Fund

• What distinctive skills do students gain from research that differs from regular coursework?
• What challenges do undergraduate researchers face once engaged in research?
• How do students develop research identities, confidence, and autonomy through participation?

• Should student research take place within the curriculum, on the modules that students take; be co‑curricular, taking place outside the formal curriculum but complementing/enhancing what students learn on their course; be extracurricular, unrelated to a course of study and more focused on personal development/interests; or a combination of these?
• How can research be embedded effectively into modules, assessments, summer projects or other structures?
• What are the implications of research being assessed as part of curriculum delivery?

• How well are students integrated into an institutional research culture, and how could this be strengthened?
• How can student research be shared, published or disseminated effectively?
• What platforms, formats or communication channels best support student researchers?

• What forms of interdisciplinary research are possible or impactful for undergraduates?
• How can IATL initiatives such as ICUR and Reinvention continue to innovate?

If your project costs exceed the total amount available through Project Support, you must explain how you plan to cover the funding shortfall.

If you are (also) applying to another funding scheme, you must provide details and specify what costs would be covered by Project Support versus the other scheme. You must also explain what would happen if you do not secure another funding award.

We support students being paid for their project work when possible given the funding limit. There are two approaches to calculating student payments:

• calculate living costs (accommodation, food, etc.) during the project period, and list these costs, or a proportion of them if you plan to work on a project part-time rather than full-time. Be sure to provide a total figure supported by a detailed breakdown - OR
• calculate a hourly rate: the standard rate we support for student work is the equivalent of Unitemps FA4 spinal point 16. This is currently £15.77/hour (August 2025 rates). Student projects are funded through a bursary, so you would not actually be employed through Unitemps and there is no Unitemps fee.
• See the 'What does a good budget look like?' tab for a sample budget.

Project Support funding is provided via a bursary payment which is paid into your student account.

If your application is awarded funding, it can take up to 10 working days and sometimes longer for you to receive the bursary.

Ensure you allow for this timing, as well as for ethical approval if required, when planning a project.

Be specific, include details and don't generalise. We need to understand why you need the money you’re applying for and how you arrived at the figures in your budget. If you include an estimate, explain how you estimated that cost. For the Unitemps rate referred to below, see 'What rate should students be paid?'

Underestimating your costs, so that your total funding request is lower, does *not* make your application more likely to be successful. 

An example of a budget without sufficient detail:

'I am applying for £1,200 from IATL. Basically, I need this amount to cover my travel and other project costs. I will need to travel out of town a few times to interview participants. I might also need to pay someone to help me with filming since I have no experience of this'.

Here is a stronger example of a research project budget. It draws on details, including the planned number of participants and hours of researcher work, that the applicant has already included in their proposal:

Example research budget

• Cost 1, Participant Compensation: for their involvement in the project, each participant will be offered a £20 voucher. Including 12 participants and compensating them £20 each = £240
• Cost 2, Materials Production: Each booklet given to participants consists of 16 pages. According to a quote from Smith Printing on 21 November 2025, printing one page costs 10p. So 12 booklets of 8 pages at £0.10 per page (12 x 8 x £0.10) = £9.60
• Cost 3, Student researcher costs:
  • Student 1: 5 hours per week for 6 weeks = 30 hours
  • Students 2 and 3: 4 hours per week for 6 weeks (2 x 4 x 6) = 48 hours
  • Equivalent Unitemps rate is £15.77/hour, so the total cost for student researchers: 30 + 48 = 78 hours x £15.77 = £1,230.06
• Total budget: £240 + £9.60 + £1,230.06 = £1,479.66

Research incentives

Research projects often offer an incentive, in the form of a voucher, for individuals who engage with research activities such as surveys, focus groups and interviews. Incentives support participation and acknowledge participants’ time and contributions.

• Survey completion: we recommend that everyone completing a survey is entered into a prize draw for a voucher. Particularly if you wish to gain higher numbers of completed surveys, you could include more than one voucher in the prize draw. For example, a prize draw could be a chance to win 1 of 2 (or more) vouchers. We normally recommend that individual vouchers are worth £25 or less. The maximum permitted voucher value is £50, and the total prize pool value (all vouchers) must not exceed £250. The voucher value and total prize pool should reflect the time and effort needed to complete the survey. For example, for a short survey, a £10 voucher (1 or more of these) may be more appropriate.

• Participation in interviews, focus groups and similar events: we support offering participants a £10 voucher for participation. If individuals will participate in more than one interview or event as part of the project, you could offer a higher value voucher that still aligns with this overall guidance. So for example, you could offer individuals a £20 voucher for participation in two events.

Research event format & facilitation

Conducting interviews and focus groups in-person supports effective communication. However, face-to-face sessions may not always be possible or feasible for logistical reasons such as distance/travel costs, tight timescales and conflicting schedules. Organising in-person sessions can be challenging outside university term times and during Term 3, when campus attendance may be low.

Holding focus groups and/or interviews on Teams may help with these challenges while still providing an element of face-to-face contact.

If you are a sole researcher conducting a focus group: it is often helpful to have another person present with you for practical support. You would indicate in the relevant ethics application and documentation that there will be a co-facilitator present at the focus group(s). You would need to ensure that a co-facilitator understands and observes data protection, GDPR and confidentiality in the same way that you do as the researcher.

The Student Engagement Toolkit has helpful guidance about all aspects of creating and running surveys, focus groups and more.

Two approvals are required for a PhD student lead. These are:

• statement of support from your PhD supervisor;
• approval from your Head of Department.

For both approvals, please submit a brief email or document that includes their signature. An email will be taken as electronic signature. Your PhD supervisor does not need to complete the Academic Supporting Statement template. We must receive both approvals by the deadline.