1. Propose a project
Register your interest in having a student by proposing one or a number of projects using the Project Proposal webform. Your project(s) will be listed on our website. Students will be able to view the details and contact you.
2. Meet and recruit students at the CMP Lunchtime Seminar Series
As a CMP host, you can sign up to give a short presentation about your proposed project at the CMP Lunchtime Seminar Series in February. Submit your project by 19 January 2024 if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity to give a talk. Priority for talks will be given to CMP Supporters Club members.
3. Interview and select students
Make whatever arrangements suit you for meeting your prospective students, and deciding which one(s) you would like to engage. The interview process, project dates, working arrangements and hours, stipend/salary, and the terms and conditions of employment are between you and the student. As a minimum, we expect that students will be paid the National Living Wage (please see Funding the Project for more information).
Students are advised that they should contact you before Friday 23 February 2024, if they are interested in your project. We ask that you wait until after this date before beginning your selection process both so that all interested students have an equal chance of being considered for your project, and also so that all hosts presenting projects at the CMP Lunchtime seminars throughout February have an equal opportunity to interest students. After this date, offers can be sent to students on a rolling basis. For the best chance of securing your preferred candidate, we recommend hosts make offers before Friday 8 March 2024, though you may continue to liaise with and make offers to students beyond this date.
4. Apply for funding (academic projects only)
A small bursary fund is available to support academic projects in other university departments (please see Funding the Project for more information). We expect that industrial organisations will be able to fund their own placements. Academic host supervisors may have more than one student, but please note that multiple projects with one supervisor cannot be supported without matched funding from the host.
5. Register your project
Once you have selected a student for your project and they have formally accepted, please write to us at CMP@maths.cam.ac.uk to register your project. We need to know the name of the student, their email address, and the dates for the project that you have agreed. This ensures that students will have continued access to support facilities (IT, university email, library) from the University and receive information about events and social activities for summer students. It also enables us to invite you and your student to the CMP Presentation Day.
6. Host your project
Projects typically take place for 6-10 weeks between June and September. The project dates, working arrangements and hours, are agreed directly between you and the student.
7. CMP Presentation Day - Wednesday 21 August 2024
The CMP Presentation Day is the annual showcase of the projects undertaken by maths students as part of the CMP programme. Students are invited to give a 20-minute presentation on their projects. All host supervisors and partners are invited to attend. It will be a full-day event concluding with drinks and dinner at a Cambridge college.
8. Submit feedback
In advance of the presentation day in August, we will write to you to ask for your feedback on your experience with the programme. Your responses will form the basis on which we choose the topics for discussion at the feedback session on the day. Your feedback is very important to us and plays an important role in the future development of the programme. We will ask again in September if you are unable to respond in August.
9. After your project
We love to hear about the ongoing impacts or benefits of your successful CMP projects! Perhaps the project will lead to a publication, or contribute to the development of new software or a patent application. Please do get in touch to let us know via CMP@maths.cam.ac.uk.
Publications and other outputs should acknowledge support by CMP where appropriate (i.e. when we've provided funding support). For acknowledging the CMP programme in papers or presentations we suggest the following wording:
- For projects fully-funded by the host: “This project / work was facilitated by the Cambridge Mathematics Placements (CMP) programme.”
- projects that are partially funded by CMP: “This project / work was facilitated by the Cambridge Mathematics Placements (CMP) programme, and funded in part by donations made by corporate partners and individual donors to the CMP Supporters Club.”
- If your project was supported by a specific grant / donor and a different acknowledgement is needed, we’ll let you know.
