INSPIRE Scholarships

Medical (years 1 and 2) and Dental Students (any year) from the University of Aberdeen are invited to compete for 8 week summer research scholarships. Successful students will be able to choose from a list of selected projects to work under the supervision of named academic mentors from at least two of the five different Institutes within the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition for a period of 8 weeks (stipend £125/week).

Potential academic supervisors should submit a project title and brief description of the project (no more than 150 words) by writing to Professor Colin Lumsden.  These will be reviewed and selected by a team of senior academics and appropriate projects will be presented to successful students.

One of the main aims of this scheme is to encourage interdisciplinary research within the school. Therefore, the selected projects should meet the definition provided by the National Sciences Foundation (US) below and involve at least two of the institutes within the School:

"Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice."

Up to four summer national scholarships (6-8 weeks) are available for University of Aberdeen Medical and Dental students with outstanding calibre who demonstrated excellence in academia and research.

Students (in medicine or dentistry Year 3 or 4) will be chosen. Potential supervisors will be required to identify (a) supervisor/s from a centre of excellence (within UK) with which they currently collaborate and have agreed to host the successful student. The scholarship will be awarded to a successful candidate after CV screening and a formal interview process. A stipend of £125/week (maximum £1000 over 8 weeks) will be offered to the students with an additional £1000 being invested into the student’s travel and living expenses (subject to Covid restrictions).

Potential academic supervisors should submit a project title and brief description of the project (no more than 150 words) by writing to Professor Colin Lumsden.

Successful students will be given the opportunity to choose the project of his/her preference in keeping with the host institution requirements.

This special scholarship category allows medical and dental students from Universities within UK (excluding University of Aberdeen) to apply for a scholarship of £1000 (plus £150/week for up to 8 weeks for accommodation costs when in Aberdeen).

The INSPIRE National scholarship scheme is one of its kind which allows medical and dental students from other UK institutions to work under supervision of an academic supervisor from the University of Aberdeen.

The applicants will require to submit class marks and to have identified a project supervisor from the UoA in their submission. Those applications where there is a clear potential for future collaboration between universities will be given priority to foster UK research collaboration.

For a potential research project supervisor, please visit School of Medicine Medical Sciences and Nutrition research webpages.  

For University of Aberdeen students who are looking to undertake a project with another Medical School in Scotland, please email the below contacts to make an enquiry:

• University of Edinburgh – Dr Bryan Conway Bryan.Conway@ed.ac.uk
• University of Dundee – Dr Anna Marie Choy dcat@dundee.ac.uk