Does anyone on this forum have experience of moving their project from one university/college to another, especially in Ireland? I'd love to hear from you if you've done that, what it was like, and any advice on little things to pay attention to, in order to make the process as smooth as possible. I'm about 15 months into an envisioned PhD, though I have not yet transferred to PhD-track and am still on paper a Master's student.

This is an amicable move, unrelated to supervisor blues I posted about a few months ago (I'm starting to think there's hardly anyone who never faces difficulty with supervisors at some or another point!). The project has just grown to something that will be better served by resources that are not available where I am now.

People are already on board for a supervisory team at the place I want to move to. It's a solid commitment backed by previous good working relationships, so not strangers I don't know from Adam. Relevant role players at my current institution are aware, and while there is one key person who may well deliberately drag their feet, the wheels are turning to get the needed documentation.

Hi Boo,

I don't have direct experince of studying in Ireland but I am Irish and am collaborating with a couple of Irish Universities. From my experience it is a good system. There are less PhD students but the quality is there. Though there is a general lack of money in the system after all the years of austerity which has hollowed out some of the physical infarstructure.

In general Irish people are very freindly. Literally ask for anything and people will do there best to help you (but dont be too demanding, its rude). So I doubt you will have any problems settling. Though from friends I have heard supervisors can be very very hands off. Where they will always make time for you and give you advice but will never give any direction. And they see it as your project and that they are only there incase something massively goes wrong. That is not all supervisors but I have heard it too much.

I don't think you will have too many problems if you are just generally friendly. Goodluck!

Hi, rewt, and thanks for the reply.

That's great to hear, very encouraging and reassuring.

I still hope to hear from someone who may have knowledge of the administrative side of an Irish university/college considering a request for admission from a student who is already some months into a project, in other words advanced entry but at postgraduate level and for a research, not a taught programme. My work to date has already been evaluated by staff in this institution considering whether to put themselves forward as supervisors, and it's been judged by them to be adequate to build on, I will not have to start over from scratch.

Failing that, has anyone else on this forum perhaps gone through the process of moving their project from one institution to another a year or more after starting, with significant work already done, in any other European country? My current university/college is in an EU country.

thanks for this post.

Just an update as this question got no replies from anyone who has actually moved from one Irish university to another mid-project.

I've now been with my new university for just under a year, and it was the best thing possible that I could have done. I've completed a postgraduate module specific to my specialism and start the next one soon. It was heaven to gain more in-depth knowledge on the topic (this type of additional training was simply not available at my old university). My project is cross-discipline, the move was in many ways motivated by it involving more of the "second discipline" than anticipated. The move gained me one of the top specialists in the crossover field as co-supervisor, meaning I now have highly regarded specialists in each of the two disciplines the project straddles as my supervisors.

If you're sure you'd be better off elsewhere, go for it. However, you must be very, very sure the move is the right thing to do. As you can see, I had very solid reasons to move. It was unfortunately not accomplished without some animosity, though in fairness this was from only one person... unfortunately a person in a key position. You must be ready for a fight, but stay calm and professional: remember, how you conduct yourself will be the lasting impression left at your old university, and it's very seldom a good idea to burn bridges. For the most part the effort is in justifying the move to reasonable people keen on your best interests but also keen to keep you if they can (understandable!). Even that requires good preparation and thorough investigation of the options.

Brace yourself for a long process, though. In fairness the person I mentioned above, being in a key position, delayed things whenever they could. Even taking account of that, the administrative process requires tons of patience. Start to finish it took just over four months.

Hope this info helps someone in the future.

Hi,
Thanks for your post!
I'm looking into transferring uni's for my PhD from the UK to Ireland,
but I'm pretty sure I'd have to start the program from scratch. Do you
know anything in regards to transferring from a UK uni to Ireland?

No, I have no idea, I'm sorry! However, depending on the details of your course you may not have to start from scratch. There are two issues at stake: Intellectual Property, and recognition of prior learning. For the former your current uni must be ok for you to take what you've done so far and build on it somewhere else. For the latter the place you want to move to would have to give you credit for work already done.

I would say your first step is to decide where you'd want to go, then contact their research office to make an appointment to talk things through. Alternatively you can first go and talk to someone in the department you'd be looking to move to.

My apologies for the delay in replying, I've had a busy few weeks and checked in here today for the first time in a while.