to the current year (PhD certification must be dated no later than 2009)
- Hold a full professorial position at a major international research institution or an equivalent senior research-active role in an industrial setting
- Demonstrate influential research (achievements and excellent generation of knowledge) 3For the purposes of this programme, Ireland is defined as the Island of Ireland. 4PHD-equivalence-policy_September_2018.pdf 8 Global Talent Ireland 2025
- Have a proven track record of strategic and dynamic leadership and development of talent
- Senior authorship of literature with demonstrable impact in relevant field(s) of interest
- Significant international awards and fellowships
- Plenary/keynote contributions at top-tier international conferences, and organisation of such meetings of importance
- Distinguished service record on national or international grant review boards
- Successful track record in securing independent funding from competitive, publicly funded sources.
Eligibility of the Research Body
- The Research Body is the body responsible for the overall financial and administrative coordination of the research programmes supported by funding from Research Ireland.
- Host Research Bodies must be situated in the Republic of Ireland.
- A list of eligible Research Bodies is available on the Research Ireland website.
- The terms ‘Research Body’ and ‘Institution’ are equivalent and interchangeable in Research Ireland documentation and in the SESAME system.
Evaluation Criteria
Expression of Interest (EoI) Checklist
| Section | Description | Requirements |
| Applicant Name and Email | Name of Applicant and current email address | Mandatory |
| Proposal Title | Name of research proposal | Mandatory, max 30 words |
| Host Research Body | Name of eligible host research institution | Mandatory |
| Indicative Budget Request (€) | Total budget request from Research Ireland | Mandatory |
| Funding Stream | Indicate Rising Star or Research Leader | Mandatory |
| Research Keywords | Up to five key words/phrases describing the research | Mandatory, max 5 |
| Applicant Overview | Summary per Section 4.1 | Mandatory, max 2 pages |
| Research Area/Theme and Strategic Impact | Description of area and potential strategic impact in Ireland | Mandatory, max 2 pages |
| Commitment from Research Body | Statement of institutional support | Mandatory, max 2 pages |
Full Proposal Checklist
| Section | Description | Requirements |
| Proposal Summary | Proposal Title | The proposal title should take the form: Global Talent Ireland: Title and Name of Candidate; max 30 words |
| Duration of Award Requested | Mandatory 72 months | |
| Funding Stream | Select Rising Star or Research Leader | |
| Research Alignment | Research Theme | Max 10 words |
| Justification of alignment with Research Ireland’s Legal Remit | Max 250 words | |
| Applicant Details | Complete mandatory SESAME Profile information | Mandatory profile fields marked in red |
| ORCID iD | Link SESAME profile to ORCID iD | |
| Percentage Time Commitment | Insert time commitment | |
| Applicant location at time of submission | Enter details | |
| Narrative CV | Max. 5 pages (must use template provided) | |
| Supervisory Details (Track record) | Enter details | |
| Research Funding History | Enter details | |
| Main Body of Proposal | Keywords | Max 15 words |
| Scientific Abstract | Max. 200 words | |
| Lay Abstract | Max. 100 words | |
| Ethical Issues and Sex/Gender Dimension in Research | Answer questions regarding ethical issues (Use of Animals, Research involving Human Participants, Biological Material or Identifiable Data) | Select relevant answers |
| Sex & Gender Dimension in Research Statement | Max. 1000 words | |
| Budget | Details of all relevant costs | Budget Table in SESAME |
| Upload the budget justification | Max. 3 pages | |
| Programme Documents | Research Plan | Max. 4 pages |
| Research Plan References | Max. 1 page | |
| Impact Statement | Max. 3 pages | |
| Letter(s) of Support | Candidate Letter | Max. 2 pages |
| Vice-President for Research (or equivalent) of the Host Research Body | Max. 2 pages | |
| Head of School (or equivalent) with budget and decision-making capacity | Max. 2 pages |
How to Apply
Expression of Interest (Email Submission)
- Research Bodies seeking to apply to Global Talent Ireland must first submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) for each Applicant that they wish to support. EoIs must be received by Research Ireland no later than 28th August 2025, 13:00 Dublin Local Time.
- The EoI template is provided on the Research Ireland website; each Applicant requires a separate EoI template to be completed. EoIs should be signed by a member of the relevant Research Office staff and submitted by email to globaltalent@researchireland.ie.
- All EoIs associated with a given Research Body must be submitted in a single email communication, with each EoI attached individually (i.e., not merged). Research Ireland will acknowledge receipt of the EoI(s) as promptly as possible.
Please note: There are no restrictions on the number of Expressions of Interest submitted to this call by any Eligible Research Body. However, it is expected that Research Bodies are strategic with their submissions and ensure that they can provide the necessary support to each Applicant to ensure the impacts are realised. Only Applicants named in an Expression of Interest may submit a Full Proposal to this call. Each Applicant may only submit one proposal.
Full Proposal Submission
Full Proposals will only be accepted through SESAME, Research Ireland’s grants management system following the successful assessment of an EoI. Applicants whose EoIs have been approved by Research Ireland will receive formal notification inviting them to submit a Full Proposal through the SESAME system.
Access to SESAME is controlled by staff at the Research Office of the host Research Body. The SESAME system is accessed here:
https://grants.researchireland.ie/s_Login.jsp
Proposal submission requirements:
- All text in uploaded PDFs should be provided in Calibri font or similar, with minimum font size of 11, and at least single-line spacing as well as a minimum margin size of 2.5cm. Text in diagrams may be in any clearly legible font.
- Uploads in SESAME must be submitted in Adobe or Microsoft PDF format only. Please ensure to use unencrypted, non-password-protected PDFs with the copying function disabled, developed using either Adobe or Microsoft Word PDF convertor software only.
- The number of pages in uploads must not exceed the specifications for any given section. Applications that do not comply with these requirements will be deemed ineligible and will be returned without review.
- Appendices or other unsolicited documentation are not permitted. Applications that include such unsolicited documentation will be returned without review.
- File sizes of attachments should be less than 5MB.
For more information, please visit Research Ireland webpage:
https://www.researchireland.ie/funding/global-talent-ireland/
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