You are eligible to apply for this Scholarship scheme if you:

• are ordinarily resident in Scotland. This means that your permanent home address is in Scotland (if you are in Scotland purely to study, but otherwise would be living elsewhere, you are not considered to be ordinarily resident);
• have spent 2 years in full-time secondary schooling or college education in Scotland, OR have a substantive connection with Scotland on the basis of residency, education (excluding university) family or working life. If applying based on the latter you will need to contact the Trust to confirm your eligibility before applying;
• reside in a low-income household (please refer to the income thresholds provided below);
• are an undergraduate student at one of the following institutions:
  • universities: Aberdeen, Abertay, Dundee, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, Highlands and Islands, Queen Margaret, Robert Gordon, St Andrews, Stirling, Strathclyde, West of Scotland;
  • Glasgow School of Art
  • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland;
• are enrolled at that institution for the full duration of your degree, or have transferred to that HEI after completing an HNC/HND from a Scottish college;
• are in the 3rd year of a 4 year degree, OR in the 3rd or 4th year of a 5 year degree OR in the 2nd year of a 3 year degree (for example Nursing, Midwifery, BA Acting/Ballet etc.). Part-time students must be at an equivalent stage in their course.
• are entitled to live and work in the UK. Where applicable students will be asked to prove that they hold the right to work full-time in the UK.
• have never previously held a Carnegie Vacation Scholarship.

Who can’t apply

You are not eligible for this award if:

• your permanent home address is outside Scotland
• you are not an enrolled undergraduate at one of the 17 eligible Scottish institutions listed
• you are in the final year of your course and are scheduled to graduate in summer 2026
• you have held a Carnegie Vacation Scholarship in the past
• your migration status does not entitle you to work in the UK.

Please note: If you are unsure about any aspect of your eligibility, please submit an inquiry by email to vacation-scholarships@carnegie-trust.org

Your project must:

• be between 4 weeks and 12 weeks in duration;
• address a clearly specified research question(s) or hypothesis;
• engage you in personal research over the period specified in your application;
• give you sufficient scope to develop your ideas, use your initiative and build your research and analytical skills; and
• be based either at your home university or another (host) research organisation. The host organisation must have suitable facilities and appropriate supervision must be in place both where the research is to be conducted and at the home university. The supervisor at any host organisation also needs to be an established researcher or academic.

NOTE: Applicants must write their own project proposal and will be disqualified if the application and/or Case for Support appears to have been written by a supervisor, other individual or entirely by Generative AI technologies.

Activities that are not eligible for a Scholarship:

• Projects that form part of your assessed course work: for example, your scholarship project cannot be on the same topic as your final year dissertation, although it could address a sub-set of issues or questions that might be expanded into a thesis.
• Projects that are a direct continuation or expansion of an existing/larger project or study.
• Projects that involve participation in group expeditions.
• Projects that consist solely of a literature review.
• Work placements (whether paid or unpaid) or volunteering activities.
• Attendance of summer schools, language study or any other training course.

• The project must be supervised by an academic member of staff at the students university. A supervisor may be a (senior) lecturer, reader or professor (including emeritus) but not a graduate teaching assistant and/or an hourly paid tutor. Additional day-to-day supervision can be provided by post-docs or PhD students.
• Supervisors may only nominate a single student per academic year.
• Supervisors will be asked in the application form to confirm their own availability and willingness to supervise the students progress during the period of award.
• It is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that the project is completed within the agreed timescale.
• The supervisor is expected to liaise with their department to ensure that processes are put in place for the timely distribution of the scholarship to the student.
• Supervisors must ensure that; their student receives adequate training, that all statutory requirements are satisfied (including ethics committee approval, animal licenses and requirements of regulatory authorities where applicable) and that all relevant Health and Safety policies of the institution (including those relating to field-working) are followed.
• If the project is to be conducted at a different organisation to the students home institution, the supervisor at the student’s home institution must ensure that a suitably qualified host supervisor is available to oversee research activities, and that Health & Safety and any other statutory requirements are satisfied.

When assessing applications, reviewers will look for evidence of the following:

Academic standing of the student

• Academic record to date, applicants are expected to be on course to achieve a 2:2 or higher classification and Honours where applicable
• Suitable experience, knowledge and skills for the project
• Likely to benefit from project by enhancing existing and/or acquiring new skills

Motivation of the student

• Evidence that the student conceived the project and has taken a lead role in developing it
• Career intentions and motivations for undertaking the proposed research

Quality of the project

• Novelty and originality of the proposed research
• Clear hypothesis or research question(s)
• Clear description of the research activities to be undertaken by the student
• Methodology suitable for the proposed research
• Opportunities for dissemination and impact
• Achievable within the time constraints

Supervision and Environment

• Appropriate level of support provided by supervisor for the type of research and proposed topic
• A suitable research environment and access to necessary facilities

Carnegie Scholarships are intended as a stipend to cover a students living expenses and accommodation costs while they undertake a summer research project and is calculated using the Scottish Living Wage rate (currently £12.60 per hour). Scholarships should be distributed to students by their university in installments at pre-agreed intervals over the course of their project.

Please note: there is no additional funding available for consumables, equipment, overheads etc. Host organisations are responsible for ensuring students have access to all the necessary equipment and consumables to undertake their project.

Duration: Applicants are expected to state the amount of support they are applying for in the form of full-time (35 hour) working weeks. These weeks do not need to be consecutive and projects may also be completed on a part-time basis. However, for those students intending on working part-time the amount of support required will still need to be indicated in full-time weeks. For example, if a student wishes to spend 3 days a week on their project over a 10 week period, this would equate to 30 days or 6 weeks full-time equivalent, meaning the student should request 6 weeks support on their application (not 10).

If you are unsure of how many weeks to request, please contact the Trust for advice at vacation-scholarships@carnegie-trust.org.

The ‘Applying for a Vacation Scholarship‘ document (which can be found under the Downloadable documents section below) provides a comprehensive guide to the online application process. We also recommend reviewing the scheme’s Regulations and Terms & Conditions thoroughly and discussing your project in detail with your prospective supervisor before starting an application.

You will need to use the eligibility checker to see if you are eligible to apply. If you appear eligible based on your answers a link to the online application portal will appear. Please note: the result given by the eligibility checker is only indicative and ultimately the eligibility of your application will be judged based on the information provided in the application form, supporting evidence and supervisor’s statement.

The online application portal opens approximately 10 weeks before the closing date.

After you submit your application, an email will be sent to your supervisor with a request for them to complete the rest of the application. Your supervisor will then submit the complete application to the Trust. You will receive confirmatory emails when you submit your portion of the application and when your supervisor has successfully submitted the remainder.

Please ensure that you leave your supervisor sufficient time before the deadline to complete their part of the application process, we recommend allowing at least 5 working day.

Carnegie Vacation Scholarships are intended to support students from low-income households who, as a consequence of financial constraints, are typically unable to take advantage of extra-curricular development opportunities. When assessing applications, the following total (gross) household income thresholds are used as a guide:

Regulations

Terms and Conditions of Award

Quick Guide to Vacation Scholarships

Applying for a Vacation Scholarship

Below are links to a number of organisations running similar schemes.

Note: The Carnegie Trust is not responsible for the content of external websites. Please read the guidance and eligibility criteria provided by each organisation before making an application.

Anatomical Society

The British Lichen Society

British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

The Cross Trust (Medical Electives, Arts & Humanities)

Gilchrist Educational Trust (overseas trips and medical electives)

Medical Research Scotland

Royal Society of Biology

Society for Reproduction and Fertility

Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarships