Female scholars lead in research

WOMEN are forging ahead of their male colleagues in humanities and social sciences research, winning almost 60% of postgraduate scholarships in a nationwide scheme.

It is the second year that a majority of the successful applicants for the Post Graduate Scholarship Awards handed out by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) were female.

The 94 award winners from Ireland and Europe will receive a total of €3 million over three years from the Research Council, enabling them to undertake research in Irish universities.

IRCHSS director Dr Marc Caball said that while the higher echelons of academic research were still being dominated by men, women were working their way up through the system.

“As the profile of the academic world changes, more and more women are going into research, and now working their way up over the next five or six years,” he said.

Dr Caball said there were changes across the board in humanities subjects, with women challenging men’s supremacy in traditionally male subjects such as history.

But he said that science and engineering subjects were still dominated by men.

Dr Caball said social studies, women’s studies, history, literature and film studies were all popular choices for postgraduate research by applicants for the awards.

“It’s a fairly diverse range of subjects - a lot of them are looking at social changes which have occurred in the last 20 years in Ireland.”

He said topics researchers were looking at included work with immigrant communities and mixed cultures and the consequences of socioeconomic changes that Ireland had undergone in the past 10 to 20 years.

The postgraduate scholarships are valued at up to €12,700 per annum and fees are also covered for the period of the award.

The scholarships are awarded initially for one year, but subject to terms and conditions, are then renewable for up to two additional years.