Specialised Work & Research Projects
Minds Underground™ offers unique curated work/ research projects across a range of disciplines, to give students exposure to the real-world applications of academic concepts. Through our 700+ strong team of mentors, MU has gained contacts across a wealth of fields and industries. Gain a close insight into degree subjects and potential careers with specialists in your field of interest.
Open doors to future degrees and careers with MU guided research projects.
A selection of examples are listed below from the 100s of possible projects available. Please enquire for details of further available projects by following the link at the bottom of the page - we host projects linked to the majority of academic areas and career fields (e.g. Earth Sciences, Philosophy, Medicine, Psychology, Law, Anthropology, Politics/ International Relations, Sociology, Engineering, Design Engineering, English Literature, Languages, Classics, Geography etc.!)
Standard projects take place over a 4-5 week period, with a weekly 1hr project tutorial session and 3-4hrs directed independent research between sessions. We compensate the mentors for their time for the 1hr project tutorials so there is a charge involved (Project hosts rates vary from £75/h + VAT). Enquire if interested in a group project with a classmate to split the cost.
Quantum Magnetism Research Projects with an Oxford Researcher in Condensed Matter Physics
Contemporary quantum magnetism is an active research field that combines experimental, theoretical, and computational physics and provides a testing ground for fundamental concepts in the realm of quantum and statistical physics. Undertake one of three projects focused on differing concepts in quantum magnetism.
Engineering and Materials Science Research Projects
Students can choose from a range of possible projects hosted by our Engineering specialists. For example: 1) Aeronautical Engineering - ‘Jet Zero: How can we decarbonise air travel by 2050?’ Or 2) 'Is there a place for nuclear power in Britain's future?'
Competition Economics Projects
How did Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp/Instagram change, or hinder competition within the Big Tech industry? To what extent can a company use price discrimination without implicating consumer privacy or reducing consumer welfare?
Behavioural Economics/ Science Research Projects
Undertake a research project with a Master's Graduate Researcher and Cambridge Trust Scholarship Award Winner or Cambridge Doctoral researcher of the El Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy.
Collective Architecture Project
Engaging with the built environment is paramount to the study of architecture. This research project will equip students with the required tools to observe and investigate their surroundings, drawing upon both ethnographic research methods and theoretical understandings of relevant texts.
An Intro to Metaphysics: What Is Reality?
During this project, you will be grappling with the fundamental questions of the universe: what really exists? What is causation? How can I know I am the same person I was last week? Can I act freely? Over the course of your guided sessions, you will encounter the core metaphysical questions that underpin nearly all of modern day philosophy, and have the chance to explore one of these themes thoroughly in your research project.
Developmental Neuroscience Research Projects with a Yale Master’s Graduate
Paris undertook an MRes in Developmental Neuroscience at Yale University. She hosts a number of projects based around her specialisms in public health research, poverty and child development. Paris has worked in a range of labs that have a focus on psychology, neuroscience, child development and public health.
Neurodegenerative Disease and Normal Ageing Project with Dr Bampton (PhD in Neurodegenerative Disease)
In this project you will be introduced to the key clinical and pathologically defining features of some of the most common neurodegenerative diseases as well as some of the best characterised hallmarks of human ageing. You will produce your own argument for what you believe best describes the relationship between neurodegeneration and ageing in light of the current literature.
Regenerative & Personalised Medicine Research Projects with a Researcher at Cambridge’s Stem Cell Institute
Work with a PhD researcher at the Wellcome Trust Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (also a Cambridge University Cell and Developmental Biology Supervisor for undergraduates), whose research focuses on the fields of Regenerative and Personalised Medicine, to develop cell systems for clinical applications.
Medicine/ Psychology Research Projects with a Junior Doctor
Julia is a Junior Doctor with a background in Psychology. She graduated from Oxford with a first class degree in Experimental Psychology where she undertook advanced modules in treating psychological disorders under Professor David Clark, who developed Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). Julia hosts a range of Medicine and Psychology projects.
Biodiversity Projects With The Biodiversity Manager at Oxford University
Heather is a Biodiversity Manager at the University of Oxford, where she is responsible for delivering the university's biodiversity strategy. She hosts a range of projects such as: ‘Do protected areas work and will they be viable in the future? How can we future-proof protected areas?’ or ‘How can technology help save life on Earth and, what does the future of conservation intelligence look like?’
Conservation and Veterinary Science Projects
We work with a number of zoologists to host fascinating projects for aspiring biologists or wildlife conservation enthusiasts, as well as Veterinary Medicine and Science projects e.g. Does Alabama Rot have the potential to become endemic in the UK?
Combatting Marginalisation: A Research Project on Pressing Global Issues
This project is particularly relevant to those aspiring to a degree in Geography or a Social Science. We have a range of hosts, with project options including exploration of the racial and social implications of ineffective climate change interventions, the extent to which international organisations such as the UN and IMF have impacted (or hindered) economic development in a region of your choice, and investigating the effects of digitalisation on marginalised communities.
Pharmacology Research Projects with a First Class Natural Sciences Pharmacology Cambridge Graduate
Example projects: 1) What does the future look like for the treatment of Osteoarthritis? 2) Hypertension - Is prevention better than treatment?
Netflix and the Disruptive Innovation of Entertainment Project With a Management Consultant
Explore Netflix and its business strategy with Cambridge Judge Business School Prize winner, Ilana, who has worked on 40+ M&A and growth strategy projects for private equity and FTSE 100 corporations. How did Netflix expand to 190 countries in 7 years? What were its main challenges? What were the external and internal drivers to changing its business model along the way? What’s next?
Art History Research Projects
Example projects: 1) Design an 'Exhibition Essay' with a History of Art PhD Candidate: Based on the feminist art historian, Griselda Pollock's seminal book 'The Virtual Feminist Museum', work with a PhD researcher to curate a written 'exhibition'. 2) Considering Female Portraiture: Considering the works of seminal feminist art historians, you'll select a number of works which you would like to see presented in an 'essay' exhibition which consider the representation of female subjects throughout history.
Code the Descent of the Mars Lander with a Systems Engineer in Emerging Technologies at Jaguar
A fast-paced coding project which involves a combination of coding, mechanics, and aerodynamics, to identify an optimal strategy for landing on a planet. Further coding projects are available.
Italo Calvino Research Project
This project is suitable for students looking ahead to a future degree in Architecture, Italian or Literature. The project is centred around the novel, Invisible Cities, a prominent post-modernist work. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the text, tackling the use of multiple perspectives and second person narratives as means of representation for Calvino’s metanarrative that speaks greater truths about the city of Venice.
Delve into the Ancient World with an Oxbridge Classicist
The values and morals of the Greeks and Romans, and the literature which is often thought to promote them, are one of the latest things to be targeted by the culture wars of today. But, were these values clear-cut, and are they easily identified? // Why were women ignored or maligned in Ancient Greek society, but figure as prominent, striking characters in Greek tragedy? // How was the idea of death shaped by political and sociological turns in Roman history? Enquire to find out more about projects available.
International Relations Projects
Under the tutelage of an IR specialist, engage in a range of projects such as creating a policy proposal document to a government or large international organisation, such as the United Nations or EU, about effective and realistic strategies to manage the ever-growing numbers of refugees.
Law Projects E.g. With a Consultant at the Sentencing Academy
We host a wide array of legal research projects covering a range of areas e.g. Human Rights, Privacy & Intellectual Property Law and Criminal Law. For example, a Criminal Pupil Barrister and Consultant at the Sentencing Academy hosts a legal project exploring the theories of punishment which justify sentencing and the purposes and principles of sentencing – how is sentencing justified? Further projects include: ‘Does the death penalty work?’ and ‘Can we predict crime and detect deception?’
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks Neurology Project with a PHD Researcher in Psychiatry
Undertake an in-depth reading project exploring Neurology and Psychology. centred on Oliver Sack’s extraordinary book. Sacks is one of the most famous neurologists of the last century, dedicating his life to study and explore the brain’s strangest pathways. How does our brain tell what is real and what is not? What happens when someone forgets their last 20 years of life? What is the essence of consciousness? Explore these questions in a project that is ideal for a student between year 10-13 interested in the fields of Neuroscience, Medicine, and/or Psychology.
Literature and Culture Research Projects with an Oxford Grad and Cambridge Postgraduate
Lily works on French, Spanish and Comparative literatures and cultures in the early modern and modern periods. She has published on Lorca, Borges, Marie NDiaye, Pedro Almodóvar, contemporary postcolonial theory and other C20 and C21 topics. She mentors undergraduate students on a wide range of topics, from medieval poetry to contemporary theatre and translation. Suitable for students looking to work on French- or Spanish-language literature or culture, as well as French, Francophone, Spanish or Latin American literatures in translation.
Emotional History Research Project
This project will take as its basis the history of emotions as a means of understanding the past. The history of emotions is a new and exciting approach to history that pushes students beyond the confines of A Level and provides an introduction to the specific challenges of academic study. A range of other History projects are available.
Medical Ethics Project: Should Doctors Be Saving Lives At Any Cost?
Ethics and medicine are tightly intertwined. The aim of this project is to consider the implications of organ donation, resource allocation, work-life balance, justice and equality in healthcare. Undertake this research project with a graduate medical student who holds an MA in Philosophy, with special interests in medical ethics and the phenomenology of illness.
Design Engineering Projects
MU have teamed up with a number of mentors working at the nexus of the arts and sciences in a unique, futurist creative design engineering programme partnership between Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art and similar programmes. Learn about manufacturing methods, user experience design and technical development, eventually designing a product that aligns with your vision for the world.
Sociology/ Politics Projects
We host a wide range of projects in these areas. For example: ‘: The Role of Posthumanism and Technology in Rendering the Concept of “Gender” Obsolete’ - Work alongside a Cambridge graduate, who specialised in gender studies, and garner the analytical skills to develop an understanding and awareness of the impact of technology and posthumanism in blurring and transforming traditional conceptions of both gender and race.
Literary Research Projects with Oxbridge Graduates
MU has a fantastic team of literary specialists, all Oxbridge-educated, including postgraduate researchers. Delve into research areas such as “Clamorous Voices: Women in Medieval Religious Literature”, or “The Modernist reception of Classical texts” under the tutelage of an inspiring literary mentor.
Earth Sciences Projects
Olivia is in her Master’s year at Oxford University, studying Earth Sciences. Her research focusses on modelling how Atlantic Ocean circulation will respond to warmer climate. Possible projects include: “How to Build a Habitable Planet… and How to Fail!”, “Geological Investigation in the Local Area”, “The 6th Mass Extinction: Fact or Fiction?” and “Is collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet inevitable?”
Psychology Projects with Dr Lutz: Think like a Psychologist/Psychiatrist
Nina graduated with both a PhD and MPhil in Psychiatry from the University of Cambridge. She hosts three projects: “Think like a Researcher: Qualitative Interview Research Project”, Think like a Researcher: Research Proposal Project” and “Think like a Psychologist/Psychiatrist: Clinical Case Report Project”.
To receive further details on the listed projects or information on further available opportunities related to your specific interests, please fill the project form via the link below and we will be in touch with a selection of options.
