Nuffield Research Placements

The Nuffield Research Placement scheme is a national scheme which provides over 1,000 sixth form students each year with the opportunity to work alongside professional scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. The students who take part carry out four week research placements over the summer, gaining valuable skills and experience, as well as insight into current STEM research.

In 2015, 1,134 students from across the UK completed a Nuffield Research Placement, 53 of which were hosted by The University of Manchester making it again one of the top providers of research placements in the UK.

The Nuffield Foundation aligns with our Widening Participation work as it is particularly keen to support students from low family incomes or without a family history of attending higher education. This year in the North West, more than half of the students selected were eligible for a full Nuffield Bursary award and a third of placements were awarded to students from schools with the highest percentage of pupils on Free School Meals.

Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with 96% nationally saying they would recommend the scheme to others. Student feedback has also shown that taking part in the Nuffield scheme is something that can have a huge impact on a student.

“I felt the placement provided invaluable experience into the world of academia and research that could not be obtained elsewhere, due to the unique chance to conduct your own, hands-on research. There is nothing that can beat doing real work on one’s own in terms of giving a true insight into the daily lives of scientists.” Nuffield Research Placement participant 2015

“The placement allowed me to have a go at ‘real science’ and has confirmed my interest in research. It was very fulfilling to know that I was working alongside my supervisor contributing to her research and that the work I have done could have real scientific significance in the future.” Nuffield Research Placement participant 2015

Teachers are also hugely appreciative:

“The scheme has supported our students over a number of years, providing them with invaluable work experience. The majority of our students will be the first in their family to attend university and this scheme has really given them the opportunity to see how universities work. We are very grateful to all at Nuffield and their partners in universities.” Teacher, Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School, Blackburn

Nuffield students have been through a very competitive application process and are usually extremely bright, enthusiastic and capable of working to a very high standard. Work done in the past has contributed to published papers and has been used as the basis for grant applications. As an outreach activity it has the benefit of being widely recognised and supported throughout by a regional coordinator. Nuffield Research Placements are run by the Nuffield Foundation in partnership with the Wellcome Trust and Research Councils UK, with additional support from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of General Microbiology.

To find out more please contact Roz Webster.