Undergraduate vacation research internships in mathematics for 2023
We offer vacation research internships for students enrolled on four-year undergraduate degrees, wishing to undertake an internship in the summer before their final year.
The aim of these internship schemes is to give undergraduate students a chance to engage in a research project in order to enable them to assess their suitability for a subsequent research degree.
Two schemes are currently available for students to consider.
Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw (DKO) Learning Through Research internships
Eligibility / funding arrangements
- One internship will be funded in summer 2023 for up to £3,600 (for the maximum duration of 8 weeks).
- The scheme is open to UK-based students who study for an undergraduate degree in mathematics in the penultimate year (year 2 of 3 or year 3 of 4) and, also those in the final year of their degree and intending to undertake a taught master's degree immediately following their undergraduate degree.
- The required duration of the project will be determined by the supervisor (up to 8 weeks maximum).
- Mode of payment: the amount of £3,600 is gross pay for 8 weeks; the internship is paid via a temporary employment contract and after deductions, the actual take home pay per week for a 35 hour week will be around £400. Internship can be delivered remotely, in-person or through a hybrid of both depending on the nature of the tasks involved and the preferences of the host and intern; in-person mode is encouraged.
EPSRC Mathematical Sciences DTP
We are currently reviewing this scheme for 2023. Please check back for further details.
Preparing your application
The projects available, and application procedures are the same both schemes.
Project supervisors
Below is a list of potential project supervisors in Manchester with a brief indication of the research area (or a specific project, where appropriate) they're interested in supervising projects in.
Please follow the links to find out more details or contact the supervisor directly.
- Projects in fluid and solid mechanics, usually with a heavy dose of oomph-lib-based scientific computing.
- Computation of nonlinear periodic solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations.
- Interests in applied mathematics.
- Homogenisation, wave propagation in complex media, metamaterials.
- Applications of erogodic theory to combinatorics
- Projects in the model theory of fields and arithmetic fields with operators (branches of mathematical logic and algebra).
- Summer projects on the modelling and dynamics of bubbles and droplets in Hele-Shaw cells.
- Geometric methods in physics, which includes differential forms, cohomology, fibre bundles and connections, characteristic classes, supergeometry, Poisson and symplectic structures, and other bracket structures. (A precise plan to be worked out for a particular project).
Application and selection process
- Students contact the supervisor(s) to discuss potential projects.
- Each supervisor can submit at most one student to the Department's PGR committee.
- The application (to be submitted by the supervisor) has to be supported by:
- The student's CV and motivation letter.
- A brief outline of the project (no more than 300 words, say).
- A transcript of the student's exam results.
- One academic reference for the student; referees should submit their reports directly to pgr-maths@manchester.ac.uk, using the subject "Reference for undergraduate vacation research internship".
- A summary of the supervisor's interactions with the student.
- The duration of the project (up to 12 weeks) and the start date.
- The Department's PGR committee will assess applications, based on the above information, at their monthly funding meetings.
- Supervisors should ensure that the complete application is submitted (as a single pdf file) to the Department's PGR Admissions office at pgr-maths@manchester.ac.uk by the Thursday prior to the funding meeting.
- The primary assessment criterion is the students' potential for research.
- Students are expected to submit a final report on the project, summarising their main achievements, within four weeks of completing the project.
Our research specialisms
Discover more about the specialist areas of research we focus on in the Department, and who to contact about each one.
Read more
Interested in supervising students?
If you're a current University of Manchester academic interested in supervising students under this scheme, contact Matthias Heil for further information.
Email Matthias