Dear Colleague
Thank you for your interest in hosting one of our King's College London students of the MSc/MRes in Biomedical and Molecular Sciences Research (BMSR), the MSci Biochemistry and the MSci Molecular Genetics. Over the past 14 years we have hosted over 500 students accross the Health Faculties at King's. In recent years our students have co-authored over 100 papers, many in journals of highest repute (Cell, Nature, eLife etc), click here to see some examples.
BMSR MSc/MRes: this is a challenging, research intensive course specifically designed to prepare students for a career in Science. Selection is fierce - this year we received around over 350 applications; all students will therefore be of solid 2.1/first class standard (or foreign equivalent). About 40% of the students enter PhD programmes and over 90% remain in science. A major part of the success is undoubtedly due to the excellent support they receive from their laboratory exposure as part of their 6 month (MSc) or 9 month (MRes) research project. I expect about 50 students will join BMSR this year (30 MSc and a further 20 for the longer MRes projects).
MSci Biochemistry and MSci Molecular Genetics : We also offer 6-month projects to students enrolled in our MSci Biochemistry / Molecular Genetics. The MSci is the fourth year of our Biochemistry / Molecular Genetics students from King's. The entry requirements state that they should be of mid 2.1 or 1st class standard. This year we are expecting only around 5 students.
In summary, we are seeking 55-60 dynamic research groups who are willing to welcome, teach and supervise one of our MSc/MRes/MSci students in 2025/2026. Please see the FAQ section below for further details.
The benchfees for hosting one of our students is generous (at least £1500-2400, possibly even higher subject to our internal budget allocation, see FAQ). Furthermore, there is an opportunity for students to secure additional benchfees via the Matt Wilson Scholarship Programme: Thanks to a very generous donation, we now offer up to 7 Matt Wilson Scholarships per year which provide an additional supplement towards the consumables cost research (5 scholarships each worth £2500 and 2 worth £5000). The prize money might be spent to conduct additional costly experiments or allow a student to use a piece of specialist equipment.The competition for the scholarships will commence once the project allocations have been announced. For more info about Matt Wilson and the scholarship see the FAQ below or visit here.
What next? If you have a research active laboratory and you are willing to supervise a student the next academic year, please complete the "Project Template" which you can download from below (I have also included last year's booklet). Please be informative (I suggest you include an image as this seems to make projects more attractive), define the area of research and describe the tools and techniques that will be taught. Also add a reference or two and indicate whether this project is suitable for the more generalist MSc/MRes students only and/or more suitable for the more specific MSci Biochemistry or MSci Molecular Genetics students.
Please keep within the 1 page limit. I will collate the projects and distribute the new booklet to students in October. Allocations will be announced at the end of October and students will contact you shortly after to discuss the details of the project.
Deadline: Please e-mail (stephen.sturzenbaum@kcl.ac.uk) your project description by no later than: Monday the 8th of September 2025
I look forward to receiving many exciting projects.
Stephen Sturzenbaum
To download the "project template", to view "last year's booklet" or frequently asked questions "FAQ" click on the links below:
Project Template 2025 | Last Year's Booklet | FAQ
Any other questions? Contact Prof Stephen Sturzenbaum (stephen.sturzenbaum@kcl.ac.uk)