Project proposals

Examples of previous students’ project proposals. These examples are intended to provide applicants with different approaches used; ideas of details and information to be included in research proposals; layout etc.

You may also find previous students’ advice and tips useful.

Notes for 2026-27 MRC LID Studentship applicants:

1. Applicants must read and follow information in the 2026-27 MRC LID Studentships Applicant Guidance & FAQs document/s.
2. These examples were written by applicants in previous round. In previous years there was word count guidance but it wasn’t strictly monitored.
Please note: We will be very strict with project proposals received this year. Any project proposal with a word count of under 1,000 or over 2,000 (excluding project proposal title and applicant name) may be automatically disqualified. This is to manage high number of applications and available recruitment resources well.
Therefore, applicants need to show skills in research and writing. It is important that there is enough detail in your proposal to show critical thinking, plans and motivation. It should also be well-structured and carefully worded to be within limit. MRC LID expects proposals to be written by applicants without the use of AI.
3. The examples shown here have been edited to show where the maximum 2,000-word count is reached (greyed out after & total word count added and highlighted in pink). It may be worthwhile to consider the effect an automatic disqualification (worst outcome) or the greyed words being deleted before an application is reviewed (best outcome) might have had on each application. And to ensure that your project proposal avoids this by keeping all of the information within the minimum/maximum word count.