BCUR events

This website is for Newcastle University students interested in applying for an internal scholarship to attend BCUR events.  

 

British Conference of Undergraduate Research 

The British Conference of Undergraduate Research is a multidisciplinary conference for undergraduate level research. Each year a different British university hosts the event. Undergraduates present their research through spoken papers, posters, workshops and performances. The BCUR offers a fantastic opportunity to meet students from other universities and share your work. 

In 2023 the BCUR will take place at The University of Warwick on 5-6 April 2023. It will be held concurrently with the World Congress on Undergraduate Research (WorldCUR), which will bring hundreds of students from across the world together to meet, share their research and make new and exciting connections. More details about the conference can be found on The University of Warwick’s website. 

Newcastle BCUR Scholarship Competition 

Newcastle University runs a BCUR scholarship competition every year - the winners receive a fully funded scholarship to attend a BCUR event. Entrants’ abstracts are judged by a panel of academics who mark the abstracts considering their accessibility, importance and originality.

Application process for 2023 BCUR Scholarship Competition 

  • You should submit a 250-word abstract by 11:59pm on Monday 19 December 2022 using this form. Applicants to BCUR23 can do a ten-minute talk or a poster and you must state which you intend to do in your application.
  • Abstracts will then be a judged by a panel of academics, and applicants will receive decisions by 5 January 2023.
  • If you are unsuccessful in securing a scholarship, you can still apply to attend BCUR23 although you will have to pay for it yourself. To do this you must submit your abstract to BCUR23 directly by 12 noon GMT on 11 January 2023.
  • Successful applicants who are attending BCUR23 on a Newcastle University BCUR scholarship will be advised to submit their abstracts by 12 noon GMT on 11 January 2023 to Warwick University for review by a BCUR panel. We expect that an abstract that has won the competition at Newcastle will also be judged positively by the BCUR panel, and therefore expect that person will be invited to the conference, though strictly speaking we can’t make any promises.
  • The BCUR panel at Warwick will then let you know their decision. When you have heard from them, please email thebcur@newcastle.ac.uk to let us know what they said!
  • Appropriate logistical and financial arrangements will then be made for the successful applicants.
  • Please note: your location will be taken into consideration before making arrangements as we are aware that not all students will stay in Newcastle over the Easter break. We would pay for a return ticket to Warwick either from Newcastle or from wherever you are going to be before and after BCUR 2023, but it must be a return ticket (from and to the same place), and the scholarship includes travel costs only within the UK.

What is included in the scholarship?

  • Organised and funded trip to the University of Warwick for BCUR23. (Includes standard-class student-railcard return from Newcastle or home to conference location, taxis from station to conference location, and return, conference fee including board and lodging, and the BCUR dinner.)
  • If you choose to present a poster, production of that poster.
  • If you have presented a poster, the poster or proof to be framed and displayed in the University (often the student’s School).

Guidance on abstracts

Abstracts should be a short summary of the project that enables reviewers to quickly understand the purpose and content of your research. The following must be included:

  • What the research is about (‘What?’)
  • Why it is necessary (e.g. literature gap, context for the study, etc.) (‘Why?’)
  • How the research has been conducted (e.g. research methods) (‘How?’)
  • Findings
  • Why this is important, especially for someone not in the field (‘So what?’)
  • What might be the implications of this research, for future research or for the public? (‘Now what?’)