Now called In2STEM. Free to join, with a bursary covering travel and lunch, built around a one-to-two week in-person placement plus online skills, employability and careers workshops, with an optional CREST Award submission. For Year 12 or S5/S6 students, with placements 'located within commutable distance'. It has supported 5,350 young people to date.
The organisation is In2scienceUK. The programme is now called In2STEM, and that rename is the first thing most guides have not caught up with.
What the programme is
A short placement wrapped in a structured programme, rather than a placement alone.
The student page describes In2STEM as running from 20 July to 21 August 2026, combining online and in-person activity:
| Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| Professional placement | 1–2 weeks, in person |
| Online workshops | Skills, employability and careers |
| Competitions | Public engagement |
| Events | Induction and celebration |
| Optional | CREST Award submission |
| After | Access to an alumni community |
Placements are "located within commutable distance," and the organisation mentions participants "from Exeter to Edinburgh," which indicates UK-wide reach rather than a London-only programme.
The structure is the distinctive thing. A one-to-two week placement on its own is short. Surrounded by careers workshops, a public engagement competition and an optional CREST Award, it becomes a programme with several things you can point at afterwards.
What it costs
Nothing, and your expenses are covered.
"In2STEM is entirely free to join." Students receive a bursary covering travel and lunch during placements.
That bursary matters more than it sounds. A free placement that requires forty pounds a week in train fares is not free to a student for whom forty pounds a week is the obstacle — which is precisely the population a widening-participation programme exists to reach. Covering travel and lunch is the difference between eligible and able to attend.
Students are not paid a wage. The bursary removes a barrier rather than providing income.
Who it is for
Year 12 or S5/S6, and the background criteria are the part that decides it.
The main page describes In2STEM as being for "Year 12 or S5/S6 students passionate about STEM," with the target described as 16 to 19 year olds. It does not set out household income or background criteria on that page — it directs readers to a separate eligibility page.
That is the page to read before anything else. In2scienceUK is a widening-participation organisation, and like Nuffield Research Placements and Sutton Trust summer schools, the background conditions are what sort applicants rather than the enthusiasm.
Do not assume you fail them. Across comparable UK programmes the criteria are broader than students expect — Nuffield counts free school meals entitlement "at any time in the last six years" and first-in-family status, and Sutton Trust counts your school's attainment and your neighbourhood's progression rate. Students routinely rule themselves out of things they qualify for.
How to make the shortlist
Five things.
1. Read the eligibility page first, not last. Ten minutes, and it determines whether the rest is worth doing.
2. Find out what you do not know about your own circumstances. Were you ever registered for free school meals? Is your school below average on progression to selective universities? Is anyone in your immediate family a graduate? Your head of sixth form has these answers and most students do not.
3. Diarise the window. Applications for 2026 opened in December 2025 and closed in April 2026. Expect a similar winter-to-spring cycle. The practical move is to join the updates list now rather than trying to remember in March.
4. Name a STEM area, not a job title. "I want to be an engineer" is not matchable to a host. "I am interested in how structural failures get investigated after they happen" is, and it tells a coordinator something about you.
5. Apply to the overlapping programmes in the same season. Nuffield (4–6 weeks, travel reimbursed, possible £200 bursary), UNIQ (15 December to 13 January, Oxford-run), Sutton Trust (13 partner universities). Eligibility overlaps substantially and the windows are similar.
In2STEM or Nuffield?
Different shapes, and the answer is usually both.
| In2STEM | Nuffield Research Placements | |
|---|---|---|
| Placement length | 1–2 weeks | 4–6 weeks total |
| Wrap-around | Workshops, competitions, alumni network | Pre-placement independent study |
| Output | Optional CREST Award | Report and poster |
| Expenses | Bursary for travel and lunch | Travel reimbursed, possible £200 bursary |
| Emphasis | Careers and employability | Research itself |
If what you want is a piece of work to be questioned on at interview, Nuffield's report and poster is the stronger artefact. If what you want is exposure to STEM careers and a network, In2STEM's structure does more.
They are not mutually exclusive and the applications are separate. Apply to both.
What the numbers do and do not say
In2scienceUK states it has supported 5,350 young people on In2STEM across the UK.
That is a cumulative total across programme years, not a cohort size, and no denominator is given — we do not know how many applied. No outcome statistics are published on the page; the testimonials are individual accounts rather than measured results.
This is more restrained than the commercial sector manages, and worth saying so. One consultancy publishes eleven headline statistics and gives student numbers that differ from each other by a factor of ten. Another states acceptance-rate claims as a multiple of the global average with the multiplier missing from the page. A cumulative participation figure, labelled as such, is a modest claim honestly made.
For comparison, Sutton Trust does publish outcome figures — participants "1.7x more likely to apply to a leading university" and "2x more likely to accept an offer" — without explaining the methodology. Both approaches are defensible; neither tells you what a place is worth to you specifically.
If you are not eligible
Independent school students and international applicants are outside this and most comparable UK programmes, because they are funded to reach specific UK populations.
The route with no gatekeeper is self-directed work. Public datasets are free and documented — our list of free datasets covers twenty-two sources — and research without a lab maps the fields where no equipment is required. For international applicants, what remains open sets out the position plainly.
Where we fit
The Oxford Centre for Advanced Research runs 1:1 mentorships with PhD candidates and early-career researchers at Oxford, Cambridge, other leading UK universities and Ivy League institutions. The Oxford Scholar Programme is £2,000 — about $2,600 — for ten contact hours over ten to fourteen weeks. We accept approximately 60% of applicants: self-reported and unaudited. We are not affiliated with the University of Oxford.
If In2STEM, Nuffield, UNIQ or a Sutton Trust summer school is open to you, apply there first and do not pay us. They are free, several are more selective than we are, and In2STEM in particular gives you a careers network we cannot.
Ten minutes today
Open the In2STEM eligibility page and find out whether you qualify — and if you are not sure, ask your head of sixth form the three questions in step two above.
The commonest reason students miss these programmes is not rejection. It is assuming in advance that they would not get in.
Frequently asked questions
Is In2scienceUK still running?
Yes, under the name In2STEM. The organisation is still In2scienceUK; the programme has been renamed. If a guide refers only to 'In2science placements' it is working from older information, which is worth noting about the rest of that guide.
Does it cost anything?
No. The organisation states that 'In2STEM is entirely free to join', and students receive a bursary to cover travel and lunch during placements. Students are not paid a wage — the bursary covers expenses so that cost is not a barrier to taking part.
Who is eligible?
Year 12 or S5/S6 students, broadly 16 to 19. The main page describes it as for students 'passionate about STEM' and directs readers to a separate eligibility page for the background criteria, so check that directly — the widening-participation conditions are the part that decides most applications.
What does the programme involve?
A one-to-two week in-person professional placement, plus online skills, employability and careers workshops, public engagement competitions, induction and celebration events, and access to an alumni community. A CREST Award submission is optional.
When do applications open?
Applications for the 2026 programme opened in December 2025 and closed in April 2026, with the programme running 20 July to 21 August 2026. Expect a similar winter-to-spring window, and sign up for updates rather than trying to remember in March.
How does it compare with a Nuffield placement?
Nuffield is longer — four to six weeks against one to two — and ends in an assessed report and poster. In2STEM is shorter but wraps the placement in structured workshops and a careers programme. Apply to both; the eligibility overlaps and the windows are similar.