Summer Student Scholarships (SS)

HRB's Summer Student Scholarships is a small annual grant scheme for undergraduate health students at Irish third-level institutions. It sits under the Health Research Board of Ireland, a research council that steers students into patient-oriented and clinical research, health services research, and population health research. The scheme is tightly defined: full-time summer placements last six to eight weeks and pay €400 a week, for a maximum of €3,200. Eligibility is narrow. Applicants must be undergraduates in health or social care related disciplines, not in the first or final year of the degree, and they cannot have already built up more than eight consecutive full-time weeks of research experience or hold prior MSc or PhD research experience. Institutional research office approval is required before submission, which keeps the route tied to universities rather than individual applications outside that setting. The practical appeal is speed and clarity rather than scale. The 2026 round closed on 27 November 2025, decisions were due in late February 2026, and the next call is expected around October 2026. Students with a clear HRB-aligned project and a supportive host department are the best fit; the scheme is designed to give early exposure to health research, not to fund a standalone research career.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.