Reflecting the national and international trends in postgraduate research we strive to ensure that WIT research students are equipped with transferrable and disciplinespecific skills that will significantly contribute to ongoing success in their career following graduation. Each research postgraduate pursues a unique programme that is designed based on their skills, their prior experience and on their research interests. WIT awards Masters by Research and PhD degrees through assessement of a substantial final dissertation that describes the research work undertaken by the student and the research outputs generated. In performing their research work students are supervised by two or more academic staff having expertise in the research topic. We foster well-rounded graduates, capable of formulating and executing independent research projects that hold the potential of producing impactful and important research outputs of scientific, social, cultural and/or economic value.
Generic and Transferrable Skills Training
WIT offers its research postgraduate a range of formal and informal training opportunities that allow them develop both professionally and personally. This training is explicitly designed to be applicable to research students from all WIT schools, so it additionally provides an excellent opportunity to network with postgraduate researchers working in other scholarly disciplines. During semester time the Graduates Studies Office runs a generic skills programme involving weekly seminars on a range of topics and weekly training sessions targeting practical skills; whilst participation in the programme is optional the experience of our graduates indicates that it greatly assists them in pursuing their research programmes.
PhD students additionally have the opportunity to further develop transferrable skills through participation in taught modules targeted specifically to our cohort of structured PhD students. These modules are typically delivered by research active WIT staff members. Examples include: Research Integrity and Ethics; Academic Writing for Research Postgraduates; and Research Communication.
Discipline-specific Training
WIT provides the training to research postgraduates necessary for them to complete their core research work in a productive and timely manner. This training is referred to as discipline-specific training – it normally focusses on advanced concepts, methodologies, techniques and scholarly discourse that have a direct bearing on the research work done by students within a given WIT academic department or research centre. This training can be provided informally, via seminars, workshops, invited talks and discussion groups.
Structured PhD students can attain this training more formally, via participation in approved taught modules. The latter are typically postgraduate modules delivered as part of WIT taught postgraduate programmes. However, subject to approval by the school/departmental Research Programme Board, PhD students are also able to complete accredited modules offered by other academic institutions in Ireland and abroad.
Structured PhD
All PhD students registering at WIT will pursue a "structured" PhD. This requires them to earn at least 30 ECTS credits for generic/transferrable skills and discipline-specific skills prior to submitting their research dissertation. Typically, these modules will be taken in the first two years of the programme where the student is registered as full time. More information on the WIT structured PhD can be found at www.wit.ie/pg.
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Entry Requirements
The normal minimum entry standard for a Master by Research or PhD degree is an honours Bachelor Degree (minimum level: 2nd Class Honours) in a field of study directly related to the subject matter of the research degree programme. In the case of applicants for a research position who hold a 2.2 Honours degree, they may be required to undertake a Postgraduate Diploma or a Taught Master's degree. The qualifications of direct applicants from overseas will be reviewed using the NARIC index. Applicants whose first language is not English must submit evidence of competency in English, please see WIT's English Language Requirements for details.