Please suggest something useful for me to do over the summer holiday

Where are you based now? How long do you have for the summer? Is money a consideration, i.e. do you need to be paid for your summer time? Could you afford to spend X number of weeks in another city, e.g. in rented accommodation or a hostel?

I certainly wouldn't speak to local consultants yet as you will find it difficult to back out if something "better" comes up in the meantime. Local consultants would probably entertain a keen student for a summer without any difficulty or much notice.

It's probably worth thinking seriously about likely specialty choices at this point.

Stay out of labs if you can unless you are considering a career in translational science. Do something with patients - it's what you signed up for ;-)

Most medical schools have a grant called INSPIRE which usually funds things like summer projects for medical students. In comparison to the previous poster, most students that do a summer project here get at least a national poster presentation. Do some googling and see who the INSPIRE lead is for your university and give them an email.

Thanks for the response!



I study in Liverpool. I live in Leeds.
I would be available from mid July to early September.
I'm in a good financial situation at the moment. I'd be willing to pay for travel/accommodation to other city if needs be.



Noted thanks. Jumping into an Audit with a consultant would be my last port of call.



Surgery for sure. Difficult to say what type but in order of preference (as of now): General, Ortho, Plastics, Vascular.



I'd much rather something more clinical so yeah!

If you're already in Leeds it may be worth enquiring at LGI. They have a very strong academic unit when it comes to orthopaedics with both clinical (trauma) and lab-based (MSCs) research.

I plan to. My question is how should I go about it. At the moment all I can really say is "I wanna do research stuff about ortho. Do you have any research stuffI can do over the summer plz?"

This is very interesting and exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, thanks!

I've looked up my local lead, so will definitely email him. What sort of things should I be asking? I'd feel a little stupid emailing him something so broad as "I'm interested in surgery and I want to do some sort of research project over the summer. What have you got going?"But that's all I really know about what I want to do as of now.

How would I go about finding an actual project? Thanks!

Most medical schools have a grant called INSPIRE which usually funds things like summer projects for medical students. In comparison to the previous poster, most students that do a summer project here get at least a national poster presentation. Do some googling and see who the INSPIRE lead is for your university and give them an email.

I've looked up my local lead, so will definitely email him. What sort of things should I be asking? I'd feel a little stupid emailing him something so broad as "I'm interested in surgery and I want to do some sort of research project over the summer. What have you got going?"But that's all I really know about what I want to do as of now.

How would I go about finding an actual project? Thanks!

Just be honest with them. State your stage, that you're interested in orthopaedics and would like to get involved in some research to explore the specialty. You don't need to approach these places with a project in mind, they definitely don't expect that. More often than not they will have projects on the back burner that they may be too busy to complete currently that you would be able to get involved with.

I think this depends on who you are contacting. It can sometimes be demoralising for senior researchers who get lots of emails from medical students and junior doctors asking for projects. It is also difficult taking over someone else's project, particularly one that may have lapsed or been abandoned for a good reason (i.e. it's not very good...).

If I were in your situation and staying locally, I would email a senior academic to express your interest in their specialty and ask whether they hold research seminars or works-in-progress meetings you could attend when your timetable allows. At those meetings you will see what research other people are doing, meet research fellows / PhD students, identify opportunities to help out with ongoing research projects, and select a good supervisor.

I would try to select someone who is a substantive academic (or at least publishes a lot - check PubMed) as many consultants will happily sell you their "great idea" which may well not turn out to be as great as they hoped. Once you've been given a project, you pretty much have to finish it; particularly if you hope to work in that specialty.

Obviously non-academic consultants are fine if you're predominantly looking for clinical experiences (+/- audit) that you might not otherwise get during your medical school rotations.

Finally, consider splitting up your summer... two weeks in resus at your local Major Trauma Centre followed by the rest of your time doing a research project? Or work in research the whole time but ask for a bleep that receives trauma alerts and cardiac arrest calls so you can break away for those?

A national poster presentation is fine but you should aim higher if planning to invest a whole summer vacation. If you are strategic, hard working, and a bit lucky you could spin one good research project into lots of outputs.

In an ideal world, you would apply for a small grant (e.g. from an INSPIRE scheme) to support your project then present the results both as an oral presentation at a conference and in a peer-reviewed publication. You would then apply for a small bursary from somewhere to cover your conference expenses. You would also submit your project for various local and national research prizes - have a look in advance at those offered by specialty organisations, the Royal Society of Medicine, and others. They are often (relatively) undersubscribed and a good submission has a reasonable chance of winning.

All of these things are worth cash (that you can reinvest into your career) or "points" that will help drive your career forward later on. You are at an early enough stage to plan things properly and get as much out of your investment as possible.

The only reason that I would suggest not staying locally is that you can do something "different", perhaps more interesting, and have a greater range of choice available to you. However, sometimes it's worth staying local because you might discover a supervisor who is willing to help/mentor you over the next few years. Perhaps a compromise would be heading to Leeds, which could mean living at home but also expanding your network beyond the hospitals you will grow to know very well during your clinical years? I don't know Peter Giannoudis at Leeds but he publishes a lot in the orthopaedic trauma world: http://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/profile/750/883/peter_v_giannoudis/1

I think giving people expectations that they're going to spend 6 weeks optimising some kind of assay and walk out with a publication, an oral presentation, a couple of prizes (one local, maybe one national) is a little disingenuous and perhaps is what adds to the frustration of people not realising that research is definitely the long-game and not a "6 weeks in, loads of output out".

I agree that most students do not squeeze all of this out of a single project and that unrealistic expectations are sometimes a problem for undergraduate researchers. It's also by no means a failure if a first undergraduate project stops at a poster presentation. That said, the most productive approach is surely to plan around maximising the number of outputs that can be achieved from a single project. It is also why it is so important for students to work in the right group and (ideally) select a project that meets their needs. Success in research is all about backing the right horse...

I wouldn't encourage undergraduates to pursue lab research unless they are considering a career in translational science - in which case they might benefit from early experience. In fact, I think they would have to be very lucky to get a poster at a serious national meeting after only six weeks working in a lab.

One caveat is that research outputs will never appear immediately after the six week project - the bulk of the work (data collection/analysis) could be done during that time but the publication process can drag on for a year plus. This is why the OP is absolutely right to think about this now and not in his/her final year.

I've published a number of papers in serious journals that were written in <72 hours - and did so as a medical student as well. I wouldn't suggest that it's easy (particularly for someone starting out) or even possible for most projects but it certainly can be done. There's no reason why an undergraduate shouldn't shop around for a high yield project while acknowledging that most student research will not generate infinite returns.

That's a lot more reasoned than what you originally said, which basically concluded 'if you only get a poster it's a waste of time'. There's also absolutely nothing wrong with lab-based research and I would encourage students to get involved in both lab-based and clinical research, I certainly wouldn't dissuade people from getting involved. It seems like you've either followed a single path or believe that there is one single path to follow and want everybody to toe that line - indeed, how can anybody know they don't want to pursue translational (or indeed, basic science research) without actually doing it?! As always, it isn't just about the posters and the papers you get at the end... such an output-focused way of looking at things may stifle some personal/professional development. I have to disagree with your whole approach.

Sorry to the OP for this digression which might or might not be useful. There are obviously different ways to frame the decision as to how you spend your vacation period...!