There is quite a bit of work to do before you begin your SCC2 in Phase 3. Below is a list of requirements you have to complete in Phase 2 as part of your SSC2 project.

1. Project Outline
2. Project Protocol
3. BSREC Ethics Application (if required)
4. Course Delegated Ethics Approval (if BSREC Ethics Approval is not required)

SSC2 is a really great opportunity to explore something that interests you. There is a lot of time to explore different avenues of medicine, so it is worth getting in touch with doctors you admire or people within WMS who you think might act as a good supervisor.

The best way to enjoy SSC2 is to make sure that you're doing something that is meaningful to you, whether that's a literature review or a more hands-on piece of research. Identify a gap in your own knowledge, or an area of medicine you would like to explore further, and go from there.

A good supervisor will be able to help you form an idea into a solid research question - no one is expecting you to be a top researcher, just to explore something you find interesting and come up with a piece of work that reflects your findings!

Ethics approval can be one of the most daunting parts of SSC2. For a lot of people, this will be the first time they've had to complete a document like this and it can be challenging. Your supervisor should always be your first port of call when you're unsure where to go. They will likely have had experience with the intricacies of ethics approval before and will definitely be able to give you general advice.

For the Warwick-specific questions, Dr Abi Ayorinde is always on hand to guide you along the right track.

Yes! In two-student projects, you are expected to submit one joint written report, which includes a 200-word summary of contributions on the title, and an individually prepared reflection. This can be a great opportunity to work with someone and have an inbuilt sounding board as you work through the project, especially if you think you'll have a large volume of data to work through!

This will be different for everyone, particularly when you compare those doing more clinical research to those doing a literature review. However, each week will generally contain a meeting with your supervisor during which you will discuss the progress you've made so far, any stumbling blocks and what you want to achieve over the upcoming week.

These meetings have to be documented as part of your engagement evidence and then uploaded to Tabula. The rest of the week tends to be spent going through the data (or papers, in the case of a literature review) that you've been working on and working out how they fit into the larger narrative of your write-up.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed at the beginning of the project because sometimes the amount of data feels insurmountable. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew. Consider writing up some of your introduction and background work throughout the project as this will give you a better understanding of how your research fits into existing knowledge.