Dear Professor ??

Good afternoon. Hope you are well.

Introduce yourself

My name is ?? and I am a second-year economics student. I am writing to you as I am preparing to apply for the URSS next year.

Explain why you are getting in touch, e.g

• I had a look at your online staff profile and your research interests cover the area I would like to focus on for my URSS project
• I had a conversation with a former URSS student who suggested that I contact you
• My personal tutor suggested you might be interested in supervising my URSS project
• I attended the URSS showcase and noticed you supervised a project in the same research area that I am interested in

Outline your project and what you plan to do

I plan to carry out my research over the summer and would like to include a visit to ISSER in Accra. My planned topic for research is International Development focussing on labour economics and development economics related to Ghana.

This will be my first time to undertake academic research, but I am very passionate about doing a URSS project in the area. I am aware that you are an expert in this area and would be able to make a valuable contribution if you were able to supervise my project. Therefore, I would be very grateful if you could spare some time to meet with me to discuss and provide an opportunity to discuss my research proposal with you.

Suggest a time to meet in person or online

I am not sure of your office hours or availability, but I am available and will be on campus over the next 3 weeks or we could meet online at a time that suits you. If we were able to meet before the end of term, I would be able to do some research during the holiday.

Thank for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,