The university runs a Vacation Scholarship scheme aimed at you. There are a number of other professional organisations thast run similar schemes to encourage undergraduates to gain first hand research experience. And in all cases you are paid for a period of around 2 months to do this work in collaboration with a member of staff, often in the context of their research group.
To avail of such opportunities you need to find a member of staff to act as your supervisor (including those in other schools if this serves your particular interests well). You would agree a research topic with this person and make one or more joint applications for funding. Note that the university and most other funders stipulate that you cannot use this opportunity to carry out work for your final year project, but of course it can constitute a valuable training exercise in this connection. In any case, if you have aspirations to work in research after graduation, this will clearly be a valuable addition to your CV.
To find out more about these schemes visit these two websites:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/researchfundingtoolkit/signup/newsletters/documents/vacationstudentships2011.pdf
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/finance/funding/ukstudents/undergraduate/extra/vacation.htm
Application deadlines are mostly in February and March, so you are advised to start making the connections you need as soon as possible.
published on: 19th January 2012