The effects of proton irradiation on carrier dynamics were investigated by time-resolved photoluminescence on different InGaAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) structures varying in QD surface density and substrate orientation, as well as thin InGaAs quantum wells. The carrier lifetimes in the dots are much less affected by proton irradiation than in the wells. Decrease in lifetimes of only 40 percent at the highest proton dose are observed in some of the QDs, whereas an similar to20 to similar to40-fold decrease is observed in the wells. Similar trends were observed for all quantum dot samples.