Every year, the University of Manchester hosts sixth formers participating in the Nuffield Research Placement scheme.

Offering a Nuffield Research Placement is a fantastic way of working with talented young people from local schools and sixth form colleges, who are interested in academic research in the future and who meet our widening participation criteria. There are more details on the scheme below.

We are looking for Staff or Early Career Researchers who would be willing to host a Nuffield Research Placement student in July or August 2020. A Nuffield student will work with you for 4 weeks on a project of your choice. Placements can be offered in any area of STEM or other quantitative research e.g. Social Sciences, Business, Development.

If you are interested in offering a project for 2020 (or would like more information on how it works), please register your interest by emailing me at Roz.Webster@manchester.ac.uk (by Friday 28 February).

More about the Nuffield Research Placements (NRP) scheme 

The Nuffield Research Placements (NRP) scheme is a national scheme which provides interested sixth formers with the opportunity to work alongside STEM professionals or quantitative social scientists. Students carry out 4-week research placements, gaining skills, experience and much-valued insight into research as a career. All our students come from Widening Participation backgrounds.

Benefits for you:

  • The Nuffield Research Placements scheme is a well-established, nationwide outreach and widening participation activity
  • Nuffield students go through a competitive application process and are enthusiastic and academically able
  • Nuffield students can do useful work and contribute positively to your research
  • Hosting a Nuffield student gives Early Career Researchers experience of supervision, project management and mentoring
  • Getting involved is an opportunity to forge links with local schools and colleges and raise awareness of your area of research
  • Nuffield Research Placements are supported by the university and a dedicated Regional Coordinator

“This programme helped me to develop my supervisory skills and allowed me additional time to explore areas of my research which would have taken longer if not for the assistance from the students. It gave me a chance to discuss the career path of the students and how they might get involved in STEM in the future.” Project Provider 2018

Placements must take place in July or August. Students will need a project to carry out for the 4 weeks that they are with you, which can be lab, field or office-based. It should give the students a taste of genuine research, including the opportunity to collect or analyse data and write a report.

Each year we have more student applicants than we have placements available so we are really keen to hear from anyone who might be interested in getting involved. Supporting the Nuffield placement scheme also supports the University’s Access and Participation Plan (APP) with the Office for Students (pdf) which sets out how we aim to improve equality of opportunity in higher education across all areas of the student lifecycle. Our current plan was approved by the OfS in August 2019 and without an approved plan, the University would not be able to charge higher tuition fees to our home undergraduate students. Our current APP includes a specific target to reduce the gap in participation at the University between students from the most advantaged and disadvantaged postcodes (based on participation in higher education, using POLAR4 data). By offering students from WP backgrounds an opportunity to experience student life first hand on our campus through a Nuffield placement could increase their confidence to apply to The University of Manchester or allow them to evidence vital academic skills as part of their application.

If you are potentially interested in offering a project for summer 2020 please contact Roz Webster by Friday 28 February on Roz.Webster@manchester.ac.uk

Or for further information visit the Nuffield Foundation website.