Undergraduate Studentships
Undergraduate studentships run over the summer and are normally designed for students who have just finished their second year of study (although this is flexible in some cases).
Royal Society of Biology — Plant Health Undergraduate Summer Studentships
We offer a number of undergraduate studentships in plant health to be carried out over the summer. These placements offer experience of research aligned with Defra priority areas in plant health.
Award: £400 per week, for a studentship period of 8-10 weeks.
External organisation grants
Studentships are essentially work experience in a specific area of biology and may involve laboratory research or practical fieldwork. Normally you have to find these research placements on your own but some of our Member Organisations may be able to help you organise them.
For any SfAM member in a position to supervise an undergraduate student. For six to eight week projects.
Award: variable, based on UK minimum wage for 18-20 year olds, adjustments available
Application deadline: see website for deadlines
The Biochemical Society sets aside as much funding as possible for its annual Summer Vacation Studentships and makes every effort to increase this total each year, providing many undergraduate students with the valuable experience of laboratory research.
Award: see website
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
Support for student fieldwork is available to undergraduate students and those in their first year following the date of graduation for both fieldwork projects and fieldwork training courses with a botanical theme.
Award: maximum £1,000 for each project
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
The BDS offer two grants for young (anyone up to the age of 25) people who are engaged in, or wish to establish, a small odonatological research project. The potential research topics are wide-ranging and could involve almost anything that may further biological or ecological knowledge, or support the conservation of British dragonflies. Another grant is available for over 25s.
Award: up to £250
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
The British Lichen Society offers one student scholarship annually for a summer vacation project at a British academic or other research institution. Suitable candidates are likely to be higher education/university students who would like to pursue a project investigating some aspect of lichenology. This could involve, for example, their ecology, taxonomy, physiology, structure, evolution or chemistry, or an area of particular local interest.
Award: maximum £300 for up to 10 weeks
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
The British Mycological Society offers a number of Undergraduate Student Bursaries to give students experience of research in any branch of mycology in the summer vacation prior to their final year of study.
Award: £450 per week
Application deadline: see website for more information
These are aimed at either school leavers entering a biomedical science degree, or undergraduates studying biomedical science. Studentships will receive funding to help support students while they undertake a research project in the host laboratory.
Award: Up to £1,850 for up to 10 weeks
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
These undergraduate summer research projects last six to eight weeks and the emphasis is on providing a research experience and training for the student.
Award: see website
Application deadline: see website for deadline
These are designed to give undergraduates experience in research.
Award: £270 a week for a maximum of 10 weeks , and £500 consumables
Application deadline: see website for deadline
These are offered to high calibre undergraduate students, who wish to gain research experience in cell biology during their summer vacation. Applications must be made by the prospective supervisor on behalf of a named student.
Award: £340 per week for up to 8 weeks.
Application deadline: see website for deadline
To provide some financial support for a student who undertakes a vacation lab project.
Award: £3,000 maximum
Application deadline: see website for deadline
The objective of the bursaries is to provide undergraduates considering a research career with some practical experience in a plant pathology laboratory and to assist supervisors to meet some specific research objectives, some bursaries for virtual work are also available. Bursaries will be for six to eight weeks.
Award: £450 per week, for a studentship period of 6-8 weeks
Application deadline: see website for deadlines
These are available to undergraduates who were born in Scotland, who have a parent born in Scotland, or who have at least two years of secondary education in Scotland. If eligible applicants may be considered for the award of a Vacation Scholarship for the pursuit of a full time research project, usually in the vacation between their second and third years.
Award: Stipend based on Scottish Living Wage
Application deadline: see website for deadline
This scheme will finance a limited number of bursaries to support undergraduates in the summer vacation immediately prior to their final year.
Award: maximum of £3,750
Application deadline: early March each year (see website)
These are offered to undergraduate students in any area of genetics, to gain research experience by carrying out a research project in the long vacation, usually prior to their final year. Studentships will only be awarded for students who have yet to complete their first degree (i.e. who will still be undergraduates during the long vacation when they do the studentship).
Award: The studentship will consist of an award of £425 per week for up to eight weeks to the student, plus a grant of up to £750 to cover expenses incurred by the host laboratory
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
The Microbiology Society funds a limited vacation studentships each year. These support six to eight week projects undertaken by undergraduate students in the summer vacation before they enter the final year of study.
Award: up to £3,898.80 to cover a student stipend and research consumables
Application deadline: see website for deadline
Six studentships are offered, split evenly between physical sciences, biological sciences, and interdisciplinary projects. Applications must include a significant microscopy component and should come from a suitable host academic on behalf of a student.
Award: up to £2,000
Application deadline: see website for deadline
They offer a maximum of eight week vacation scholarships for undergraduate students. The work is offered in university departments or research institutes in the UK or Irish Republic on research projects related to reproduction, fertility, and lactation in man and other animals.
Award: For projects up to eight weeks long, £250 a week for living costs of student, plus £1,000 to be paid to host laboratory for consumables.
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
Sainsbury Undergraduate Studentships are awarded to support undergraduate summer projects in plant science. The studentships are open to students in their second year (or in their third year, if on a four year course). Seven Sainsbury Undergraduate Studentships are offered each year.
Award: £5,000 total, including £3,000 for host institution and £2,000 to student.
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
There are various awards available to students studying at universities or colleges in the British Isles or an overseas institution at which there is a UFAW University Links representative. Students will usually be undertaking courses in the agricultural, biological, psychological, veterinary, or zoological sciences.
Award: Variable, see website
Application deadline: see website for specific deadlines
Discover other grants and funding opportunities