Aoife Doyle, Employment-Based Postgraduate Programme, Irish Research Council

So what’s your area of research?

I’m currently undertaking a PhD with the Irish Research Council employment-based scheme and as part of that I work with a planning and research consultancy, Future Analytics.

What are the advantages of employment based research?

I had considered the traditional, academic Phd route. But one of the benefits of the employment based route is that it widens my career prospects, which is something that attracted me to it.

What skills have you developed

Within Future Analytics I work on a number of EU funded research projects, so it is very important to have strong project management skills, strong research skills and they are things that I have really developed over recent years, and they will be of benefit no matter what career path I pursue in the future.

What are the practical impacts of your research?

It’s really great for me to see the academic outputs being transferred into a practical setting, we’ve actually tested our research in case-studies across Europe, in places like London, Bilbao and Helsinki. So it’s fascinating to see your research at work on the ground.

How is your research supported?

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about the employment based scheme is the immersive aspect of the programme, I’m in the working world, not working alone in a library. I’m constantly interacting with people, which provides me with really strong research ideas which benefits my work.

What are the best things about your role?

I love the EU based research work, and there is a great balance between the academic and practical applications of the research. That’s been particularly interesting for me.