Vacation Scholarships
As part of its policy of furthering research and education in the biology of reproduction, the Society for Reproduction and Fertility invites applications from undergraduate students for a limited number of Vacation Scholarships.
Applications for the SRF Vacation Scholarship
Applications are currently open and will close on Friday 11 April 2025
Objective:
The objective of these scholarships is to enable students to work during the summer vacation in university departments or research institutes on research projects related to reproduction, fertility and lactation in humans and other animals.
Students should normally be in the second (if on a three year course) or second/third (if on a four year course) year of their undergraduate degree studies and may be considering research as a career. Ideally, projects should be undertaken in the summer vacation prior to the student entering their final year. Projects can be a maximum of 8 weeks long, and include a stipend funded of £250 per week to cover living costs for the student, plus an award of up to £1,000 to be paid to the host laboratory to cover the cost of consumables for the project.
Scholarships are not available for students to undertake projects which form part of their normal degree course. Novel, stand alone projects are encouraged.
A report, (maximum two sides of A4), must be submitted, detailing the findings of their investigation (further details will be sent to successful candidates). This report may be published in the SRF newsletter or on the website. If a report is not received by the end of December, the project supervisor will become ineligible for future vacation scholarships for 3 years.
The SRF would strongly encourage the award recipients (especially the student, but if not, the supervisor) to present their results at the following Fertility meeting if possible. They will need to submit their work via the Fertility conference abstract submission system and will be eligible to apply for an SRF Fertility conference bursary.
Only one scholarship will be awarded per student over the course of their undergraduate study.
Eligibility
Project supervisors MUST be fully paid-up SRF Full or Associate members for a minimum of two years at the time of application.
Student applicants must be a student member or apply and have paid for student membership before their award commences if successful.
The following information will be needed to submit an application:
- University course & details
- Courses completed & results
- Referee & department contacts
- Project details including title, laboratory, project background (max 200 words), aims (100 words), methods (max 200 words), student reasons for undertaking the project (max 300 words) and budget (max 200 words)
- Confirmation letter from the host university – to be uploaded
- Timeline of proposed work – uploaded as a file (ie Ghantt Chart)
Timeline for 2025
Friday 11 April – Applications Close at 17.00 GMT
Friday 2 May – Applicants Notified
2024 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Adomas Liugaila | Agnes Stefansdottir |
| Rachel Irvine | Douglas Gibson |
| Mikayla Rodgers | Norah Spears |
| Kyla Mundie | Douglas Gibson |
| Hannah Perkins | Rebecca Blanchard |
2023 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Amy Arnott | Guy Whitley |
| Aleksandra Banoth | Erin Williams |
| Lorna Brown | Norah Spears |
| Alexander Mutter | EvelynTelfer |
| Grace Risby | Federica Lopes |
| Sumetha Sureshkumar | Thomas Hopkins |
| Georgia Caudle | Fataneh Ghafari |
2022 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Mr Arvis Lot Yung Tam | Rod Mitchell |
| Miss Cara Robb | Jacqueline Maybin |
| Miss Hahn Duyen Tran | Thomas Hopkins |
| Miss Julia Hanning Li | Norah Spears, Heather Flanagan |
| Mr Nathan J Parks | Stephane Berneau |
| Miss Phoebe Anderson | Roseanne Rosario |
| Miss Zoe Jones | Alison Forhead |
2021 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Miss Nusaiba Masnurah | Guy Whitley |
| Miss Lisa Abraham | Agnes Stefansdottir |
| Miss Juliet Tyndall | Andrew Horne |
| Mr Louise Page | Paul Fowler |
2020 No Scholarships were awarded due to COVID-19
2019 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Miss Katherine Morling | Binyam Mogessie |
| Miss Eva Shelmerdine | John Aplin |
| Miss Louise Dryburgh | Katarzyna Siemienowicz |
| Mr John Louca | Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri |
| Miss Giuliana Calabrese | Sofia Makieva |
| Miss Marie Biolkova | Norah Spears |
| Miss Michaela Rogers | Erin Williams |
| Miss Katy Walsh | Karen Forbes |
| Mr Neil Taylor | Roseanne Rosario |
| Miss Caitlan Onabanjo | Kim Jonas |
| Miss Rosie Mitchel | Charlotte Brassey |
| Miss Mahnoor Khalid | Tyler Stevenson |
| Ms Georgia O’Sullivan | Lynne O’Shea |
| Miss Martha Chimal Alvarez | Juan Hernandez-Medrano |
2018 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Barbora Badurova | Mary Herbert |
| Anna Brodie | Ali Fouladi-Nashta |
| Laura Vopley | Bob Robinson |
| Courtney DiFilippo | Suzannah Williams |
| Kate Hurlow | Helen White-Cooper |
| Ella Jameson | Suman Rice |
| Robert Kay | Hilary Critchley |
| Magdalena Matkovic | Norah Spears |
| Georgia May | Alireza Fazeli |
| Sophia Mohammed | Nicholas Wheelhouse |
| Imogen Nichols | Binyam Mogessie |
| Gabrielle Oxley | Suzanne Madgwick |
| Niall Slater | Sarah Conner |
| Aniruddha Voruganti | John Parrington |
| Mabel Vos | Sari Pennings |
| Sijia Yao | Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri |
2017 Vacation Scholarships
| Vacation Scholar | Supervisor |
| Sofia Akhtar | Adam Watkins |
| Chandler Bray | Sarah Calvert |
| Eman Butt | Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri |
| Federico Caso | Tyler Stevenson |
| Joan Embola | Guy Whitley |
| Isabella Inzani | Alison Forhead |
| Jessica McLachlan | Rupsha Fraser |
| Daniel Stark | Mark Fenwick |
| Hannah Webb | Hilary Critchley |
