First Students to be enrolled in ATU

Under the new Postgraduate Researcher Training Programme (PRTB) initiative, 15 PhD candidates are being enrolled to pursue individual doctorates but in the same discipline area. A call for applications has recently closed and it is expected that the first students will be enrolled in April or May.

Project awards will include: • A student stipend (tax-exempt) valued at €16,000 per annum • Annual waivers of postgraduate registration fees • Support for travel, consumables and dissemination expenses

The first PRTP to be established is called the Modelling and Computation for Health and Society (MOCHAS) PRTP. This is an exciting new interdisciplinary, cohort-based research training programme. It aims to produce highlevel, multidisciplinary research graduates who can develop, communicate, and exploit modelling tools for the solution of real-world problems relevant to societal needs.

The individual research projects have been developed in tandem with external stakeholders including hospitals, local government and industry, and address problems encompassing environmental sustainability, zero-carbon transport planning, medical devices, and health technologies.

The cohort of PhD scholars will share a common core training program which entails development of the discipline specific technical skills required for the project but also the soft skills in the areas of communication, visualization, cost analysis and innovation processes which are key to the successful exploitation and impact of modelling and computational tools.

The plans to launch a second PRTP in the area of Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) are also at an advanced stage of development with the recruitment call expected to be announced later this Spring. A further six PRTPs are also expected to be launched as part of the overall initiative.