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UROP for Staff

Applications to run a project in 2024 are now closed. 

If you would like to discuss the possibility of self-funding a UROP project in 2024 please contact urop@reading.ac.uk.

What is UROP?

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) is managed by Careers at the University of Reading and offers undergraduates the chance to gain hands-on research experience on projects covering all disciplines across the University.

The scheme provides exciting opportunities for students in the middle years of their degree (i.e. not first or final year students) to support real research projects alongside academic researchers at the university. Our research projects last six weeks over the summer break, or can be part-time over a longer period, and those students involved with the scheme will receive a bursary of £1,500.

UROP has been in place at Reading since 2006 and has supported over 800 students to date. The scheme is managed by Careers and is financed by the University, with additional support from Schools and Departments.

As a member of staff, a UROP project could enable you to run a pilot project for a research grant application, enhance the knowledge and/or awareness of the School/Department, or support a discrete section of an existing project for which you are Principal Investigator, providing students with the opportunity to develop their research skills and academic knowledge. It can also develop students who may wish to continue to research degrees under your supervision.

 

What Supervisors say about UROP:

Professor Donal O'Sullivan, Agriculture:

"This is the first time in my career that I would say a six-week project has produced a game-changer. Not in the sense of new knowledge but the computing-biology collaboration has delivered an immensely powerful tool, which allows my field genetics research to leap forward."

Dr Jennie Litten-Brown, Agriculture:

"Reading is a research intensive University and the UROP placement is an excellent opportunity for students to integrate with the research community and gain valuable experience - I like to make this point at Open Days."

Dr Alice Mauchline, Agriculture:

This placement enabled me to investigate a data set from an external colloborator - something I would have been unlikely to have a chance to do without the UROP student."

Dr Andrew Bicknell, Biological Sciences:

"UROP is providing phenomenal support for researchers to generate preliminary data in order to develop further grant applications and publications."

Dr Amy Smith, Classics:

"Many colleagues in humanities think it difficult to engage undergraduates in proper research in fields that rely primarily on books and thoughts. I think I have proved, at least to myself, that they are wrong."

Dr Stephen Langdon, Maths:

"I was very pleased to receive funding for this project, which has proved to be very beneficial to my own research as well as to the development of the student's research skills. I am involved with student recruitment, both at an undergraduate and a postgraduate level, and I feel that the UROP scheme is extremely beneficial with respect to both. Over the course of the summer numerous undergraduate applicants visited the department and having current undergraduates around to talk to them and to tell them about the opportunities for summer research opportunities was a great bonus."