Postgraduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Module One: Creative Thinking (10 Credits)
This module opens up new ways of thinking creatively and offers the opportunity to learn and apply frameworks and tools to help you reconsider the way you approach your work. For example, understanding the different ways in which you can develop and evolve ideas through teamwork. Teams will be interdisciplinary where possible, to allow you to break through subject-specific parameters in your thinking and learn to communicate your ideas effectively

Module Two: Innovation Pathways for Researchers (10 Credits) This module will help you to identify how you want to employ or embed innovation and entrepreneurship in your research. The module content will focus on personal narratives of innovation and entrepreneurship and will include guest speakers from a variety of career pathways and entrepreneurship routes. Tools related to divergent and convergent thinking and emotional resilience will be explored.

Module Three: Opportunity Generation and Recognition (5 credits) In this module, you will focus on ways in which entrepreneurship can be of value, not just to those who wish to start a business based on their research, but to all researchers in a variety of ways. The focus will be on learning entrepreneurial skills which allow you to recognise, generate and articulate opportunities to achieve your goals. You will also learn how to communicate effectively with others for a specific purpose appropriate to your goals (i.e. funding pitch, public engagement with research, request for stakeholder/participant engagement, etc.)

Module Four: Leadership (5 credits) Whether as a Principal Investigator or Entrepreneur, leadership skills are essential to achieving your goals and communicating effectively with others. Many careers now involve working as part of multi-disciplinary teams, and not everyone will approach leadership or leadership roles in the same way. Over the course of this module, you explore different leadership styles to help you identify the frameworks and tools which best suit you.

Here you can find the provisional timetable for 23-24: PIER Timetable

Watch our videos above to find out why previous students of this programme would recommend it. Click here to view a reflective LinkedIn post from alumnus Unni.

TBC - subject to funding. Blended online and in-person at Tangent, Trinity's Ideas Workspace.

1. Applicants should hold a level 8 Honours degree (min 2:1)

2. CV

3. Statement of Interest (min 2:1)

4. Two Reference Statements

Applicants should hold a level 8 Honours degree, minimum 2.1 (or equivalent) in any discipline from a recognised third-level institution. Applicants who do not fit these criteria will be assessed on an individual basis in line with Trinity Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy by the Dean of Graduate Studies.

As part of the admissions process, applicants will be required to submit their CV and a 1-page personal statement outlining their motivation to undertake the programme. All applicants should provide two academic references confirming their eligibility and suitability for the programme.

Applicants who are currently enrolled as PhD students at TCD should ensure that one of their references is completed by their doctoral supervisor or Director of Postgraduate Studies as appropriate, confirming their approval of you undertaking this 30 ECTS programme during your studies. Applications from TCD-registered research students will be subject to approval by the Dean of Graduate Studies.

Eligible applicants not admitted to the course will be placed on a waiting list- Trinity PhD students may choose to take a module for credits towards a structured PhD. Students must have regular access to a computer with a good internet connection. The computer should have both a microphone and a camera. Attendance at in-person classes, especially assessments, will be mandatory.

The programme is led and facilitated by Dr Maeve O'Dwyer and incorporates a host of contributors and guest speakers from both academia and industry.