Research Funding Schemes

Research Promotion Grant Scheme

Our Research Promotion Scheme helps us deliver high-quality research on disability in Ireland. This scheme runs every two years depending on the budget availability at the time.

NDA Research Promotion Scheme 2025-26

The 2025 to 2026 funding call for the National Disability Authority’s Research Promotion Scheme will open on August 11, 2025. This year’s theme once again is ‘Disability in Marginalised Groups and Communities’.

We are open to studies examining the relationship between disability and all marginalised groups and communities but in particular with Traveller and/or Roma populations.

We anticipate awarding up to three grants and are open to individual grant applications for varying amounts between €15,000 and €40,000 with the total funding available not exceeding €80,000.

Applications that demonstrate meaningful involvement of disabled people in the research process will be particularly welcome.

NDA Research Promotion Scheme 2023-24

The theme for 2023/2024 Research Promotion Scheme was ‘Disability in Marginalised Groups and Communities’.

We have awarded funding to the following two research projects:

1. Trinity College Dublin: Dr Julie Broderick and her team will investigate the scale and impact of physical disability in people experiencing long term homelessness in Ireland.

1. University of Galway: Professor Eilionóir Flynn and her team examined the experiences of disabled candidates who identified as holding intersecting identities and stood in the 2024 local and European elections. The report is available to read on our dedicated webpage.

NDA Research Promotion Scheme 2021-22

The theme for the 2021/22 Research Promotion Scheme was ‘Assistive Products and Consumer Products that Support Choice and Control for Persons with Disabilities’.

We awarded funding to the following two research projects:

1. University College Cork and Dublin City University: "A User-Centred Exploration of the Assistive Potential of Digital Voice Assistants for People with Disabilities in Ireland".
   

2. The National University of Ireland, Galway: "Assistive and Consumer Products for as Supplementary Reading Instruction for Children with Disabilities: Current Status & Potential for Application in Practice".

• Take a look at the full range of disability related research projects we have supported since 2008.