Research Experience Placements

The Research Experience Placements (REPs) scheme provides support for undergraduate summer research placements.

REPs are allocated to a number of departments/institutes selected and approved by us and the Bioscience Skills and Careers Strategy Panel; students are not able to apply to BBSRC directly for a REP. Around 100 placements are available per year.

Purpose

REPs are designed to:

give promising undergraduates a first-hand opportunity to gain greater experience of research in the biosciences
raise the profile of research careers amongst undergraduate students
interest students in postgraduate research in strategically important areas for BBSRC

Allocation of REPs 2012

Details of the allocation of REPs for 2012 are given in the downloads section.

Further details

Full details of the scheme are provided in the downloads section. This includes information about:

Responsibilities of the awarding department/institution
Eligibility of students
Duration
Support costs
Reporting and payments
Research projects
Further details and conditions specific to REPs in specific strategic areas

Case study

Stephen Mansbridge completed a REP whilst studying at Harper Adams University College. He worked with 45 sows and 96 growing pigs on the University College’s farm in Shropshire to investigate how much straw bedding pigs eat and how this affects their digestion.

Image: Harper Adams University College

"I’ve really enjoyed the BBSRC placement" said Steve. "Since completing my final year dissertation during my degree in agriculture, I’ve realised that I have a passion for research.

As part of his eight week placement Steve conducted a three week project on pig nutrition; investigating how much straw bedding is eaten by pigs housed in pens and how this affects their digestion.

He explains: "Straw is known to speed up the transit of feed through the digestive system and in turn, reduces the amount of nutrients available to the pig. This means that in theory, you need to provide the pigs with more feed which is expensive and could be used elsewhere.

Steve is now planning to start a PhD at Harper Adams to continue with a similar project on pig nutrition.

He continues "Thanks to the placement I’ve learnt a lot about pig nutrition, health, behaviour and welfare. Hopefully this research will help us to find a solution that considers both productivity and pig welfare".

To hear more about Steve's placement, watch a video on the Harper Adams University College website.

Contact

Debbie Hall
debbie.hall@bbsrc.ac.uk
tel: 01793 413256
fax: 01793 413292