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Department of Statistics

Summer research experience

Summer Research Experience

The URSS and Summer Research Experience are 8 week programmes taking place in July and August. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work on cutting edge research in statistics, probability, or mathematical finance in collaboration with staff and PhD students in the department. Be part of a global cohort of fellow summer research students, and gain first hand experience of what a PhD in the department might entail.

Accommodation and Support

For external students, accommodation will be arranged and paid for, and you will receive a stipend to cover living expenses. Internal students will receive a stipend from the Warwick URSS scheme, and may be eligible for additional funding if participating in events in the Statistics Department.

Expected Outputs

You will be expected to produce a poster describing your work on the project. It should include an overview of the relevant academic literature, a reproducible description of your own work and methodology, as well as a report of obtained results. There is no formal assessment of the poster, though you can expect feedback from your supervisor. There will be a poster reception at the end of the summer at which students are expected to present their work and results to each other, as well as graduate students and members of academic staff. Throughout the project, your supervisor may also require you to produce written updates, or present your progress at group meetings.

Projects

With over 60 academic staff and around 20 research staff, the Statistics Department at Warwick is one of the largest in Europe. The department was ranked 20th in the world in the 2024 QS Subject Rankings. The breath and depth of our expertise allows us to offer an exciting array of projects inspired by the cutting edge of current research. Our profile page gives a flavour of some projects undertaken by previous students.

Additional Events

In addition to working on your project with your supervisor(s), there will be weekly cohort-level activities, including academic talks and social gatherings. You will get the chance to meet members of staff additionally to your main supervisor, and will engage with current PhD students in the department to find out about our research environment.

Previous Years

The Summer Research Experience has been run by the Department since 2022. See our profiles of former students.

Informal Enquiries

Please send informal enquiries to .

 

Warwick Students

Internal Warwick candidates are eligible to apply to the Warwick Undergraduate Research Support Scheme (URSS) for funding. The URSS is open to all Warwick undergraduates and will fund interdisciplinary summer research and public engagement projects.

It is possible for successful URSS applicants based in the Statistics department to receive additional funding if they participate in the cohort activities on campus, in addition to the bursary of up to £1500 they will receive from URSS.

A URSS application has to contain a detailed project specification. If you are interested in applying, you will need to develop this project together with a supervisor. Potential supervisors can be found from our staff lists and from this list of example projects. You should contact potential supervisors directly to discuss writing an application.

Note that URSS applications should be made directly to URSS. The deadline for applications is 7th February 2025.

Key Steps

  1. Identify a member of staff who is willing to supervise a project over summer.
  2. Work with your supervisor to develop a project.
  3. You will need to include a public engagement activity as part of your application. The Warwick Institute of Engagement can help with this, and they run information sessions you may want to attend.
  4. Submit an application directly to URSS by the 7th February 2025 deadline.
  5. Fill in the URSS form to inform us of your URSS application.

Post Application

  1. Successful applicants will be notified by URSS.
  2. From the URSS's point of view, there is flexibility in the start date, but for the best experience we recommend all students starting at the same time (as many activities will not run outside of the main programme window). We are recommending a start date of 7th July 2025. Activities will run in the 8 weeks until 29th August 2025.

Non-Warwick Students

We welcome applications from across the globe, particularly from under-represented groups. You should be in (at least) the third year of undergraduate study in a quantitative subject, and on track for a first class degree. Your accommodation on campus will be booked and paid for by us, and you will receive a total stipend of £1500 for the 8 weeks and up to £200 for travel to and from the university at the start and end of the project. You aren’t expected to have a supervisor lined up before you apply, but you will need to name potential supervisors in your research area of interest. Potential supervisors can be found from our staff lists and from this list of example projects.

The scheme will start on the 7th July 2025 and application must be submitted by the end (UK time) of 20th January.

The programme is in-person only and takes place from Monday the 7th of July to Friday the 29th of August. During this time, you are expected to be on campus and engage with the project for 100% of your working day. This scheme is therefore incompatible with overlapping term dates/exam dates/etc.

To apply, please complete the application form. Your personal statement should indicate your academic background and interests. In particular, it would be advisable to answer the following questions:

  • What motivates you to undertake a research project with us?
  • What area(s) of probability or statistics particularly interest you?
  • In what subject areas does your academic background best equip you to carry out research?
  • What do you consider to be your particular strengths? For example: theoretical work; applied statistics; computational work.
  • Have you already identified a potential supervisor in the Department? It is not essential to do this before applying; but if you have done that already, it is useful to provide the information here.

Key Steps

  1. Write your personal statement and CV. Applications without a personal statement will be rejected.
  2. Submit your application via the application form by the end of the day (UK time) on 19th January.

Post Application

  1. We expect to conduct interviews (mostly via Zoom or a similar platform) in the first two weeks of February.
  2. We aim to notify applicants of the outcome by mid-February.
  3. Successful applicants will start on the 7th July 2025 and finish on the 29th August 2025.
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