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Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Award
SURE Scholarships 2025/2026
The College of Medicine and Health together with the School of Medicine is delighted to invite applications for Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Awards from undergraduate students registered in the School of Medicine in the College of Medicine and Health at UCC. The purpose of the SURE awards is to support the participation of undergraduate students in research during summer of 2026. The aim of these awards is to foster an interest in research and to give awardees an opportunity to become familiar with research interests, techniques and approaches used in Schools across the College of Medicine & Health.
Who can apply?
- Applicants must be undergraduate students who are not in the final year of their degree course.
- Applicants must be studying full-time at UCC in the School of Medicine.
- Applicants must not have previously conducted a PhD and/or MSc by research.
- Applicants must not have worked as a research assistant, research technician or any role with experience of 6 weeks or more of active research
- The primary supervisor of SURE applicants must have a primary affiliation with the School of Medicine in the College of Medicine & Health at UCC.
- Co-supervisors from the same Department or School, other Departments or Schools, other Colleges, hospitals, healthcare sites and external partners (e.g. patient & community organisations) are also welcome.
- Each applicant may submit only one application.
• Each primary supervisor may support only one student application. - Students may not hold a HRB Summer Scholarship or other summer scholarship award concurrently.
- Applications over the four-page limit will not be reviewed and the submission will be deemed ineligible.
What is the value of the award?
The maximum SURE award value is €2000. This includes a stipend of €250 per week to fund a full-time period of research for a minimum of 6 weeks and up to maximum of 8 weeks. If consumables are required to complete the project, these must be included within the total budget of €2000 and therefore the duration of the project much be adjusted accordingly. The maximal allowable consumable budget is €500 of the available €2000 in each SURE award.
Examples:
- An 8-week desk-based project that does not require consumables. Budget = €250 per week x 8 weeks = €2000.
- An 8-week laboratory project that does not require consumables or where consumables are provided by the host laboratory. Budget = €250 per week x 8 weeks = €2000.
- A 6-week research project that requires up to €500 of consumables. As €500 of consumables are required, then the duration of the project can be a maximum of 6 weeks to fit within the budget.
Budget = €250 per week x 6 weeks = €1500 + €500 consumables.
How many awards are available?
There are 4 award(s) available in the School of Medicine.
How to apply?
School of Medicine SURE award application form available here: SoM SURE Application form 2025.2026
Applicants must send a PDF of the application form to rpac@ucc.ie by Friday 23rd January 2026 at 5pm.
Notification of the outcome? Applications will be adjudicated by members of the School and College of Medicine and Health Research and Innovation Committees. The student and primary supervisor will be notified of the outcome by email to the addresses provided in the application. All decisions are final.
Previous School of Medicine SURE award recipients
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience recipients 2025
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Title |
| Kate McCarthy |
Prof Christian Waeber |
Identification and pharmacological evaluation of novel anti-angiogenesis, VEGFR inhibitors. |
| Mihika Mull |
Dr Louise Gibson |
Clinical and Psychosocial Predictors of Eating Disorder Medical Readmissions in Paediatric Patients in Cork – A case-control study |
| Riona Mairin Barry-Smith | Dr Elizabeth Brint | Investigation of p38delta/MAPK13 as a biomarker for oesophageal cancer chemosensitisation to epigenetic drugs |
| Eimear Geary | Dr Lily Keane | Reprogramming microglia to anti-tumour activation states in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) using Short-Chain-Fatty-Acids (SCFA). |
School of Medicine SURE recipients 2024
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Project |
| Francesca Morris | Prof David Kerins | Clinical application of Coronary CT in a level 3 hospital |
| Rishi Popuri | Prof Michael Maher | Development of a Machine Learning-Enhanced Augmented Reality Program for Precise Nerve Root Block Procedures in Interventional Radiology |
| Alise Silamedne | Dr Cathriona Foley | Establishment of a Liquid Biopsy Protocol to Assess Cell Free DNA in the Perioperative Period for Melanoma |
| Samiha Sajida | Dr Siobhain O Mahony | An examination of the interplay between key vaginal, plasma and salivary inflammatory mediators and the microbiome in women with endometriosis. |
| Matthew Cronin | Prof Seamus O Reilly | “How much does your medication cost?”: Assessing patient attitudes and awareness of the costs of oncology medication to society. |
School of Medicine SURE recipients 2023
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Project |
| Rajesh Joel | Prof Conor Deasy | A descriptive cross-sectional study of ‘Alternative Pre-Hospital Pathway Team’ activity on patients aged 75 and over. |
| Danielle Beleutz | Dr Jacqueline Pando Kelly | Evaluating the outcomes of peanut and tree nut allergic children treated with at- home peanut and tree nut oral immunotherapy in a paediatric allergy service |
| Padraig Cronin | Prof Aideen Sullivan | Investigation of the impacts of Gait Freeze on quality of life in Parkinson’s patients, From the perspectives of patient, caregiver, and clinical caregiver. |
| Ihsan Albakri | Dr Muhammad Abdulla | Masked Hypertension and White-Coat Hypertension in Chronic Kidney Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Update |
| Mark Vesey | Dr Nora McCarthy | An evaluation and comparison of attitudes of competitiveness amongst medical students from an Irish and a Swedish medical school |
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience recipients 2022
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Title |
| Caoimhe Cronin |
Prof Liam O Mahony |
Polarised lymphocyte responses to bacterial-derived Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) ligands |
| Matthew Jamer Power |
Dr John MacSharry |
The lung microbiome and severe asthma |
| Jungie Guo |
Dr Colm O Tuathaigh |
A scoping review of the literature related to the availability and validity of smartphone-based apps designed to measure speech-in-noise comprehension |
| Yukta Ramesh |
Dr Juan Trujillo |
An evaluation of the impact of dietetics involvement in the management of the egg ladder for IgE-mediated egg allergy patients in 2019 and 2021. |
| Mritunjay Marc Mukherjee |
Dr Orla P Barry |
Combining epigenetics and immunotherapy in the treatment of oesophageal cancer”. |
| Rachel Catherine Roberts |
Prof Aideen Sullivan |
Validation of GDF5 as a neuroprotective factor for Parkinson’s Therapy: analysis of the expression of GDF5 receptors in the substantia nigra |
School of Medicine SURE recipients 2021
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Project |
| Jack Monahan | Prof Denis O Mahony | Prevalence of drug-drug interactions in elderly patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. |
| Monisha Chakravarty | Prof Noel Caplice | The Role of Bile Acid Receptors in the Inflammatory Processes in the Pulmonary Veins and Atria of the Heart in a Porcine Model of Cardiometabolic Syndrome. |
| Natalie Krakoski | Prof Gerard O Keeffe | Pair gene-coexpression analysis of the human substantia nigra to identify candidate epigenetic and inflammatory mediators of relevance to Parkinson’s disease. |
| Ava O Flynn | Dr Gerard Clarke | Assessing the impact of inulin supplementation in astrocytes across lifespan |
| Patrick Henry | Prof Michael Maher | Analytic morphomics in myositis-related interstitial lung disease |
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience recipients 2020
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Project |
| Ciara O Donoghue | Dr Yvonne Nolan | Determining the impact of nutrition and physical activity on cognitive function and inflammatory profile in healthy older aged adults |
| Eimear O Shaughnessy | Dr Keelin O Donoghue and Dr Sara Leitao | Termination of Pregnancy Service CUMH: A Year in Review |
School of Medicine SURE recipients 2019
| Research Student |
Research Supervisor |
Research Project |
| Samuel David Keogh |
Dr. Elizabeth Brint |
The role of interleukin-1 family members in the modulation and expression of programmed cell death-1 programmed cell death ligand-1 in neoplastic cell lines |
| Aoife Jones Thachuthara |
Professor Deirdre Murray |
Babyscreen Predictive Cohort Study: The investigation of a new screening method for cognitive assessments in early childhood |
| Samantha Leigh Wakerlin |
Dr. Justin McCarthy |
Generation and Characterisation of Proteolytic Cleavage-Resistant ACE2 Mutant for mammalian cell expression |
| Ruth Mook-Hay Yan |
Dr. Colm O'Tuathaigh |
Speech dicrimination in older adults: implications for health service utilisation |
| Eimear O'Mahony |
Professor Colin Bradley |
Challenges facing general practitioners in the wake of the cervical check scandal |
| Natalie Krakoski |
Professor Aisling Ryan & Dr. Collette Hand |
Characterisation of clinical and genetic features in members of a periodic paralysis family with a novel CACNA1S gene mutation |
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