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Biophysical Sciences Institute
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Undergraduate Summer Research Bursaries

Our new Summer Research Bursaries support excellent undergraduate students from Durham University to take part in boundary-breaking interdisciplinary research during the summer vacation. 

These bursaries offer more than internships; They include activities designed to give participants additional opportunities to develop their research and communication skills, and provide a route to outputs that evidence these to future employers. 

  • Open to Durham University students only
  • 6-8 weeks of research embedded in an interdisciplinary research laboratory
  • 2-3 days of this time will be given over to a cohort project - a challenge to be tackled by the pool of bursary holders and aimed at developing teamwork and communication skills
  • Final reports to be presented in the form of posters at a half-day symposium arranged by the bursary holders during their projects with the support of the Institute Manager
  • Closing Date: 26 April 2024
  • Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary Application Form 2024
  • Application forms to be submitted to bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk. 

Summer Research Bursaries

What is in it for Undergraduates?  

BSI Summer Bursaries have been awarded for 12 years and in that time we have awarded 93 bursaries, as well as supporting many students who have received external funding. Many of the students who have taken part in these projects have gone on to PhDs, PDRAs and beyond. Alumni of this scheme hold academic positions at institutions across the world and senior positions in Industry. 

For 2024 we have refreshed the scheme, adding activities that promote the development of research and communication skills. These will be evidenced through news items on the BSI website and through this page, providing a resource to refer to for prospective employers. 

Bursary holders will receive £423.28 per week as a bursary. If accommodation is needed, we will work towards securing college accommodation. 

  • Gain hands-on experience

    “The studentship allowed me to find out what scientific research is really like day-to-day and confirmed to me that a research career is something that I would like to pursue.” 2019 Summer Internship holder.
    students smiling and chatting while working on laptops

  • Develop key skills desired by employers

    “Working as part of a larger team and attending talks helped me to understand the importance of an interdisciplinary environment, where individuals with differing specialties work together to achieve a common goal.” 2019 Summer Internship holder.
    Two female students studying

Gain hands-on experience

“The studentship allowed me to find out what scientific research is really like day-to-day and confirmed to me that a research career is something that I would like to pursue.” 2019 Summer Internship holder.
students smiling and chatting while working on laptops

Develop key skills desired by employers

“Working as part of a larger team and attending talks helped me to understand the importance of an interdisciplinary environment, where individuals with differing specialties work together to achieve a common goal.” 2019 Summer Internship holder.
Two female students studying

Who can apply? 

Applications are accepted from penultimate-year undergraduate students studying at Durham University. We will consider projects in any area of interdisciplinary research at the boundary between biosciences and the other physical sciences including mathematics, engineering and computer science. For more about our research themes, please see our Research Themes webpages.

A selection of “ready-made” project titles will be displayed on this website very soon. As well as these we warmly welcome applications for projects outside of these titles. If you have a research area in mind and would like help to identify a potential supervisor, please get in touch by email to bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk.   

 

What type of projects are we looking for? 

Below are a few possible project titles for 2024. These are just some of the topics and titles that are available, other potential supervisors will be able to suggest titles in their areas of research. Get in touch with us if you would like help to link up with a potential supervisor. 

Deep Generative Models for BioMedical Imaging and Analysis. Supervisor: Dr Jingjing Deng, Department of Computer Science. 

Live imaging of transport phenomena in ciliated systems and Modelling the embryonic heart. Supervisor: Dr Francesco Boselli, Department of Biosciences.

Redox-driven active transport. Supervisor: Dr Stefan Borsley, Department of Chemistry. 

Too greedy to survive: Tricking cancer cells to eat drug-loaded vesicles. Supervisors: Dr Margarita Staykova, Department of Physics and Dr Patricia Muller, Department of Biosciences.  

Using bacteria to build chemotactic robots. Supervisors: Dr Margarita Staykova, Department of Physics and Dr Gary Sharples Department of Biosciences.

Using machine learning to predict physiological responses: Working with cardiovascular data to create a machine learning model that predicts specific physiological responses. Supervisor: Dr Jonathon McPhetres, Department of Psychology.

 

How to apply 

A link to our 2024 application form can be found below. When we receive an application we share this with the named supervisors and BSI Executive Board (find out more here) who assess the applications according to the following assessment criteria: 

  • Applicant’s academic qualifications (weighting 25%) 
  • Applicant’s motivation (weighting 25%) 
  • Quality of the research proposal (weighting 25%) 
  • Strategic fit with BSI remit (weighting 25%) 

Form: Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary Application Form 2024

Submit completed application forms by email to bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk also copying in your proposed supervisor(s). 

Deadline: 26 April 2024 

BSI Summer Research Bursaries

What is in it for Supervisors? 

The 2024 Bursary scheme focuses on building new links and collaborations between academic groups, particularly in new areas of research. Projects can be between academics in Durham, or external colleagues and industrial partners. 

Forming new research collaborations

From our 2022 project supervisors we know that all the projects in the 2022 cohort have led to further research in their host groups
Network Connections Image

New research directions

2/3 Of our 2022 cohort's projects supported funding applications in their host groups.
Scrabble tiles showing the word research

Timelines 

  • Launch Event: 16 February 2024, 11-12 noon, register here 
  • Applications open: 16 February 2024
  • Closing date: 26 April 2024
  • Core weeks: TBC (this will be depending on cohort availability) 

 

Summary - Scheme at a glance 

  • Open to Durham University students only
  • 6-8 weeks of research embedded in an interdisciplinary research laboratory
  • Cohort project and mini-symposium associated with projects
  • £423 per week funding
  • Two supervisors required per project (ready-made projects will be shared on this website)
  • Closing date: 26 April 2024

Application form: Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary Application Form 2024

Bursary Information Booklet 2024: Bursaries Booklet 2024