Department of Physics and Astronomy

Research Placement Projects

Pay rate

You will be paid £437.50 per week. In order to get paid you must make sure the Physics & Astronomy course coordinator in the School Office knows you have started work. The payment dates will first be agreed with your supervisor. Usual payment format is as follows:

  • Year 1  £1750 paid on the first Monday after completion of your placement
  • Year 2 and Year 3  £1750 paid on the Monday halfway through your placement and an additional £1750 paid on the Monday after completion of your placement
Number of paid weeks
  • Year 1 (4 weeks)
  • Year 2 (8 weeks)
  • Year 3 (8 weeks)*

* Doing an 8 week placement in the Y3 summer is optional and does not count towards your degree. To qualify for department funding for a Y3 placement, you will be required to submit high quality proposals for alternative funding from approved sources (see the tab: “What are my summer research options if I don’t make it onto RP (or drop off it)?”). In the event of being awarded alternative funding but that funding has a lower pay rate and/or covers fewer than 8 weeks, then the department will make up the difference.

Selecting your Project

Matches between supervisors and Y1 students are made by the convener starting at the beginning of the spring term.

  • Y1: You will receive an email asking you to supply a ranked list early in the Spring term. The supervisor selection process may include an interview.
  • Y2: You will receive an email early in the Spring term asking you whether or not you would like to select a new project or remain with the same supervisor.
  • Y3: You will receive an email early in the Spring term asking whether you will be undertaking a project. If yes, you will need to submit a high quality proposal with your supervisor and apply for external funding. 

* Doing an 8 week placement in the Y3 summer is optional and does not count towards your degree. To qualify for department funding for a Y3 placement, you will be required to submit high quality proposals for alternative funding from approved sources (see the tab: “What are my summer research options if I don’t make it onto RP (or drop off it)?”). In the event of being awarded alternative funding but that funding has a lower pay rate and/or covers fewer than 8 weeks, then the department will make up the difference.

Transferring into RP

Each year there is one place available for transfer to the RP degree. This is offered to the highest-ranked student after the Y1 exams, as determined by the academic regulations. Therefore the cohort you are in has an effect on the likelihood of a place being offered.

To register your interest in transferring to the RP degree you will need to secure a supervisor for your Y1 summer placement. A list of projects is published near the start of the Spring Term. When this happens you will be notified by email, and to apply for a transfer you must submit a ranked list of preferences through our projects website.

Transfers normally occur in mid-July after a recommendation from the Progression and Award Board (PAB). If you were previously on the BSc degree, you will first need to transfer to MPhys in order to then transfer to RP.

Note that if you are taking "sits" in September, then your grade will not be known until later: in that case the board will make a recommendation as to whether you should carry out the Y1 summer placement or not.

In exceptional circumstances you may be allowed to transfer to the RP before the progression PAB meets in July, however, these are considered on an individual basis and should be discussed with the senior tutor (see Prof. Xavier Calmet x.calmet@sussex.ac.uk).

Staying on RP (grades)
  • Year 1 (70%)
  • Year 2 (70%)
  • Year 3 (70%)*

These are genuine minima and relate to "first attempt" grades. There is no wriggle room - we expect RP students to score significantly higher than these boundaries.

*You need to meet this grade criterion even if you don't do a summer placement in Y3. Usually your progression will be confirmed after the relevant year's summer exam board but if you are doing "sits" then it might not be until later.

Staying on RP (project)

You need to show research potential and work to high standards to stay on the degree.

Your supervisor will not be expecting you to write Nature papers immediately but they will want you to demonstrate that you have the capacity for independent research. They will also expect you to work the required number of hours (at the expected times of day) and for you to perform all duties asked of you, to the best of your ability.

The RP is a full time commitment: it is not acceptable to hold down another part time job whilst carrying out your placement.

Staying on RP (assessment)

At the end of the summer you will be assessed by the following methods:

  • Assessment of Practical Abilities
  • Written submission
Will I be paid if my grades slip?

Yes, you will usually still be paid for the following summer.

If you are registered on RP, the department recognises that it would be very hard to line up a similarly rewarding (and CV enhancing) summer job at short notice. We have, therefore, made it a policy to support students who fail to progress but who score 60% or above: they will be paid at the same rate and for the same number of weeks as if they had progressed. The same high standards are expected of these students. A student getting 59.9% or less will not be paid by the department. Your supervisor might still be willing to let you work in their group on a voluntary basis but they are not obliged to do so.

If you are a Y1 student hoping to transfer into RP, the department will not pay you to do a placement if you do not meet the 70% criterion. Your supervisor might still be willing to let you work in their group on a voluntary basis but they are not obliged to do so.

What are my summer research options if I don't make it onto RP (or drop off it)

The number of non-RP students carrying out summer research has increased year on year for the last 5 years. By now, more of our UG students are doing other types of placements than are doing RP. Options are summarized in tables at the end of this section.

Year 1: Choices for Y1 students are limited. You can work for free and this is an excellent way to prepare for an application to another scheme in Y2. Some Y1 students who offer to work for free end up being paid by their supervisor anyway but that is by no means guaranteed.

Year 2/3: For Y2 and Y3 (MPhys) students there are many choices. For people working in the department, the most popular are fellowships from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the IOP or the University’s Junior Research Associate (JRA) bursary scheme.

If you are willing to work elsewhere, then SEPnet offers research placements or you can apply to take an RAS or IOP to another department. Some other UK departments advertise for external students to apply to their funded schemes (e.g. Oxford and Leicester). There are also numerous international schemes you can apply for (e.g. at CERN).

Year 3/4: For Y3 (BSc) and Y4 students i.e. finalists, there are very few options for funding to support summer research placements in the department (although some of the international schemes are still open to you e.g. CERN).

If you’ve done really well on your project then your supervisor might take you on for a few weeks after graduation. Also, don’t forget that all finalists carry out a major research project.

Find out more about our Physics (research placement) MPhys course.