BSI Summer Bursaries open new directions for students and research 

From discovering an unexpected interest in applied mathematics to considering postgraduate study combining statistics and sport science, this year’s BSI Summer Research Bursaries have opened new directions for research and the students. 

The 2026 Summer Research Bursary programme brought Durham undergraduates onto interdisciplinary research projects spanning four University Departments. Students worked across disciplinary boundaries on projects combining areas including mathematics, microbiology, psychology, chemistry and biosciences.  

The impact of our bursary programme extends beyond the summer. All of the research projects started this summer are planned to continue after the placements, building new links between the researchers involved. This follows the pattern of previous BSI bursaries, which have led to further research between the teams they brought together, leading to grant applications, supported spin-out research and resulted in publications.  

For several of this year’s students, the experience has also changed how they are thinking about their future. 

"I really enjoyed the opportunity to integrate biological sciences and mathematics together and do research that included both of them. The mathematics I have learnt so far in my degree is quite theoretical, so I really appreciated the opportunity to solidify what I have learnt and actually apply it to a real situation. 
It has given me a really good basis for my career - an integrated approach to science. It's also given me something amazing to talk about in my CV and applications." Bursary holder Lara Fox (Natural Sciences)  

A new approach for 2026 

2026 also saw the BSI introduce a new format of bursary projects - clustered bursaries. These new bursaries were designed to build momentum in emerging areas of research while giving students experience of working together in cross-disciplinary teams.  

The BSI's first clustered project topic, Bayesian Brain, brought together Arjan Dwhawan (Natural Sciences), Anna-Maria Kotlinska (Computer Science), Kieran Ramdeehul (Mathematical Sciences) and Maisie Squire (Mathematical Sciences), to work with Professor Chris Prior and Dr Ostap Hryniv both from Mathematical Sciences and Professor Ulrik Beierholm from the Department of Psychology. The project used Bayesian statistical models to explore why people sometimes make decisions that deviate from apparently rational or optimal choices.  

Bringing together the cohort  

Alongside their research, the 2026 students took part in cohort and career-development activities. These included the BSI's first Modellathon. A session where students learnt to use the Visual PDE platform and applied it to modelling biological systems they had encountered through their summer research.  

This modelling version of a Hackathon, was very popular and will be repeated on a larger scale in the spring term 2027 - welcoming undergraduates, Masters students and PhDs from across Durham.  

Sign up to the BSI Mailing list to find out more  

Sharing their research 

The students came back together at the BSI Welcome Session in October to present their work alongside PhD and other early career researchers from across the BSI community. 

The BSI Summer Bursary poster prize was awarded to Lara Fox (Natural Sciences) for her project, Quantitative Modelling of E. coli Growth Dynamics Under Folate Limitation, undertaken with Professor David Weinkove (Biosciences) and Dr Andrew Krause (Mathematical Sciences).  

The summer placements may have finished, but the work they started has not. The research projects will continue, and BSI will continue to support the students as they consider their next steps and future applications. 

Find out more 

• BSI Bursaries 2027  

• Events  

• Biomathematics