Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) experiences

UROP is a research opportunities programme available to students from within and outside Imperial. This year we hosted two UROP students, Lily and Alan, for 6 weeks to gain their first experience of research in an academic lab.

Here, I asked Lily and Alan to reflect on their experiences, as well as their supervisors Lindsay and Matevz.

Lindsay Supervising Lily

What did you gain from this short but intensive experience? 

As Imperial’s UROP requires financial support, we applied for funding through small grants both internally and through the Microbiology Society’s Harry Smith Vacation Studentship. While I had been involved in discussing project proposals for previous students, this was my first experience designing, writing, and submitting a student project proposal from scratch. Leading on a project from idea through data generation was a really rewarding and, at times, scary experience. When Lily started, I felt anxious about leading a mentorship experience and how I would manage the challenges it raised. We faced our first hurdle in the second week, and I worried about leading us in the wrong direction or that this early obstacle was indicative of a more serious problem with the proposed project. Together, we discussed Lily’s results, what we could interpret from them, and how to move forward. When the issue was solved, I felt... relieved. But I also began to appreciate my ability to help navigate this unexpected result. Through this short, intense experience I came away with many valuable lessons and skills – one of the most important being increased confidence in my ideas and mentorship. 

Can you describe the most rewarding experience you had while mentoring Lily? 

UROP projects aim to provide undergraduate students with a realistic research experience. A challenging reality of wet-lab science is that experiments rarely go exactly to plan. Struggles in optimizing new assays or troubleshooting once tried and true methods requires resilience and perseverance. Lily was faced with such a challenge early on in her project when an established assay failed. What happened? Using her understanding of the assay, controls, and possible places where things could go wrong, Lily approached this setback with the keen eye of a detective solving a mystery. We discussed possibilities, explored the literature, ran additional experiments, and ultimately identified the problem. As the six-week project progressed, Lily applied this same approach and initiative to make the most of her UROP experience by learning a wide variety of skills from members across the lab and apply those skills to push her own project forward. Watching that growth, in confidence and independence as she began to write this new story, was the most rewarding experience mentoring Lily. 

Matevz Supervising Alan

How does having undergraduate researchers in the lab benefit the research group?

Undergraduate researchers often arrive to the lab with a high level of enthusiasm and a strong desire to apply their knowledge in a practical setting, which can reinvigorate ongoing projects. While the main goal is for the students to learn, they can at the same time create meaningful contributions to the research projects, which benefits both the research group as well as the student.

Over the 6-week period, what are the most significant changes you typically observe in a student's confidence, skills, or understanding?

For many students, the UROP program is their first real research experience, where their work is not just a simulated exercise but a genuine part of a real research project. Students have the chance to participate and co-steer the planning, execution and evaluation of experimental work, which boosts their confidence, teaches them new skills, and increases their understanding of their chosen discipline. Perhaps most importantly, they learn how they can apply their skills in a real research setting, and gain an insight into the environment in which research takes place.