The Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, an interdisciplinary research institute, is always committed to training the next generation of scientists and has a very successful Summer School which runs between June and August.
The IMSR Summer School, led by Dr Paul Foster and Dr Vicki Smith, is a unique opportunity to get hands-on experience on how metabolism and endocrinology affects disease.
The school provides an invaluable opportunity to do scientific research and to bolster student CVs. Some of our past summer students have found their experience so rewarding they have returned to intercalate or to take their PhDs at the University of Birmingham.
In 2019, the IMSR Summer School cohort fought off tough competition to join the department and work with our Principle Investigators (PIs) on individual projects. The students, from the Universities of Birmingham and Sheffield, studied Biomedical Science, Medicine, and Biochemistry and spent six-eight weeks in the IMSR, learning basic techniques, attending a weekly Journal Club and having the opportunity to participate in IMSR seminars and activities.
Applications
Applications for the IMSR Summer School have now closed.
Who is eligible to apply?
Students should currently be an undergraduate and must not be in their final year of study. We encourage students from any biological/chemical field to apply, including from Medicine (MBChB), Biomedical Sciences (BMedSci), Biochemical Engineering, Biosciences, Biochemistry and Pharmacy (MPharm).
Is any funding available to support Summer School students?
Funding is not necessary to apply, however students who are accepted into the IMSR should be prepared to apply for funding. Students will be encouraged to work with their supervisors to help identify potential internal and external funding to support living and/or associated research costs. However, failure to obtain funding should not impact on the students placement.
What about the Covid Pandemic? Will this affect the summer school?
The coronavirus pandemic caused us to cancel summer school in 2020. However, we anticipate that even if there remain restrictions to our laboratories in the summer of 2021, we should still be able to offer a number of unique research projects that will be done remotely and will most likely involve analysis of available data-sets through bioinformatics. As a lot of scientific research now utilises large data-sets, these types of projects can be very timely and necessary.
For questions regarding any aspect of the IMSR Summer School please contact Dr Paul Foster or Dr Vicki Smith
For more information about our researchers
Read more about the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research and the IMSR Principal Investigators
Here are some comments from previous IMSR summer students:
Past summer school students speaking about their experiences