Early Career Research Award

The DRI Early Career Research Award was launched in 2019. This Award grants a prize for an original piece of research (e.g. research done for master’s or PhD thesis, article or publication) informed in whole, or in part, by objects/collections deposited in DRI. Unpublished research is also considered, as long as the work is intended for eventual publication.

Submissions are assessed by a panel that includes representatives from the DRI as well as an external assessor. The winner is granted a bursary award of €500.

The DRI Early Career Research Award  is open to early career researchers, including (but not limited to):

• Senior undergraduates
• Master’s students
• Those recently awarded a master’s degree
• PhD students or post-doctoral level researchers who do not hold an established academic post

DRI is committed to supporting early career researchers through initiatives like the DRI Early Career Research Award and through supporting best practice in research data management and Open Research in alignment with the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) principles.

DRI Early Career Research Award Winner 2021

DRI awarded the 2021 Early Career Research award to Orlaith Harford, who had recently completed a MSc in Experimental archaeology and material culture, in recognition of her diligence in demonstrating the value of DRI resources to her research. Orlaith has specialised in clay tobacco pipes, with a special interest in what these material objects can tell us about historical people and the society in which they existed.

In a blog post that has been preserved in the Repository, Orlaith walks us through material that has been preserved and made available in DRI, which relates to the topic of her research.

Orlaith shares some insights into how important openly-available digital research sources, with rich metadata, have been during COVID-19 lockdowns and to herself in particular as a researcher with dyslexia.

DRI Early Career Research Award Winner 2020

The 2020 DRI Early Career Research Award was awarded to Dr Siobhán Doyle.

Her winning submission, ‘Historical Narratives on Display: The Bullet in the Brick, National Museum of Ireland‘, draws on ‘The Inspiring Ireland Project‘ visual collections in the repository.

Siobhán’s research examines how representations of heroic death and martyrdom emerge in exhibitions commemorating the 1916 Rising at the National Museum of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin) and the Ulster Museum (Belfast) in 2016.

Her award-winning submission has been preserved for long-term access in the Repository here.

To learn more about Dr Doyle’s experiences using the visual collections in the DRI repository in her research, we invite you to read her blog ‘Negotiating the Challenges of Working with Visual Material: Archives, Cultural Institutions and Digital Collections‘.

DRI Early Career Research Award Winner 2019

The 2019 DRI Early Career Research Award was awarded to Field Archaeologist Jennifer McCarthy.

Jennifer’s research focused on the reinterpretation of a Middle to Late Bronze Age settlement site uncovered during site investigation works prior to the construction of the Youghal Bypass, Co. Cork in the early 2000s.

Jennifer used the archaeological excavation reports from the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) Digital Heritage Collections to inform her award-winning research.

Read more about Jennifer’s research in her blog on the importance of digital dissemination.

Application Details and Timeline

The Award will open for applications again in 2025.