A medical elective is a short-term placement where medical students gain hands-on experience in real healthcare settings. Electives can be take place in the UK or abroad and are usually arranged by students during a dedicated elective period, often in the final or penultimate year of medical school.
We’ve compiled a list of organisations that offer bursaries for medical student electives. Make sure to read the application criteria carefully and visit individual websites for more detailed information. If you provide funding for medical electives and wish to be listed on this page, please contact us.
The following resources have been produced by the MSC Electives Committee to support students and staff preparing for a medical elective.
Applications are invited from medical students studying in Great Britain and Ireland to apply to the AAGBI Foundation for funding towards a medical student elective.
Funding: Maximum of £750
Bursaries available to support medical students who wish to undertake research, travel or an elective in a subject related to plastic surgery.
Funding: Ten awards of £500 each, available annually.
A limited number of grants are available to enable medical students to make use of their elective period for a project concerned with health or health care in old age either in the UK or abroad.
Funding: Limited number of grants of up to £500.
The BMDST-RSM Advisory Board are awarding elective funding to successful applicants who want to undertake a specific project on their medical elective.
Funding: Bursaries between £500-1000 available.
Student Elective Scholarships for students undertaking electives in the field of haematology.
Funding: Twenty grants of up to £1000 available.
The travel awards scheme was initiated in 1985, the ‘International year of Youth’, and its aim is to help young British people to visit a Scandinavian country. It is open to anyone between the ages of 15 and 25, planning to undertake a worthwhile project of a broadly educational nature.
Funding: Awards are generally in the region of £100 – £200.
Bursaries available to support Medical Student Electives on issues in medical ethics.
Funding: Bursaries of up to £800 each.
Applications are invited from candidates with a scheduled project in mind who can offer full details of how the award will help them to gain specific knowledge and experience which will enhance the quality and nature of their work with young children and their families.
Funding: The awards, granted annually, normally in the region of £1,000.
The Lord Lothian Memorial Medical Elective Bursary Scheme
The Order of St Lazarus is delighted to offer a number of bursaries to support medical or dental students on their elective studies. Students working in other medical related disciplines are also eligible to apply for these awards. Eligible candidates should be practicing Christians based in the UK and the bursaries are expected to be used within a year of being awarded.
The following link to the St Lazarus Charitable Trust website lists weekly reports from our previous four annual bursary students, and gives an idea of the type of projects that have been supported by this scheme.
Funding to support research projects in pathology or gain experience in diagnostic departments during elective.
Funding: £150 per week for a maximum of eight weeks.
The Patient.info bursary is intended to provide practical support. It can be used for anything that furthers a student’s medical training or career, including textbooks, digital learning resources, essential equipment, elective expenses, or attendance at educational conferences.
Funding: Awards of up to £250
Several schemes available including Bursaries for Affiliate Medical Student Elective Placements in Africa, Bursaries for Undergraduate Elective or Vacation Studies, Wong Choon Hee Medical Student Elective Travel Bursaries, The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Medical Student Elective Travel Awards.
Funding: various
The scheme is jointly funded by RCPath and partner societies from the different disciplines and will offer small grants of up to £1,000 to help support undergraduate medical and veterinary students who wish to undertake electives in pathology disciplines.
Funding: Bursaries of up to £1000.
The Scar Free Foundation offers awards for students to undertake their electives for research in the area of wound healing and scarring conditions.
Funding: Up to £1200
The Faculty of Conflict & Catastrophe Medicine offers three annual student elective prizes for medical student electives in the fields of Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine.
Funding: Three annual student elective prizes worth £750 each.
The South Asian Health Foundation, a UK charity whose aims are to improve the health and well-being of South Asians, is delighted to invite applications for two medical student elective bursaries of £250.
Funding: £250
Medical and dental students, as well as students working in other medical related disciplines, are eligible to apply for bursaries. Eligible candidates should be practicing Christians, based in the UK, and the bursaries are expected to be used within a year of being awarded.
Funding: £1500 maximum