What News, Events and Funding Opportunities Are Featured on the Gaisce Website?

Updated

Gaisce – The President's Award, Ireland's national youth award for people aged 14–25, publishes its current news, events and funding announcements in the "What's Happening?" blog section of gaisce.ie. The items visible on the site at the time of writing cover a bursary fund with open applications, a new strategic plan, annual reporting, hiring, partner events and a return to the National Ploughing Championships. Because the blog is dated and updated continuously, treat the list below as a snapshot and check the live blog for the latest status before acting on any deadline.

Funding: Gaisce SUAS Bursary Fund 26/27

The most directly actionable item is the Gaisce SUAS Bursary Fund 26/27, announced on the site with applications open. A later post reminds readers that "The Gaisce SUAS Bursary fund closes this Friday," which indicates the fund runs on a fixed application window rather than rolling applications.

What the site confirms:

  • The fund exists for the 26/27 cycle and applications were open at the time of posting.
  • There is a closing date, promoted through both the blog and social channels.

What the site does not state on these pages: the award amounts, eligibility rules or the application form itself. If you intend to apply, go to the bursary announcement post and follow its links rather than relying on the summary here, and confirm the deadline directly — a "closes this Friday" reminder goes stale quickly.

Strategy and reporting: Strategic Plan 2026–2030 and Annual Report 2025

Two documents frame where the organisation is heading and what it has done:

Item What it is Why it matters to you
Strategic Plan 2026–2030 ("Youth Ready to Dream, Dare, Do!") The organisation's multi-year plan Useful if you are a partner, school, employer or funder assessing whether to align with Gaisce
Annual Report 2025 Yearly report on activities and impact Background for research, funding cases or journalism
Annual Report 2025 (Irish language version) As Gaeilge edition of the same report For Irish-language readers or bilingual organisations
Participant Survey and Annual Report 2025 summary post Blog write-up on "Connection, Community and Celebrations" and lasting impact A quicker read than the full report if you only need headline findings

Events and partner activity

The blog and linked social feeds show a calendar built around public events and partner organisations:

  • Challenge Partner Showcase — announced as returning, highlighting projects run with partner organisations.
  • National Ploughing Championships 2026 — Gaisce announced it is "heading back" to the event, an example of the organisation appearing at large public gatherings rather than only running its own events.
  • Challenge partners in action — posts celebrate partners such as Scifest4STEM and Ulster GAA's first Gold Joint Award trail, showing the kinds of organisations Gaisce works with.
  • Participant and PAL stories — for example a piece titled "Ciarán Sears: A PAL's Voice," where a President's Award Leader describes their experience.

If you are considering becoming a partner or want to see whether Gaisce will be at an event near you, these posts are the place to check; the site does not publish a single consolidated events calendar on the pages reviewed.

Organisational news

  • Recruitment: a "We're Hiring: Development Officer" post indicates open staff roles are advertised through the blog.
  • Resources for leaders: "The 2026 PAL Pack is Here!" announces the annual pack for President's Award Leaders.
  • Social channels: the site points to a Linktree collecting its Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok accounts, where day-to-day updates and reminders (such as bursary deadlines) appear first.

How to use this information

  1. For funding: open the SUAS Bursary Fund 26/27 post, follow its application link, and verify the closing date — the site's own reminder shows deadlines are tight and promoted via social media.
  2. For research or partnership decisions: start with the Strategic Plan 2026–2030 and the Annual Report 2025 summary post, then download the full report if you need detail.
  3. For events: scan the blog's first page and the Linktree social links; the blog is paginated ("1 2 Next Load More Posts"), so older announcements sit on later pages.
  4. For roles or leader resources: check the hiring post and the 2026 PAL Pack announcement respectively.

One caution: the blog mixes evergreen announcements with time-sensitive ones, and nothing on the page marks items as expired. Always confirm current status — especially for the bursary — on the original post or through Gaisce's social accounts before committing time to an application.