Archive for John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarships

The Hume Scholarship Scheme Returns…

Posted in Maynooth with tags , , , , on March 12, 2025 by telescoper

You may recall that I posted about the decision by the Management of Maynooth University to scrap the John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarships and followed this up with another post suggesting the decision might be reversed and another pointing out that it hadn’t been and then another at the start of this month (March) pointing out that the scheme was still “paused” for a “review” which was actually completed in January…

Well, all of a sudden there was an announcement yesterday from On High to the effect that the Hume Doctoral Scholarships are back. When I say “back”, it’s not really accurate as the scheme has changed. In the past it was entirely applicant driven: prospective students had to apply with their own project proposals (usually developed with the help of a prospective supervisor). The new scheme is quite the opposite: prospective supervisors have to submit Expressions of Interest (EoIs), outlining possible PhD projects which are then advertised. Students then have to apply.

You can find details of the new scheme here, where it says:

Established in honour of John Hume, an alumnus of Maynooth University, and in recognition of his important contribution to Ireland, the John & Pat Hume Doctoral Awards are offered across all disciplines at Maynooth University. 

No honour to Pat Hume, then.

The investigator-led approach is probably OK for science and engineering disciplines, but does not reflect how postgraduate research happens in the arts and humanities. There will be considerable resentment in some quarters about the way this change has been effected.

It is also worth mentioning that there are only 15 Hume Scholarships for the whole University; that’s just five per faculty. In the case of Science & Engineering that’s about 0.5 per Department. It will be a very competitive!

Having sat on this issue for the best part of two months, the deadline given to supervisors to submit EoIs is next Wednesday, 19th March. The EOI submission form went live today, giving just a week’s notice (Monday 17th is a national holiday and the rest of next week is a Study Break at Maynooth). The management of this whole issue has been very poor indeed, but at least we have some PhD opportunities to advertise. Prospective students can apply from March 20th until April 17th. It’s still too late, of course, as many students will already have accepted places elsewhere. I don’t know what’s been going on behind the scenes, but this is no way to run a University.

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Save the Hume Scholarships!

Posted in Maynooth, Politics with tags , , on November 12, 2024 by telescoper

You may recall that I recently posted about the terrible decision by the Management of Maynooth University to scrap the John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarships and followed this up with another post suggesting the decision might be reversed.

As it turns out, the decision has not been reversed but, in a truly bizarre step, the scheme is to be paused for a “review” with the possibility that applications would be opened in June 2025 for PhDs starting in October 2025. The vast majority of qualified students intending to do PhDs will have accepted offers elsewhere by then so effectively the scheme is cancelled for 2025. Only students not able to secure a place elsewhere will be around to apply in June. A sensible decision would be to keep the scheme going until the review is complete, but clearly the University bosses want to divert the funds elsewhere. Perhaps the money saved will go towards the €500k luxury limousine service for self-defined VIP managers currently out to tender. Who knows?

Anyway, the decision and the manner in which it has been imposed by the University Executive is highly objectionable (though I’m afraid typical of the regime at Maynooth). Along with the union to which I belong, IFUT, I am therefore happy to support the Postgraduate Workers’ Organization (PWO) in their campaign on this issue. Please consider signing the petition either using the QR code or by following the link here.

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The Return of the Hume Doctoral Scholarships?

Posted in Education, Maynooth with tags , , , on October 2, 2024 by telescoper

This morning it was drawn to my attention that the TSI Building on Maynooth University campus was surrounded by fences and barricades. A colleague then explained that they were there because the President was delivering her latest Presidential Address in one of the lecture theatres there. I was sadly prevented from attending this inspirational event by having better things to do, but naturally assumed the obstacles were in place to prevent people from leaving before the end. It seems however that campus security were worried there might be “protests”. I’m told that there was a kind of protest, with people displaying placards but it was quite a low-key affair.

So what was the subject of the protest?

You may recall that a few weeks ago, while this blog was still banned from campus, I posted an item bemoaning the sudden decision by University Management to scrap the John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarships for PhD students at Maynooth University. Well, this decision created an angry response at Faculty and Departmental meetings across campus, as did the President’s obvious intention to keep any discussion off the agenda as much as possible.

It seems that today the President announced a retreat and the Hume Fellowships will continue this year after all. After exhausting all the alternatives, they have at least decided to do the right thing. At least that’s what I’m told. I wasn’t at the speech and there has been no official communication about it to all staff.

There are many reasons to be glad if this programme continues. On the other hand, reversing the decision does not mean that we should pretend it was never made. Every time the Management does something dumb, and is forced to retreat, more of its credibility is eroded. In due course I plan to post the results of a Staff Culture and Climate Survey that was carried out in 2022. I mentioned this here. These results were obtained recently via a Freedom of Information request as they are so bad – especially concerning the performance of the University Executive – that they were buried for two years. The sad thing is that, two years on, the Culture and Climate at Maynooth have deteriorated still further thanks to episodes like the Hume Scholarship fiasco.

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Farewell to the Hume Doctoral Scholarships

Posted in Maynooth with tags , , , on September 13, 2024 by telescoper

If you are a final year student and were thinking of applying for one of the John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarships in order to fund a PhD at Maynooth University, then don’t bother. University Management – as usual in the case of anything without consultation or discussion – has decided to scrap the scheme. How this squares with the ambition to increase PhD numbers stated clearly in the Strategic Plan is anyone’s guess. Why it has been decided to aim a wrecking ball at Maynooth’s research activity is another question. Clearly it’s not shortage of funds: the University accounts reveal huge surpluses and just this week yet another administrative position with a six-digit salary (enough to fund at least 5 PhD students) was advertised. We can’t expect to have research students and a legion of overpaid bureaucrats, can we?

John Hume (a Maynooth alumnus and co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) died in 2020 and Pat Hume (John’s wife), who died in 2021; the John and Pat Hume Scholarships were created in their honour. The decision to extinguish that honour just a few year after their deaths is just crass. Let’s hope the inevitable backlash will bring about a change of mind. This blog may be banned on campus, but word will spread.

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