Call for expressions of interest 2026: UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme) groups - PSL
PSL University is renewing its call for expressions of interest in forming new UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) groups that will welcome undergraduate students to PSL University for research internships starting in the 2026 academic year.
What does it involve ?
This programme is inspired by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programmes (UROP) developed at the world's leading universities. It aims to offer hundreds of laboratory research internships to undergraduate students at PSL University. Its goal is to help change the culture of undergraduate education by giving research training a central role and, more generally, by promoting initiative and independence among students. It is also an opportunity to attract outstanding students to research from the undergraduate level onwards and to provide doctoral students with mentoring opportunities.
It is based on the creation of collectives, comprising one or more research teams or laboratories, which undertake to take on undergraduate interns. Since the scheme was launched in 2023, 16 collectives have already been formed and nearly 300 internships have been completed. Throughout the year, they welcome more than a hundred undergraduate students for research internships.
Who is concerned ?
The students concerned are, on the one hand, those enrolled in bachelor's degree programs at PSL University (Mathematics and Computer Science, Organizational Sciences, CPES Sciences, Humanities or Social Sciences, CPES Data Sciences, Arts and Cultures, Sciences for a Sustainable World, etc.), primarily in their second year (but not excluding third-year students), and first-year students at grandes écoles (engineering, science and arts, and chartists). All academic fields represented at PSL are concerned.
How is it organized ?
Internships must take place throughout the academic year, according to the following schedule: one day per week between mid-October and the end of the spring semester, followed by one month full-time in June or July, for a total work period corresponding to two full months. Adjustments to this general schedule may be possible, depending on the specific characteristics of the institutions and programs, the different disciplines, and the constraints of the laboratories.
Internships may include all kinds of activities that contribute to the production of knowledge (preparation and performance of laboratory experiments, work on databases, computer programming, modeling, documentation, surveys, archival work, fieldwork, theoretical work, etc.), provided that they are clearly related to a scientific issue that interns can grasp. Interns must also experience scientific life within the research teams that host them (team or laboratory meetings, seminars, etc.).
It is of course possible for several interns to work together on the same project. Supervision or co-supervision of interns by doctoral students is encouraged. Finally, internship projects may also be developed on the basis of ideas proposed by future interns, if supervisors so wish
Deployment of the scheme
The program will continue to be rolled out gradually over the next few years, with a minimum of five students (for small collectives) accepted each year in each collective.
Collectives that commit to accepting at least five to ten students per year will receive financial support including:
- Full coverage of internship stipends (in the form of an internship grant paid directly by PSL) for five years, i.e., until 2030-2031. An extension until the end of the program (2032-2033) may be requested.
- An annual bonus for the UROP group coordinator (see below). This bonus will be approximately €1,200 for 10 students accepted, and will be adjusted according to the number of interns.
Each group will appoint a UROP coordinator, who will have the following tasks: informing the collective's researchers, guiding PSL University students, participating in the matching of interns and supervisors, organizing the evaluation of internships (defense at the end of the internship), and, in general, interacting with the UROP@PSL program management to implement the program.
Objectives
This call for expressions of interest aims to gather proposals from UROP collectives willing to host at least five undergraduate students per year for internships.
A collective may take the form of:
- A team or group of research teams within a research unit
- A research unit
- A group of research units within one or more institutions
Collectives commit to hosting between 5 and 20 students per year, until the end of the program (2032-2033), depending on their size.
The structure of the collectives may be reviewed on a regular basis.
Information to be provided on the form :
General information
1. Contact email :
2. Name of the group:
3. Team(s) or laboratory(ies) that make up the group:
4. Main institution to which the group belongs :
5. Other institution(s) involved :
6. UROP coordinator within the group (if the person is already identified) :
Topics
7. Presentation of the group and its research themes (1 or 2 paragraphs)
8. Which Graduate Program could your group be affiliated with (thematically)?
9. Keywords (discipline, sub-disciplines, methods, research themes) :
Organisation of courses
10. Profiles of the students you would like to attract (training, skills) :
11. Example of an internship project title that could be assigned to one or more UROP interns :
12. Number of students accepted each year:
13. Do you plan to offer group projects, to be carried out in pairs or in groups with other students? If so, please describe in a few lines.
14. Do you plan to involve doctoral students in supervision?
Additional information
15. Do you have anything to add?
16. Comments, suggestions, questions
Application to be completed on Forms before March 31, 2025
If you have any questions, please write to: urop@psl.eu
