Revised criteria for SMDBS Widening participation summer studentship (please note: if you have already completed the questionnaire you do not need to apply again).

The School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences (SMDBS) will award up to 5 students, who meet ANY widening participation criteria, an 8-week summer studentship. The studentship is open to students currently enrolled (2024/25) in pre-ultimate years of undergraduate studies in Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences or Human Biology degrees (ie Medicine or Dentistry years 1-4, Biomedical Sciences or Human Biology Years 1-2).

The scholarship will provide the selected students with a stipend of £200-400 per week for 8 weeks (towards expenses) to carry out research in one of the 6 teaching or research centres within SMDBS. The award will be subject to satisfactory performance on their course and good standing within the university. The successful candidates will be required to submit a report (250 words) on the experience and impact the studentship has had on their career development within 2 weeks of completing the studentship program. Further to this the successful candidates may be asked to participate in publicity regarding their activities.

To be eligible for one of these studentships, candidates must meet ONE of the widening participation criteria below (examples given are not exclusive):

• Socioeconomic status (low income, 1st in family). Are in receipt of the full maintenance grant from Student Finance Northern Ireland (based on family income less than £19,203). If you are normally resident outside Northern Ireland we may ask you for further information regarding this disadvantage.
• Ethnic and Racial Background (underrepresented racial, ethnic & cultural groups)
• Disability (not limited to Physical, Sensory, Mental Health, Neurodivergent, students requiring accommodations)
• Gender/Sexual orientation (underrepresented gender groups, LGBTQIA+)
• Geographical and regional disadvantage (Area of deprivation, rural/remote, students with refugee status). If you have a permanent residence postcode in Northern Ireland that is classified as being in a "disadvantaged neighbourhood" (Quintile 1) by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (please check eligibility of your postcode at http://go.qub.ac.uk/PostcodeCheckerQ1) you will be considered for this studentship. If you are normally resident outside of Northern Ireland, we will also consider your application on the grounds of area of deprivation, but we may ask for further information regarding this disadvantage.
• Care givers, care experienced (foster/residential care) and students who are parents
• Historical disadvantaged communities (Marginalised and underrepresented communities eg GRT, indigenous)
• Students with a history of personal challenges (eg homelessness, displacement)
• Any other disadvantage not falling into any of the above areas (eg mature students).

If you meet ONE of the criteria above, we invite you to apply for the awards using the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/A0JR0LtNbf

Applications will close on Monday 7th April 2025 at 9am (this is an extended deadline to that previously advertised).

Only applications received before the deadline will be considered.

Applicants will be asked to provide a statement of no more than 250 words to outline why they should be considered for the studentship, their motivation in applying and what benefits they hope to gain.

An additional (no more than) 250 words should be submitted detailing the area of research/training which they would be interested in pursuing during the summer studentship and why. Check out the following links to the teaching and research centres (biomedical, medical, dentistry teaching centres and the PGJCCR, WWIEM and CPH research centres). You are very welcome to indicate an interest in one of the already existing studentships in any of the centres but we would also welcome your own ideas or outlines for any topic that you would be interested in working on.

A panel of judges will assess and shortlist applications for interview to determine the final recipients. The successful candidates will be announced in mid-late April 2025 with the studentships likely to run between June and August 2025 in conjunction with other studentship programmes running in the respective centres.

Please note: The application must be completed in one session and cannot be saved. We would suggest therefore that you complete your statements separately and then copy and paste it into the application form. If you have already completed the questionnaire you do not need to apply again we will consider your previous application and ask you by email for further information in necessary.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr Sean Roe s.roe@qub.ac.uk or Dr Mary McGahon m.mcgahon@qub.ac.uk