Widening Participation Summer Research Internships

You’ll gain professional experience through a funded internship, gaining knowledge and experience in your chosen subject. It will help support your application for postgraduate study and help you gain transferable skills and experience useful for applying to jobs in many sectors, including those in research. 

During the internship, you’ll take part in sessions to improve your independent study and research skills and gain insights into postgraduate study and research at the University of Bristol. There are also social opportunities for you to get to know the other interns, as well as staff and students at the University. 

Funding

You will be paid the Real Living Wage (currently £12.50 (plus 12.07% holiday uplift) per hour).

Duration

The Widening Participation Summer Research internships will last six weeks from Monday 8 June to Friday 17 July (9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday). Please note, some project dates may vary.

Location

For the duration of the research project you will primarily need to be based on or near campus, whether in an office, laboratory or clinic, though an internship may involve some fieldwork and could also involve experimental or theoretical approaches, depending on the type of research a supervisor undertakes.

Supervisor and project information can be viewed here.

Please note, you will need to be logged in to your University of Bristol account in order to view the document. Please contact student-inclusion-services@bristol.ac.uk in the first instance if you have any questions, and we can pass these on to supervisors where appropriate.

Projects offered will be linked to subjects that sit within the Faculty of Arts, Law & Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, however students from all Undergraduate courses, including Science & Engineering, are able to apply to these internship opportunities.

To apply for the WP Summer Research Internship you must:

• be a UK (Home) fee-paying student registered on a relevant undergraduate course at the University of Bristol; 
• be in the middle year(s) of your degree. To clarify, this refers to anyone who has at least a year of their degree remaining after summer 2026. (First years can apply, but priority will be given to second years and other students in the middle years of their degree);
• have a current grade average at 2:2 or higher (students on courses that do not use this grading system, such as BMS, are still able to apply)

 

Where an internship is oversubscribed, we will give priority to students who meet at least one or more of the following primary criteria:

• are from a Global Majority background (your ethnicity is listed under the Asian, Black, Mixed/ Multiple Heritage or Other ethnic group categories on the gov.uk list of ethnic groups);
• are a mature student (aged 21 or over when you started your first undergraduate course);
• have a home address postcode (as provided on your UCAS application) within an IMD quintile 1 area according to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Please use this tool for current IMD (England) information. You can check Welsh IMD quintiles using this tool, Scottish IMD quintiles using this tool, and Northern Irish IMD quintiles using this tool. 

Where oversubscribed by applicants who meet at least one of the above criteria, the following additional criteria will be used when prioritising applications:

• have been eligible for free school meals during secondary school;
• have a grade average of 2:2 or low 2:1;
• have a home address postcode (as provided on your UCAS application) within an IMD quintile 2 area;
• have a declared mental health condition;
• are from Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater (GTRSB) communities;
• have spent three or more months in local authority care;
• are currently an estranged student;
• have refugee status;
• have a disability;

 

Applications will open on 2 February 2026 at 9am. Please complete this application form.

Applications will close on 4 March 2026 at 23:59.