Finding a supervisor comes first

The usual order

1. Pick an area you would enjoy working in for six to eight weeks.
2. Find academics who work on it. Start with your own department, then nearby institutes.
3. Ask one of them whether they would host you for a summer project.
4. Agree a short project together.
5. Work out which funding schemes fit, and who has to apply.
6. Apply, or help your supervisor apply, before the scheme closes.

Check who applies

Schemes differ, and it changes what you have to do.

• You apply. Your supervisor usually still writes a statement or a project outline.
• You and your supervisor apply together. One of you starts the form and invites the other.
• Your supervisor applies for you. You cannot apply yourself. The supervisor names you on their application.

Some schemes also need the supervisor, or you, to be a member of the society, sometimes for a minimum time. Each programme page says what the organiser states.

See the schemes that need a supervisor first

When to start

Many schemes open between December and February and close between February and the end of March. Academics are busy, and agreeing a project takes a few conversations. Contacting people in October or November gives you time. Contacting them the week a scheme closes usually does not.

When a scheme needs a supervisor first, its page shows a reminder about eight weeks before it opens. If this year's dates are not published yet, the reminder uses last year's opening date and says so.

Writing to an academic

• Write to one person at a time, about their work. People can tell when a message was sent to fifty labs.
• Say who you are, your year and degree, and what about their research interests you.
• Say which funding scheme you have in mind and when it closes.
• Keep it short, and attach a one-page CV.
• If you hear nothing after a week or two, one polite follow-up is fine.

This site does not send emails or provide templates. If everyone sent the same message, labs would stop replying to anyone.