Welcome to the October edition of the IUA Bulletin! In this issue we celebrate the outstanding work of Ireland’s PhD students and invite you to register for the IUA National Final of Three Minute Thesis. We consider the outcomes of Budget 2026 and what it means for higher education and we feature the inspiring story of a woman who left Afghanistan for Ireland to continue her academic career.
You’re invited to the IUA ‘Three Minute Thesis’ National Final!
Join us on the 19th of November 2025 in the Royal Irish Academy for the IUA National ‘Three Minute Thesis’ Competition and help us celebrate the talent of our PhD students!
Click here to register to join us in-person – https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/three-minute-thesis-iua-national-final-2025-tickets-1692215164109?aff=affiliate1
Or, click here to register to watch online – https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8TTtr2yDRRyLncA-625YPw#/registration
7 PhD students from IUA universities — each a winner of their university’s competition, are coming together to compete in the IUA National Final. An 80,000-word thesis would normally take nine hours to present… but these researchers have just three minutes to explain their PhD! 👏
In case you missed it…
IUA Reaction to Budget 2026
In what has been publicly acknowledged as a difficult budget, with more money on the table but more mouths to feed, there were a number of positives for the higher education sector but still more work to do. The two most notable outcomes were the full funding of 2026 nationally agreed pay awards and confirmation of the commitment to fund research with a capital investment of €426m euro. However, while acknowledging the progress made in Budget 2026, legacy shortfalls in core funding remain to be resolved, particularly the €307 million structural shortfall identified under the Funding the Future framework.
🔗 Read IUA Press Release – https://www.iua.ie/press-releases/budget2026/
International Collaboration…
From Afghanistan to Ireland: One Woman’s Journey to Continue Her Research Career
When conflict disrupts lives, education is often among the first casualties. But for one Afghan researcher, losing her position as a lecturer was not the end — it became the beginning of a remarkable new chapter. In this interview, she shares her inspiring journey from Afghanistan to Ireland, the challenges she faced as a woman in academia, and how support from initiatives like EURAXESS Ireland, the Scholar Rescue Fund, and a welcoming academic institution helped her rebuild her career and voice in science.
Her story is one of resilience, mentorship, and hope. 🔎 Read full interview – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-afghanistan-ireland-inspiring-wco6e/
IUA meets EU Ambassadors about University Entry Requirements
IUA hosted a meeting with the Ambassadors of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Estonia and Lithuania to discuss how Irish universities determine entry requirements for applicants presenting secondary school qualifications from other EU countries. The engagement provided an opportunity to outline the new collective structure, agreed by all Irish public higher education institutions earlier this year, for setting and publishing the annual framework of entry criteria for EU/EFTA/UK qualifications, under the overall governance of university Registrars/VPs Academic.
Dr Stephen Ryan, EU Qualifications Business Lead for this collective structure, and Dr Danielle Byrne (UCC Admissions Officer) guided the Ambassadors through the procedures and methodologies in place to ensure fair and transparent equivalencies for other EU/EEA/EFTA/UK undergraduate applicants to Irish universities. The framework is based on robust statistical comparisons between national secondary school qualifications and the Irish Leaving Certificate.
The IUA invited the ambassadors to provide statistical information from their respective national authorities to support future reviews of these equivalencies. This collaborative approach will ensure that entry standards remain fair, transparent, and consistent for applicants across Europe.