Being an undergraduate student of Neuroscience at UCLan has allowed me to explore a plethora of opportunities and experiences that goes beyond studying for a degree. Here, I can show how I have benefited from one such experience, the Undergraduate Research Internship Scheme (URIS).
The URIS is aimed specifically at undergraduate students at UCLan, to offer the opportunity for a select number of students to work on novel research projects advertised by researchers and academics at the university, with about 5/6 annually allocated to the School of Psychology. I was fortunate enough to be selected to work on an exciting project titled ‘Attentional Focus of Motor Performance in Dentistry’.
You’re probably thinking what has dentistry got to do with Psychology and Neuroscience? I believe this shows an excellent advantage that a student of Neuroscience at UCLan can gain. The degree course offers a diverse range of skills and knowledge, including analytical and statistical knowhow, an eye for critical thinking and a simple passion to find an answer to questions posed from the science community. These are just a few skills that I have developed which aided my application to the URIS. I will now speak about what I experienced on the internship and, most importantly, what I have gained from the internship. As I have mentioned, the URIS advertises research project that recruits students to contribute to a ground-breaking piece of research. Research in academia has the potential to have a real-life impact, which exemplifies the importance and quality of work required by students working on these projects. During the 10 week internship, I was constantly incorporated into the work of the research project that aimed to study whether dental performance could be implicated by the way dentists think. The opportunity to be able to contribute to a piece of research that has the potential to impact a key area of public benefit is a unique opportunity offered by the URIS scheme at UCLan. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when considering the benefits of this scheme.
Presenting my research internship work at the 'UCLan Research Exhibition' 2014
One such advantage of the URIS at UCLan has been the chance to work at a level similar to those in academia. This benefit has aided my development as a student of Neuroscience to help with my final year studies and has given me the confidence to pursue the achievement of getting a 1stclass degree of Neuroscience. Being able to experience this level of academia also provides a unique experience to help my career ambition to enter a career in research following my undergraduate degree. Having the experience of the URIS on my CV augments my chances of securing PhD positions that will help my chances of becoming an academic researcher.
A second of many benefits to the URIS scheme is the one that is yet to happen. In April 2015, myself and 11 other interns (7 of whom study Psychology/Neuroscience) have been accepted to present our various research projects at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research, held at Eastern Washington University in the USA. For an undergraduate to be able to go to America and present the research I’ve worked on is an opportunity that I am grateful for, and all from the services that UCLan offer. This final adventure of the URIS is an outstanding way to end the scheme, sharing my research to an international audience with the great friends I’ve made at UCLan.
A final point I want to make in this blog post concerns the fact that only a select number of students are able to work on the URIS scheme. Nevertheless, the research opportunities on offer at UCLan are open to all Neuroscience students. That is, students are able to volunteer for academics who undertake their research projects throughout the year. The only pre-requisite needed to volunteer for these projects is the willingness and passion to work with academics. If you’re willing to put your time and energy into these opportunities at UCLan, then you will come out of your degree with experience that helps your life and career after graduation. From personal experience, I have utilised these opportunities to develop a passion within Neuroscience research in being able to use brain imaging technology to study human behaviour. I will blog about my passion for brain imaging in later posts so keep your eyes peeled for more posts!!
Thanks for reading!
Matthew Plummer
3rd year Neuroscience Student
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