Biomedical Research

The course is designed for students who wish to pursue a career in biomedical research, whether it be in academia, industry or goverment. To date, of the students who wanted to, the overwhelming majority have gone on to study for aPhD . We will equip you with the key skills needed to plan, conduct, publish and obtain funding for successful research. The course offers training in a vast array of labs from across the Faculty of Medicine.

The course is divided into streams, each of which offers a different specialism within biomedical research. The format of the streams and assessment methods are the same for all students, but the core programme and choice of research projects are determined by stream. Current streams offered are:

• Biomedical Research (BMR)
• Personalised Healthcare (PH)
• Bacterial Pathogenisis and Infection (BPI)
• Respiratory and Cardiovascular Science (RCVS)
• Microbiome in Health and Disease (MHD)
• Epidemiology, Evolution and Control of Infectious Diseases (EECID)
• Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care (APMIC)
• Molecular Basis of Human Disease (MBHD)

Further information on the streams offered http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/prospectivestudents/postgraduate/mres_biomedical_research/streams/

Year One
Term one: All students will be required to attend an induction process during their two weeks, which will include registration; general orientation and guide to the South Kensington Campus; introduction to key members of the faculty; opportunity to meet with the faculty, postdoctoral scientists and postgraduate students; essential briefings on health and safety and computing. At this time, heads of research groups will present an overview of their activities in an informal ‘project fair’ format. This will give students an idea of the breadth of research available in the Division. Upon joining the course, confirmed students will be issued with a list of potential research projects and appropriate reading material. Project 1 allocations will be made in accordance with student preferences and in consultation with the Course organisers and the student will start project 1 during week 3. Students gather as a class weekly to attend sessions that cover generic issues such as presentation, writing and computing skills, safety issues, academic peer review and information search and retrieval strategies. Students will be expected to attend the technical workshops offering training in advanced research techniques, which will be run through the year. Additionally, students are expected to attend Journal clubs to review and discuss relevant research papers. Students will be expected to present and discuss their work at group meetings in the laboratories where they undertake their projects and have regular meetings about progress with their supervisors.
Term Two: Students will continue to work on their first project within the supervisor’s laboratory. The core programme will continue covering generic issues such as statistics, bioinformatics etc. Further technical workshops and journal clubs will be conducted. In the final weeks of project 1, students will submit a written project dissertation and will give a poster presentation of their research that will be assessed. Term Three: Students will submit choices and the second round of projects will be allocated according to preference and in consultation with the course organisers in week 24. Students start work on their second project in week 25. They will continue to meet weekly as a class to consider generic research issues, present research papers, attend technical workshops and discuss new research developments. During April, students will attend the grant writing exercise, initially as a class and subsequently in small collaborating groups. At the end of the scheduled period, individuals will write their own grant application, which will be submitted for assessment. In week 47, students will submit a second written project dissertation in the form of a concise scientific paper and in week 47/48 students give an oral presentation of their research; both will be assessed. Prior to the MRes Examination Board meeting in late September, students will have their final viva voce examination with at least one external examiner and at least one internal examiner.

Entry Requirements: a 2.1 (or equivalent) in an appropriate science subject. 
The minimum qualification for admission is normally an Upper Second Class Honours degree in a Science-based subject from an UK academic institution or an equivalent overseas qualification. Applicants may visit South Kensington if possible for a site tour and/or interview. Offers made to students are initiated by the Course Director, Course Organiser or Admissions Tutor. Where an applicant has a lesser degree qualification but has at least 3 years relevant work experience, a special case for admission may be submitted to the Graduate School by the Course Director.

Students are selected on the basis of their academic qualifications, relevant industrial or other experience and academic references. Students must indicate the stream(s) in which they are interested in the first line of their personal statement on the application form.

Want to improve your English level for admission?

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• ✔️ Flexible study schedule
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Dean's Master's Scholarships

Home/EU Students

• Full tuition fees and a stipend of £17,000

• 5 places are available

Overseas Students

• Full tuition fees and a stipend of £17,000

• 4 places are available

Stipends will be paid in monthly instalments, subject to satisfactory progression. Awardees on courses which last more than a year will have their £17,000 stipend spread over the full lengh of the degree. 

The Faculty offers a wide range of Master's degree courses, as well as PG Certificates and Diplomas, and all students will belong to the Graduate School, which provides a comprehensive Transferable Skills Programme. 

 For any queries not covered here, please email James Osborne (PGT Administrator, Faculty of Medicine) at james.osborne@imperial.ac.uk.

Please note that there may be other scholarships offered by Schools, Institutes and Departments that make up the Faculty of Medicine. These are separate from the Dean's and Faculty Master's Scholarships described here and entail a different application process. 

Eligibility

General Eligibility

These awards are open to all students who have made an application to the Faculty of Medicine by 30 April 2015 for admission to study for a full time or part time Master's course* at Imperial College London, starting in October 2015 (*or PG Cert for a course where that is the only route to the higher degree).

Please note that these awards can only be given to students who are studying a course run by the Faculty of Medicine. For a full list of these courses, please see our Master's Degree page. 

It is not essential for applicants to have already received an offer of a place on a course, but the initial course application must be made before applying for a scholarship.

Residence Eligibility

Applications are accepted from talented candidates from Imperial College London, the UK and worldwide. There are no restrictions on nationality.

Academic Eligibility

• Candidates are expected to be able to provide evidence of outstanding academic ability. This will usually mean being among the highest achievers in their undergraduate cohort and in receipt of, or due to receive, a first class UK Honours degree or equivalent.

• An applicant who does not meet this requirement (e.g. holds a second class undergraduate degree, is a health professional who did not undertake a degree course, or is from a non-traditional background*), will be considered if they are able to demonstrate that they have outstanding academic potential and substantial experience relevant to their chosen subject area. This should be included in the Personal Statement section of the application form. (*Those applicants without a degree will be required, where available, to pass a Special Qualifying Examination to gain entry to the chosen course).

• Candidates with degrees from overseas institutions are strongly urged to determine if their scores/grades are equivalent to the relevant eligibility criteria.

• Candidates who already have a postgraduate qualification should justify their request to have an additional postgraduate course funded by the faculty. This should be included in the Personal Statement section of the application form.

• Candidates who wish to apply for a Master's course which starts as a PG Cert or PG Dip will only be considered if they are committed to completing the course to Master's level.

• Scholarships awarded based on predicted grades will be conditional upon final results.

How to Apply
In order to be considered for the Dean's Master's Scholarships, potential candidates will need to have first applied for a place on a Master's course in the Faculty of Medicine. It is not essential to wait for an offer of a place to be made, but the initial course application must be made before submitting a scholarship application. To apply for a Master's course, please use our online admission system. 

Once the application for the course has been submitted, those who wish to apply for a scholarship should complete our online form (Note: the Scholarship award panel will assess candidates on their scholarship application form NOT their course application, so make sure all key information is included in your scholarship application). The form will need to be completed in a single session, so please have the following information prepared:

• Personal statement (not more than 1000 words).
• Details of qualifications, achievements, awards, relevant experience and publications.
• The title/s of the course/s which you have applied for.

Shortlisting will take place in May 2015. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interviews which are currently scheduled for the week commencing Monday 8 June 2015. All interviews will take place via Skype between 9.00 and 17.00 BST. The scholarship application form includes a question regarding your country of residence in June 2015. We will use this information to identify your time zone and try to tailor your interview time accordingly, although we cannot guarantee that the slot allocated to you will be convenient for your time zone. 

All candidates will be informed of the decision by the end of June 2015.

References

We will use the references that you provide as part of your course application process. Please do not send references to us directly as we will be unable to accept them. It is not essential that we receive your references in time to consider your scholarship application, although their absence may weaken your application. It is therefore recommended that you contact your referees directly to ask that they respond to your course application reference request before Friday 8 May 2015 (one week after scholarship applications close).

Terms and conditions

When applying for Faculty of Medicine Master's Degree Scholarships, candidates must agree to Imperial's terms and conditions regarding scholarships and bursaries. 

Please note, the following conditions override the standard Imperial terms and conditions:

• Both part time and full time students are eligible to apply.

• An offer of a place is not required before applying, but candidates must first apply for a Master's course run by the Faculty of Medicine before applying for a scholarship.

• Candidates who do not apply through the online form will not be considered for the Dean's Master's Scholarships.

• Successful applicants who receive a Dean's Master's Scholarship will not be allowed to accept any other form of scholarship or bursary provided by Imperial College London for study during the 2015/16 academic year.

• Scholarship stipends will be paid in monthly instalments over the length of the course, subject to satisfactory progress. Students on courses which are part time or start as a PG Cert will have their stipend paid in equal monthly instalments over the full length of the course.

• Awardees will be required to participate in a small number of promotional activities during the course of their studies and allow their image to be used by Imperial for publicity purposes. Such activities may include (but are not limited to) attending special events and producing occassional print or web copy.

​Deadline for applications is Midnight 30 April 2015

Applicants will be given a decision by 30 June 2015.

Applications are invited from outstanding candidates from Imperial College London, the UK and worldwide who have the potential to become leaders in their field. 

PG Cert Allergy Bursary

One bursary of £2,000 towards PG Cert fees will be awarded in 2014/15.  This bursary is supported by Stallergenes. The recipient will be announced by Friday 20th June.

To apply, please submit a 500-word explanation of how both yourself and your patients will benefit from you completing the Postgraduate Certificate in Allergy course and how this will improve Allergy Services in your area. Please be aware that to be eligible for the bursary you will need to fulfil all the requirements of Imperial College for consideration of an offer of a place on a Masters level course - it is important that you check this before applying as your application cannot be considered if you do not fulfil the criteria.

Please note that applying for the bursary does not constitute a full application for a place on the course and you will still need to complete the online application form available on the front page of the course website. This can be completed either before or after applying for the bursary as it does not at this stage commit you to any financial investment.

Applications should contain:

Name:

Qualifications:

Current post:

Application text (up to 500 words):

 Submission deadline:  30th May 2014 

Submission details:  Please submit your application electronically to karen.davies@imperial.ac.uk

Please note that Postgraduate Diplomas and Certificates for part-completion are not available for this course.