University Policy
It is university policy that students undertaking summer projects / internships must be taken on as temporary workers and paid the National Living Wage (plus holiday pay). National Living Wage will increase to £12.21 per hour in April 2025.
The estimated cost for an 8-week project in summer 2025 is therefore between £3850 and £4300 depending on exact working hours and the specific student (employer National Insurance Contributions will be applied for students aged 21 and over).
Bursary Fund
We have a small fund dedicated to supporting summer research projects, however, the increase to the National Living Wage coupled with the concurrent changes to employer National Insurance contributions coming in April 2025 mean that our resources will be more stretched than ever and we must anticipate receiving more bursary applications than we have the means to fund.
We ask all academics in the CMS wishing to host a project to make an effort to find funds from grants and other sources to help cover the cost of the project. We also ask that students apply to their colleges for support (where available) and subsidised accommodation. Projects requesting support from the bursary fund will be considered more favourably if there is complementary funding available from another source.
For more information on how to support a student in a bursary application including what we will consider when making decisions, please see the bursary webpages here.