James Millea, recipient of 2016 NUI Travelling Studentship in Music.
In your experience, what have been the benefits of holding an NUI award?
From my own experience, the value of holding an NUI Award comes in two forms. In the most immediate sense, securing a Travelling Studentship offers a certain amount of financial freedom. Having the monetary support of the National University of Ireland allows you to commit your time both to a more developed investigation of the ideas and theories at the centre of your research and also allows you to take on additional activities that help to grow your academic standing outside of the doctoral thesis itself, a hugely important aspect of contemporary PhD life. The award is, however, much more than just the stipend that it offers.
"Having the monetary support of the National University of Ireland allows you to commit your
time both to a more developed investigation of the ideas and theories at the centre of your research and also allows you to take on additional activities
that help to grow your academic standing outside
of the doctoral thesis itself, a hugely important
aspect of contemporary PhD life."
The National University of Ireland, and the community of scholars that it connects, have created a highly influential and well-respected community within various disciplines and Universities around the world. Securing a Travelling Studentship not only gives each recipient some well needed confidence in their own work, something that can often be in short supply in academia, but also offers an already established platform for you and your research. In an often highly contested environment, awards like the Travelling Studentship create a way to stand out in the crowd by connecting you to a small group of select academics.
What advice would you give to prospective Travelling Studentship applicants?
The most important advice that I could give to anyone applying is to keep the application clear and concise. Yes, your proposed project should be a unique, progressive step forward in your field of research, but the way in which you map and explore that research should not be needlessly complex. Sometimes the simplest way to say something is the best way to say it.
What would you consider to be your major achievements to date?
James receiving his Travelling Studentship award from NUI Chancellor Dr Maurice Manning at the 2016 NUI Awards Ceremony.
The Travelling Studentship has enabled me to work on some really great projects. Aside from the opportunity to take over, craft, and deliver my own module in the music department here at the University of Liverpool, I have had the chance to work on a number of publications stemming from my doctoral thesis. While I have published one journal article in 2017, I have two books chapters in review for 2018 and I am currently in early discussions about publishing the complete thesis as a monograph. As someone who grew as a scholar through the University system in Ireland, it is really great to be able to reference the support of the NUI on each piece of work I am lucky enough to publish.
In 2018, three NUI Travelling Studentships will be offered in the Humanities and Social Sciences (including Business and Law).
The closing date is Friday 23 March 2018.
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