The Henry Royce Institute (Royce) is pleased to announce the opening of applications for its 2026 Undergraduate Internship Scheme. This initiative enables UK HEIs to engage undergraduate students in hands-on materials-science projects during the summer months, with funding support provided via Royce.
The scheme, which is now in it’s sixth year, is designed for researchers, technical staff and professional-services staff working in outreach and engagement at UK universities. Successful applicants will host an undergraduate intern for a project focussed on materials science, technical development, equipment enhancement or outreach/public-engagement activities. Projects are expected to run up to 30 hours per week over eight weeks during the summer months between June and September 2026.
Royce will reimburse host institutions for the cost of the internship via a grant scheme, enabling mentoring staff to provide students with meaningful experience of real-world research and innovation environments, while bolstering their own teams with fresh talent.
Undergraduate students themselves cannot apply to the scheme. Mentors and hosts must apply and then recruit interns via their organisations.
The application window opened on 24 November 2025, and the closing date for initial submissions is 19 January 2026 at 09:00.
Project proposals will be reviewed by the Royce Training Team on the basis of project strength, relevance to Royce’s materials research areas, benefit to the student and benefit to the mentor or host laboratory.
After selection, mentors will receive full guidance for the recruitment, running and final reporting of the internship, including a virtual internship conference for interns to present their work at the end of the scheme.
Royce emphasises that hosts should ensure equality, diversity and inclusion in the recruitment process, and that financial arrangements to pay the intern via the host institution must be in place ahead of project start dates.
The support provided by Royce is solely for the intern’s employment cost; consumables, bench fees, or other overheads are not eligible under this scheme.
The scheme, now in its 6th year, gives undergraduates meaningful exposure to real-world research and innovation in materials science before they need to make decisions about their future careers or postgraduate study pathways.
It expands the mentoring pool to include not only traditional academic researchers but also technical and professional services staff, broadening perspectives on what careers in materials science can look like. Interested mentors at UK universities are encouraged to learn more and prepare proposals ahead of the January deadline.
Find out more about the Internship Scheme and apply here: https://www.royce.ac.uk/students/internship-scheme/2026-internship-scheme/
