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.

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.

Page last modified on January 24, 2022 10:11 am