NEWS: 09OCT2026 - these pages will be subject to some presentational updating for 2027 by the end of November. Please be reassured that nothing substantive is expected to change with regard to the set-up of the scheme for 2027 (so the current information sheet on the "getting involved" page AND other material on our webpages can be read with confidence). However, should it prove necessary to implement other less substantive changes to guidance they will be posted here and on the What is a UROP page by the end of November. Thank you.
A UROP is considered to be an extra-curricular educational activity at Imperial, and it is not work nor employment.
First of all, two items of "news":
- For any UROP undertaken from 1 January 2026, a supervisor (and therefore the host dept, and this is the case for all academic departments at Imperial) must provide or facilitate a bursary (financial support) for the student. The host dept must identify the bursary when completing the registration procedure (form). Most departments at Imperial had a version of this policy in place locally last year, however, Imperial now has a university-wide policy in place (see further down this page).
- NEWS (09OCT2026): Imperial's (university-level) undergraduate research funding/bursary scheme for 2027 (eligibility criteria apply: ordinarily only available to full-degree students at Imperial) will open in due course. Please visit this page again at the end of November. The funding scheme is managed by our Student Financial Support team.
This remainder of this section helps to answer some frequently asked questions surrounding the issue of funding, and points to some third party sources of funding.
There are two aspects to funding a UROP.
- the costs to the supervisor (host dept) of providing a research experience, which may include consumables (e.g. materials, software, hardware, chemicals, licences) and space (e.g. desk, workshop, bench, laboratory). Normally these costs are borne by the host department in agreeing to host a student for a UROP.
- the provision of a bursary, which is now mandatory if a dept wishes to proceed to registering a research experience as a UROP. For any UROP undertaken from 1 January 2026, a supervisor (and therefore the host dept, and this is the case for all academic departments at Imperial) must provide or facilitate a bursary (financial support) for the student. Proposed supervisors who are unable to provide a bursary from funds they have access to ought to be willing to support a bursary application to a third party, including Imperial’s scheme, any dept-level scheme or an external scheme where they exist. Please note that family and personal resources are NOT considered acceptable sources of a bursary. The host dept must identify the bursary when completing the registration procedure (form).
Imperial's UROP bursary policy statement
[university-wide bursary policy statement]
Each UROP that a department registers must include provision of a bursary for the student (whether the student is of that department or not, including external students eligible to be registered for a UROP), on the proviso that the bursary is provided from a source acceptable to Imperial. Confirmation of the availability of the bursary must be detailed in the UROP registration workflow. Personal and/or family funding is not considered an acceptable source of a bursary. The adoption of this policy statement is to support equal access of opportunities, ensuring the student’s financial circumstances are not a limitation to participating in the programme.