To help you prepare your application, you will need at least the following information
Research project statement (including background, objectives, how the student will be supervised and a consumables breakdown);
A non-technical summary of the project that a lay person can understand;
Examples of the number and species of animals the project has the potential to save.
Examples of the types of animal experiments conducted that relate to the work that this project could replace if successful (include references).
A statement on the impact of the project on biomedical research, humans, and animals in research.
You must specify a particular student at the time of application. The student will need to provide the following information to the applicant during the application process:
Personal statement from the student that includes their education history, why they want to undertake a summer research project with Animal Free Research UK, their future plans/career aspirations and how this particular project will help.
This information can be collated separately prior to applying and then the information inserted into the application form in the relevant sections.
Apply through our online application portal now
We only accept applications through our online application portal. You will need to register for an account, which will allow you to return to and edit your application at any stage before submission.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 15 April 2022.
This project will investigate using entirely animal free components to screen a range of biological inks for their potential to improve the mechanical structure of printed skin for skin disease models.
Artemijs will use animal free products to re-establish the human heart-in-a-dish and compare an animal free system and recapitulate key experiments for comparison with existing model data sets.
Fengjiao will explore the effect of animal free simulated lung fluid on environmental nano and microparticles in order to develop better human relevant models for lung toxicology.
Heidi will develop technology of building neural circuits with defined architecture for better understanding of neurodevelopmental diseases such as epilepsy.
Michael will use the available clinical data from existing breast cancer patients to investigate how different types of the disease contribute to disease severity and patient outcome.
Rebecca will generate a single-stranded DNA aptamer to detect a specific human protein receptor called the formyl peptide receptor to replace animal-derived antibodies.
Rita will develop an hydrogel scaffold that can be implanted into the body and release drugs under determined mechanical stimulation for new drug delivery systems.
Ryan will use modern sequencing technology to assess the gene expression of cultured lung blood vessel cells which have been donated from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients to help inform the creation of new treatments.
William will take a closer look at how psychoactive substances act in certain receptors in the brain to contribute to the development of animal free chemical sensing platforms.
Our Summer Student Programme gives students the opportunity to gain animal-replacement research experience. Summer research funding is available for recently graduated students or undergraduate students who have completed at least 2 years of a relevant degree. All summer projects should be undertaken for 8-12-weeks (duration to be agreed with the supervisor) and must be directed towards replacing the use of animals in current research experiments.
Project Criteria
We are accepting applications for both lab-based and desk-based research projects. Desk-based projects might include bioinformatics studies, development of computational techniques, or systematic reviews.
Summer research projects are funded for a duration of 8-12 weeks, with a student stipend of up to £250 per week to support student living costs during the project and total consumables budget of up to £560.
Proposed projects must have the potential to be carried out this summer and to be completed by 31 August 2022. The latest a project can start is 6 July 2022. Please consider this before applying for a Summer Studentship grant.
Summer research projects must show the potential to replace any regulated animal experiment in the UK.
Research that requires or involves the use of animals (defined as any organism of the Kingdom Animalia, excluding humans) in any way, even though the ultimate aim may be to replace their use, will not be supported.
Student and Supervisor Eligibility
Students must be undertaking or have recently completed a degree relevant to advancing animal replacement science (biomedical science, computational chemistry, biophysics etc.).
Undergraduate students must have completed at least two years of their degree.
Students must be available to attend our free 2-day in person or online Summer School, which will take place in early September (date to be confirmed).
Students are required to present their summer research project in the form of a 3-minute oral presentation with PowerPoint slides at the Summer School.
Students cannot apply for funding directly. Applications must be made by a staff member at an appropriate research facility (University, Hospital, Company). We encourage students who wish to undertake a summer research project to get in touch with a potential supervisor to discuss the opportunity to work with them. The supervisor can then apply on their behalf.
Applicants (the students’ supervisor) do not need to be tenured or have a permanent contract to apply; PhD Students, PostDocs, Research Assistants, Technicians or Lab managers are also eligible to be the grant holder for the Summer project.
Animal Free Research UK is committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive research environment where there is equal access to funding opportunities. We actively seek and encourage applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds.
The Summer Student Programme will not be running in 2023, but stay tuned for other opportunities for early-career scientists!
Our Summer Student Programme gives early career scientists valuable laboratory experience in animal free medical research. It helps to show them the importance of human-relevant, non-animal science to tackle human diseases.
The opportunity and support given to early-career scientists through the Summer Student Programme paves the way for the next generation to be innovative: to end the era of animal testing, carry out pioneering research, and make medical breakthroughs.
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Our talented students spend their summer developing animal free research techniques to study a wide range of illnesses. From Alzheimer’s disease, to cancer and heart disease, our Summer Students advance society’s understanding of human health and help save animals from being used in these areas of research.
Former students have found that these short projects influence their career decisions and encourage them to pursue non-animal based research careers.
A lack of confidence, as well as ignorance, can stand in the way of a new scientist feeling able to question methods
that experiment on animals. I feel that my summer research project will break down these barriers and introduce a new-
found confidence for me to question such methods, teaching me to stand up for animal
rights in the laboratory.
Summer School
In 2018 we extended our Summer Student Programme by launching our Summer School – a three-day residential jam-packed with career-boosting and inspirational workshops to provide early career scientists with the additional skills to help them develop their future careers.
In 2022, our students attended a two-day Summer School in September jam-packed with career-boosting and inspirational workshops providing them with the additional skills to help them develop their future careers.
“The staff at Animal Free Research UK are very supportive and offered great learning points and feedback throughout the conference; It was also great to practice with other students and for us to become more familiar with each other as fellow summer students; The session with Dr Jamie Gallagher gave very helpful advise on how to present, which is something we don’t get much teaching opportunity with.”
We are all so excited about the future within grasp for biomedical research – because each of the young Summer School students showcased awe inspiring projects that left us all astounded.
We are sure you will join us in congratulating all our 2022 Summer Students and wish them all the best in the animal free research careers!
By supporting early career scientists through our Summer Student Programme, we all play a part in creating a future where no animal suffers to find treatments for human diseases, and where medical breakthroughs are discovered through cutting-edge, humane research.
A lot of these studentships fund preliminary pioneering pieces of work. These are going to be the leaders of research in the future and so we need to nurture their careers early on. They need the support of more experienced academics to understand how to navigate their way through academia, know their research and how to develop their careers.
Summer Student Josan Gandawijaya receiving his award from supervisor Professor Geoff Pilkington and Chair Laura-Jayne Sheridan
Supporting our scientists of the future to develop their career entirely without animal experimentation and therefore make real breakthroughs in medical research will create long-lasting change for both people and animals.
A heart-felt thanks to everyone who has supported our Summer Student Programme, past and present. Your generous donations are creating a new generation of pioneering researchers to make long-lasting change for both people and animals.
You can take action for animals, by uniting with us now!
A heart-felt thanks to everyone who has supported our Summer Student Programme, past and present. Your generous donations are creating a new generation of pioneering researchers to make long-lasting change for both people and animals.
Many human relevant approaches have been introduced into the scientific world, but unfortunately, the use of animals in medical research is entrenched and institutionalised, with many researchers still viewing animal experiments as the gold standard. This is our time to make change happen. Our work is funded entirely by your generous support, so please make a donation today to help us free animals from laboratories for good.
Rosie’s project will develop better human relevant models of bowel cancer to allow scientists to study how drugs penetrate dense cancer tissue without using animals.
Riddhi will develop a method to study the genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson’s disease in human brain cell lines, to assess whether the cells are entering a diseased state.
Morwenna will build a cell-based membrane which will act as a model for the cornea allowing her to find novel ways of delivering drugs without relying on testing in animals.
Izzy’s project will create, characterise and adopt an animal free approach towards genotoxicity testing of a variety of different human toxicants, using advanced human lung and liver model systems.
Emily-Rose will work to establish a new method of growing neuron-like cells to study Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) which is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders.
Dania will use artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to allow her to address an important unmet clinical need: can we predict tumour recurrence for head and neck cancer.
Ali’s project seeks to use a hybrid of computer learning and animal free laboratory techniques to develop a prognostic marker for head and neck cancer.
Zachary will use non-invasive methods on human participants to improve the function of prosthetic hands and help replace invasive experiments on cats, dogs and rats.
Kathryn will produce synthetic compounds to monitor microbial infections and Alzheimer’s disease and help replace experiments on millions of animals worldwide – including hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats, sheep, horses, mice and rats.
Katherine will use human skin to investigate if she can speed up and improve the repair of human skin wounds and help replace experiments on mice and pigs in skin research.
James will develop a computational model to predict the psychoactivity of molecules affecting the central nervous system and help replace experiments on mice, rats, cats and monkeys.
Intisar will develop a non-invasive tool for detecting, monitoring and treating cancer, to help replace experiments on mice and other animals worldwide used to produce antibodies.
Faris will develop a novel detection method to replace antibodies in the diagnostic testing of HIV and help replace experiments on millions of animals worldwide – including hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats, sheep, horses, mice and rats.
Deyna will develop an animal free 3D cell model of human muscle contraction to help replace experiments on mice and rats in exercise related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
Supervised by Dr Yubing Shi at Northampton University, Zhuo Song used computer modelling to help replace sheep and pig experiments in the clinical study of artificial hearts.
Supervised by Dr Christopher Rowlands at Imperial College London, Ze Lum built a test system that mimics a real human eye, to automatically take full diagnostic maps of the retina, to help replace experiments on cats and monkeys.
Supervised by Dr Zaynah Maherally at the University of Portsmouth, Thomas Clark unlocked the role of pericytes (cells that line blood vessels) in an all-human blood-brain barrier model, to help replace rats and mice in brain tumour research.
Supervised by Dr Nathaniel Milton at Leeds Beckett University, Sheree Smith researched the replacement of antibodies with non-animal synthetics (nucleotide aptamers) for use in Alzheimer’s disease and cancer research, to help replace experiments on mice.
Supervised by Dr Nick Peake at Sheffield Hallam University, Rachel Sharp built a physiologically relevant model of fat development during inflammatory bowel disease, to replace experiments on mice.
Supervised by Dr Adrian Biddle at Queen Mary University London, Olivia Knowles identified a novel cancer stem cell sub-population in melanoma (skin cancer) samples using a new protocol, to help replace the use of mice.
Supervised by Michelle Botha at the University of Hertfordshire, Niamh Haslett developed computer models to predict psychoactivity in new drugs rather than testing in mice.
Supervised by Dr Helen Colley at the University of Sheffield, Jowi Guillen developed tissue-engineered models to study the development of oral cancer, to help replace experiments on mice and hamsters.
Supervised by Dr Paul Roach at Loughborough University, Jodie Evans developed microfluidic neuronal cell circuits from computer-aided design through to 3D printing to help replace tests on mice and monkeys.
Supervised by Dr Susan Scholes at Newcastle University, Georgia Ellis developed a pea-protein lubricant to help replace foetal calf serum for the wear testing of artificial joints.
Supervised by Dr Sylwia Ammoun at Plymouth University, Foram Dave used a human cell culture model to study cells from brain tumour patients and test drugs, allowing a faster ‘bench to bedside’ transition into clinical trials without animal tests.
Supervised by Professor Nikolai Zhelev at Abertay University, Emma Ewen reviewed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (thickening of the heart muscle) research to show that human organoid cultures are more relevant than experiments on beagles.
Supervised by Dr Ewelina Hoffman at the University of Hertfordshire, Elisa Ali developed a human in vitro model to help replace rats and mice in pulmonary (lung) fibrosis research.
Supervised by Dr Leonid Nikitenko at Hull University, Eamon Faulkner developed fully humanised and animal free models to study the role of blood vessel cells in chronic diseases.
Supervised by Dr Matthew Kitching at Durham University, Domonkos Perenyi used artificial cell mimics to replace the use of egg yolk in understanding how cell membranes move.
Taleen Shakouri, supervised by Dr Stewart Kirton and Dr Michelle Botha at the University of Hertfordshire, developed a toxicology computer model, to replace experiments on monkeys, dogs and mice.
Stephanie Lunt, supervised by Dr Adrian Biddle at the Animal Replacement Centre Queen Mary University of London, used patient cancer samples to identify biomarkers in skin cancer to help replace the use of mice.
Shreya Asher will be working at Queen Mary University of London on a skin cell culture model to better understand skin cancer without having to conduct any experiments on mice.
Supervised by Dr Colin Boyle at Imperial College London, Sergi Fayos Villalta undertook a computational modelling project looking at the development of pressure ulcers and soft tissue damage to replace the use of mice and rats.
Oana Voloaca, supervised by Dr Melissa Lacey at Sheffield Hallam University, used a novel gut tissue model to investigate the influence of bacteria in gastrointestinal diseases (such as crohn’s disease), to replace experiments on rats.
Lauren Richardson, supervised by Dr Luigi De Girolamo at Nottingham Trent University, studied the proteins related to Parkinson’s disease, to replacing experiments on primates, rats and mice.
Evie Gruszyk, supervised by Dr Nicholas Peake at Sheffield Hallam University, developed a cell culture model to understand colorectal cancer without experimenting on mice.
Edward Nendick, supervised by Dr Mandy Johnstone at the University of Edinburgh, used one of the latest cutting-edge gene editing technologies, CRISPR-Cas9, to further our understanding of schizophrenia and replace experiments on mice.
Diliany Oliveira, supervised by Dr Mridula Chopra at the University of Portsmouth, developed a non-animal based screening tool to detect cancer biomarkers and replace the use of animals in prostate cancer research.
Bronte Munro, supervised by Dr Jelena Gavrilovic at the University of East Anglia, investigated the causes of atopic dermatitis and psoriasis using cell culture, to replace experiments on mice.
Alexander Lanz, at the University of Sheffield, developed a cell culture model of osteoarthritis, to replace current experiments on guinea pigs, rats and rabbits.
Summer Student Nefisa Marium undertook a project to monitor vitamin D metabolism using human cell culture, rather than using mice. Her work will enable researchers worldwide to gain greater understanding of how vitamin D is truly handled in human health and disease.
Baransel Kamaz undertook a Summer Studentship in 2014 to directly study human liver cancer using human-derived cells, under the supervision of Dr. Meritxell Huch at the University of Cambridge. They hope that the results will replace experiments on rats and mice.
Our Summer School returned a triumphant success after a forced virtual event last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer saw 16 early career scientists from leading universities work on projects to find treatments for human diseases using cutting-edge, humane research.
Then at the start of September, the students attended a two-day Summer School jam-packed with career-boosting and inspirational workshops providing them with the additional skills to help them develop their future careers.
We are all so excited about the future within grasp for biomedical research – because each of the young Summer School students showcased awe inspiring projects that left us all astounded.
We are sure you will join us in congratulating all our 2022 Summer Students and wish them all the best in the animal free research careers!
2021 Summer School
In 2021, our students attended a virtual two-day Summer School in September jam-packed with career-boosting and inspirational workshops providing them with the additional skills to help them develop their future careers.
“The staff at Animal Free Research UK are very supportive and offered great learning points and feedback throughout the conference; It was also great to practice with other students and for us to become more familiar with each other as fellow summer students; The session with Dr Jamie Gallagher gave very helpful advise on how to present, which is something we don’t get much teaching opportunity with.”
We are all so excited about the future within grasp for biomedical research – because each of the young Summer School students presented awe inspiring projects that left us all astounded. And you can watch this years student presentations here.
2018 Summer School
In 2018 we extended our Summer Student Programme by launching our Summer School – a three-day residential jam-packed with career-boosting and inspirational workshops to provide early career scientists with the additional skills to help them develop their future careers.
This multidisciplinary project and the additional training provided by the Animal Free Research UK Summer School will allow me to kickstart my research career by developing my research, laboratory, critical thinking, problem solving and networking skills.
Our unique opportunities for Summer Students at the Summer School include:
Meeting animal free scientists
Learning how to discuss their research with scientists and the public
Discovering the various career paths open to them
Coaching on how to achieve their chosen career goals
I had the greatest pleasure attending the first Animal Free Research UK Summer School, and meeting like-minded individuals, both scientists and supporters!
I had the opportunity to learn from workshops on communicating science through different platforms, as well as presenting my project poster. I definitely enjoyed the career advice and the amazing company of the other students across the country implementing animal free research! I cannot wait for the next networking event!
The students also bring a poster presentation of their cutting-edge replacement research to display at a celebratory event attended by their supervisors, other animal free researchers and some of our brilliant supporters – which is the perfect opportunity to apply the networking and communication skills they will develop during the Summer School.
The Summer School has been really really useful for the students to develop their career skills. It’s not an experience that they get as part of their undergraduate degree, where they only interact with people from their course. Coming to an event like this, they see the much bigger world of research.
Supporting our scientists of the future to develop their career entirely without animal experimentation and therefore make real breakthroughs in medical research will create long-lasting change for both people and animals.
