Oppurtunity to do research leading to publications

[Kudu]

Hello

I am a foreign student and will start WMS next year. In the fourth year i will be expected to apply to various residency programs in Canada. I want to undertake an opthalmology program - however, this is one of the most competitive residencies and v. hard to get into. ONe of the things that they look for when they match you to a teaching hospital is how much work you have authored and published.

My question is, will i have the opportunity to undertake much research whilst at WMS or will any perspective research have to be independent of teh med school?

Thanks for any help

[tinsel]

Hi, I don't think you have much chance of doing research on the course at warwick. If you have some data already that you want to get published then you may be able to write a paper/review whilst studying but as far as i can tell from the course info there isn't a period spent in a lab doing research as such. I am not sure about the special study module though, maybe this can be lab based, i don't know. The vast majority of students applying will be grads probably unpublished so far. Some applicants especially those with masters/PhDs will have published work prior to applying which may help in the future but generally most people won't be in that position. If you already have published data then i guess you will be in a stonger position, i'm not sure.

[JonRadford]

Maybe you will get a chance to do some research in the summer after the 1st year? There are quite a few summer vacation scholarships you can apply for to work in labs for the summer (and you get paid!). I did one through the Wellcome Trust a few years ago. Otherwise I think a lot of labs would be happy to have you help out unpaid!

[magic]

Hi,
I agree with John, I have a few publications from my job, but I also managed to get one whilst doing a summer placement sponsored by the Wellcome Trust whilst at uni.
I think you will have oportunity to do this in the summer after your first year, providing you find a suitable supervisor to put forward a grant and research project for you. You could begin by getting in touch with the relevant department(s) now to see if they could help you in the future. It will do no harm asking, it only shows enthusiasm!

[saintgermain]

There are plenty of opportunities to publish while at WMS. You can get research grants from the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund at Warwick, or the Small Grants Fund, or the WMS Dean's Fund, or the Warwick Graduate Association Opportunity Fund. Similarly, the URSS scholarship scheme at Warwick will pay a grant (up to £1000) for you to work either full time in the summer or part time during term time on a research project with a member of staff. You just need to come with ideas and then approach potential supervisors. I have three projects for this summer and WMS staff have been supportive without exception.

And, of course, there is nothing to stop you researching and writing reviews for publication. This is particularly true during semester 1 when you will find yourself bored to tears with just the occasional social science lecture to interrupt your week.

In terms of time off, you could easily get some lab work for ~10 weeks in the summer of the first year. Then there is your elective period if you were willing to sacrifice 8 weeks of a nice warm climate to go and work in a prestigious lab somewhere.