PhD by Research

The Discipline of Occupational Therapy welcomes applications from students for Doctoral degree (PhD) by research.

Candidates will normally be required to have an honours degree or a Masters qualification in order to pursue a PhD. 

Students from Occupational Therapy and from other disciplines are very welcome.

Academic staff in the Discipline of Occupational Therapy work in interdisciplinary contexts, employ a variety of methodologies and conduct research in broader fields within the health and social sciences.  Please review our Staff pages for further information on current research topics and focus across the staff. 

The Discipline of Occupational Therapy supports suitable candidates in identifying and applying for funding opportunities to undertake doctoral research.

Current and former PhD candidates in the Discipline have successfully secured funding from a range of sources, including the Health Research Board (HRB), the Irish Research Council / Taighde Éireann, and Trinity Research Doctorate Awards, including both Group-based and PI-based awards. Candidates have also been successful in obtaining Trinity College Dublin (TCD) Scholarships to support their PhD studies.

To gain a PhD, the student must complete a substantial and original piece of research under the supervision of an academic staff member of the Discipline. The average duration of a PhD is usually 4 years fulltime or 5-6 years part-time. During a PhD, students are expected to develop their expertise in research methods. As for all registered PhD students at TCD, the PhD student must also complete a small number of taught modules that are components of the TCD structured PhD programme. Please click here for more information on the TCD structured PhD programme.

Information on how to apply to our PhD degree is found here.