Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarships

The Wellcome Trust’s Biomedical Vacation Scholarships provide promising undergraduates with hands-on experience of research at the University of Bristol during the summer holidays, with the aim of encouraging you to consider a career in research.

You’ll gain professional experience through a funded internship, gaining knowledge and experience in your chosen subject to help support your application for postgraduate study and other research jobs in the future.

During the Vacation Scholarship you’ll take part in sessions to improve your 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 scholars, as well as staff and students at the University.

Research project may be done remotely, in the laboratory, office, clinic or field and may involve experimental or theoretical approaches, depending on the type of research a supervisor undertakes.

Each supervisor is permitted to host only one Wellcome Trust funded student, so you may wish to submit your top three choices of project.

Download supervisor and project information: Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship projects (PDF, 73kB)‌‌

Funding

You will be paid £12 per hour. You will also be eligible for funding to cover travel and accommodation costs.

Duration

The Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship will last six weeks from Monday 1 July to Friday 9 August 2024 (9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday). Please note some project dates may vary.

To apply you must:

  • Be registered on a relevant undergraduate course in the UK or Republic of Ireland. Examples of relevant subjects include: science (biomedical, natural, computing or physical sciences), medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, engineering, mathematics and psychology;
  • be in the middle year(s) of your degree;
  • have not yet undertaken a substantial period of research.

Where a scholarship is oversubscribed, preference will be given to those who meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • your ethnicity is listed under Asian or Asian British; Black, Black British, Caribbean or African; Mixed or multiple ethnic groups; or the Other ethnic group category on the gov.uk list of ethnic groups;
  • you are a mature student (aged 21 or over when they started their first undergraduate course);
  • you have been eligible for free school meals;
  • you come from one of the more deprived areas of the country as defined by the government's Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) database. You can check your postcode ranking using the IMD website. Please note this criteria only applies to students who live in England;
  • you are a care-leaver or an estranged student;
  • you are a refugee or asylum seeker:
  • you have a disability. Please note that the term disability is very wide; further details of what may be considered a disability are in this link definition of disability;
  • you are currently studying at a non-Russell Group university.

Applicants who do not meet any of these criteria are still eligible to apply.

Please note, you are ineligible to apply if you:

  • are in your first or last years;
  • have previously undertaken a vacation scholarship from Wellcome or another funding body, or have had significant research experience;
  • have completed or are currently undertaking an intercalated year;
  • have completed or are currently undertaking a one-year placement in research as part of their degree (eg a sandwich year);
  • are a graduate-entry medical student who has completed a previous undergraduate degree in a science-related subject;
  • are enrolled on a course outside the UK or the Republic of Ireland.

Applications are now closed for 2024 and will reopen next year for summer 2025.