Managing your UROP

NEWS - June 2024: Imperial wishes all UROP participants a successful and enjoyable research experience this summer. Please ensure that your UROP is registered, subject to the host dept's approval. When you conclude a UROP please consider completing a student perspective (a short case study) for the benefit of future participants. If you are in receipt of a bursary then all queries should be addressed to the bursary administrator for the award in question. If you are a student from outside Imperial and would like some assistance in contacting Imperial students who are undertaking UROP in your host dept then email urop@imperial.ac.uk and the UROP Manager will seek to help you make contact. Of course, a UROP is all about a research experience and your host group/lab should be taking steps to integrate you into the life of the research group/lab. Further details in the Managing your UROP section of this website.  If in doubt about anything before, during or after undertaking a UROP please message the UROP Manager for guidance at urop@imperial.ac.uk

UROP at Imperial College London is a flexible environment. There is no standard (or template) UROP.  40 years of UROP at Imperial has proved that that flexibility is attractive to both students and academic staff (and the broader research areas and groups) in encouraging participation.

However, all UROPs should be planned, supervised and include relevant training with some tangible means by which the student can express their contribution. The most important feature of a UROP is the integration to and experience of the research environment, and we trust that all UROP supervisors will seek to maximise those opportuities for you.

The pandemic has meant that the use of remote (i.e. non campus) options to structure and deliver a UROP continue to be relevant.

You should view a UROP research experience as an introduction to the research environment , and while for some the fruits may be beyond their wildest dreams (a co-authored paper for example), for many it will be a more commonplace experience where they will be able to utilise and develop skills such as data analysis or particular lab skills. Like any “work experience” you will also have a valuable opportunity to improve your confidence, and view life as a researcher.

Please remember that UROP is a voluntary activity on the part of academic staff (and their research groups/area/collaborators) and we ask you to show patience with your supervisor in the lead up to any planned start date.

The guidance provided here is simply to get you thinking about the interactions which will take place as you plan for, then undertake and finally reflect on your UROP.

• The guidance, perhaps, fits better for a more full-time research experience but is of equal importance for those Imperial undergraduates who might be undertaking a research experience on a more part-time basis during term-time.
• It is also fair to say that an Imperial undergraduate who is present at the university throughout the planning phase of the UROP is better positioned to interact with their supervisor in planning their UROP, although Skype and MS Teams and Zoom have better enabled external students to interact with their supervisors ahead of arrival.

UROP wishes you all the very best in planning for and undertaking your research experience.