Candidates for membership must be nominated by two current members of the Academy who have agreed to act as the candidates Proposer and Seconder. The Proposer and Seconder must be from different institutions from each other. All nominations received are subject to rigorous international peer-review by the Advisory Committee on the Assessment of Candidates for Membership (ACACM), whose role is to select those who best meet the criteria for election, benchmarked to global standards. The views of each candidate’s nominated referees, as well as that of independent expert international referees, are sought as part of this process.

Criteria

The criteria for election to Academy Membership are as follows:

  • Achievements in research outputs (publications and other), showing significant evidence of originality and scholarship; at least some of the Candidate’s publications/research outputs must have attracted global scholarly interest outside of Ireland.
  • Other academic achievements, reflected in the scholarly standing of the Candidate, impact of the Candidate’s research and their contributions to the discipline.
  • Residency in Ireland.

Residency

Candidates for Membership must be resident and working on the island of Ireland at the time that they are proposed. A Candidate is regarded as resident in Ireland if they are currently resident on the island of Ireland, and has been resident on the island of Ireland for at least six months in each year of the three years preceding nomination; we determine the usual place of residence on the basis of one or more of the following:

  • The main affiliation address of the Candidate as listed in the publications of the two years preceding nomination.
  • Where a Candidate has an Irish academic affiliation, it would normally be expected that the preponderance of publications presented for consideration would be credited to the Candidate’s particular institution from commencement of residency.
  • The main employment of the Candidate in the current and preceding three years.
  • The main home address of the Candidate in the current and preceding three years.

Any change in residency status should be communicated by the Proposer as soon as they become aware of it.

DORA

Please also note that the RIA has signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, commonly known as DORA, which in essence involves two main commitments:

  1. Evaluate the research, not the publication venue or platform. In particular the Journal Impact Factor should not be used as a proxy for the quality of an article published in that journal.
  2. Recognise a wider range of contributions to research and not just the traditional journal article or monograph. This could include (but is not limited to) open source software, registered protocols and reports, prototypes, curated data, digital media, research-based film, exhibitions, original musical composition or other research outputs and activities

How to be Nominated

Nominations are made as a Certificate of Candidature which must be signed by two Members of the Academy, who have agreed to act as the candidates Proposer and Seconder. The Proposer and Seconder for a Candidate must be from different institutions from each other.

Directions and guidelines for Proposers and Candidates can be found here. Guidelines for the Narrative CV and Personal Statement can be found here (pdf doc) or here (word doc). Please note that the Certificate of Candidature (to be filled out by the Proposer and Seconder) is only available to members, in the members’ login section of this website.

Candidates may find it useful to speak informally with an Academy member. A complete list of current Academy Members will be available online soon, you can view an excel file here.

The call for nominations is now closed. The next call will open in Summer 2024.

For queries, please contact Síle Lane or Karen Ayton at candidates@ria.ie or phone 01 676 2570.