The Pasteur - UK Integrated Masters Program
The Pasteur-UK integrated masters programme provides students with the opportunity to tackle real life research questions at the Institut Pasteur as part of their five-year study at one of our leading UK partner universities. The masters programme is transformative for the students, who spend a year working on collaborative research projects across borders at the forefront of some of the most pressing threats to global public health.
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In the absence of the Erasmus framework, that was accessible to UK students until 2021, the Pasteur – UK integrated masters gives students the opportunity to gain direct experience in scientific research and full-time employment in an international setting before graduating.
During their time at the Institut Pasteur, UK students develop a deep understanding of what a career in research involves, as well as gaining a range of valuable skills, including lab techniques, experimental design, communication skills, teamwork and responsibility.
For the Institut Pasteur, hosting these students brings a fresh and unique energy to the lab and allows focused research into a particular project.
In the ten-years this programme has been running, it has demonstrated huge success in training the next generation of leading scientific researchers. Over half of the students that have completed this programme have gone on to complete PhDs, several have gone on to post-doctoral research and many others have successful careers in diverse fields such as pharmacology, clinical data and bioscience.
About the programme
The Pasteur-UK integrated masters programme began as a project between the Institut Pasteur and the University of Glasgow’s College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences in 2014 with just one student undertaking a yearlong placement in the lab of Pasteurian, Molly Ingersoll. Since then, the programme has grown significantly with around six British students undertaking a placement at the Institut Pasteur every year. Students go through a selection procress prior to being accepted onto the programme and typically, over 90% of students on the programme graduate with a First-Class honours degree.
Once accepted onto the programme, the students spend their first three years on campus at their UK university, followed by ten months to one year in a lab at the Institut Pasteur to gain valuable practical research experience, before returning to the UK to complete their final year. The 30 students that have already completed this programme over the last ten years have conducted research across a diverse range of scientific fields including immunology, microbiology, parasitology, and cell biology.
Undertaking a lab placement as part of a degree in Life Sciences is a hugely valuable training experience for students embarking on the early stages of their scientific career. This is especially true if the exchange involves time in a lab in a foreign country, exposing the student to cross- border training and networking which will be essential in their scientific career going forward. Whilst at the Institut Pasteur, students are involved in a specific research project and work closely with their host supervisors for the duration of their stay. This will often be the first real research experience the student is exposed to and can be transformative, providing the essential building blocks for their scientific career going forward.
Benefits
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In addition to the scientific benefits, students coming to the Institut Pasteur can be accommodated at the
Cité Université in Paris where they are exposed to a rich cross-culture exchange. With sufficient students
present, the Institut Pasteur will organise a half day symposium for work-in-progress presentations for students
on campus. This provides a sense of community and gives students the opportunity to practice valuable skills
such as networking and presenting that will remain important throughout their scientific careers. In addition,
students staying at the Institut Pasteur for a full year will receive a salary of €1,200 a month.
Benefits
“My experience at the Institut Pasteur significantly contributed to my professional growth by exposing me to a wide range of laboratory
techniques which I had not tried before, many of which I later applied during my honours project at the University of Glasgow.”
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- Lucia Mrvova, Pasteur- Glasgow integrated master’s student (2019- 2024)
In addition to the scientific benefits, students coming to the Institut Pasteur can be accommodated at the Cité Université in Paris where they are exposed to a rich cross-culture exchange.
With sufficient students present, the Institut Pasteur will organise a half day symposium for work-in-progress presentations for students on campus. This provides a sense of community and gives students the opportunity to practice valuable skills such as networking and presenting that will remain important throughout their scientific careers. In addition, students staying at the Institut Pasteur for a full year recieve a monthly salary to support their living costs.
After Pasteur...
In the ten years the Pasteur-Glasgow master’s programme has been running, it has demonstrated huge success in training the next generation of leading scientific researchers. Previous students of this programme have undertaken a wide variety of projects from research into antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to the study of bladder cancer and better understanding of urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Of the students that have completed this Pasteur- Glasgow integrated master’s programme since 2014, over half have gone on to complete PhDs; two at the University of Glasgow, three at the Institut Pasteur and four at Oxbridge. Three have gone on to post-doctoral research and six now have successful careers in diverse fields such as pharmacology, clinical data and bioscience. Three students have already been selected for the 2024-2025 programme and will be arriving on the Pasteur campus in September.
Programme Directors
The programme is jointly co-ordinated by representatives from the Institut Pasteur and the University of Glasgow. These are:
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Dr Molly Ingersoll (Research Director, Group Leader Mucosal Inflammation and Immunity Institut Pasteur)
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Professor Robert Nibbs (Professor of Chemokine Biology, School of Infection & Immunity, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow)
How can you help?
This important initiative depends on your generous philanthropic donations.
The total cost for one master's student is £18,350.
Currently, we have an average of six students partaking in a Pasteur- UK Masters exchange every year on campus. We would be delighted if we could expand this programme further and broaden the partnership to involve more UK universities, giving access to even more talented young scientists to this cross-border experience.
Every donation to our Education fund, whether regular or one- off, will help in training the next generation of biomedical research leaders, which is essential for making our progress sustainable.
Donors to the programme will receive benefits including tailor-made events around our PF-UK Young Researcher Mobility programme in London, private visits of the Institut Pasteur in Paris and partner insitutions in the UK, and regular communications on the progress of the scientific research conducted through this partnership.
We are also open to discussing the benefits of visibility, company events and other packages for corporate donors.