Summer Research Internships

Students will apply the principles of frugal innovation to design, prototype, and test biomedical technologies intended for use in low-resource settings in Northern Canadian communities and/or sub-Saharan Africa. Frugal innovation is an emerging paradigm in engineering that emphasizes equity and sustainability in technology development. For biomedical applications, frugal innovation leads to devices that can be used effectively in regions with shortages of specialist personnel, maintained with limited access to replacement components, and function reliably in the absence of reliable power or other infrastructure.

Program includes a weekly Summer Student Seminar Series hosted by Robarts Research Institute, which covers a mixture of scientific and professional development topics, and a semi-weekly Frugal Biomedical Innovations Seminar Series on Zoom that facilitates interaction with collaborators from East African universities.

Award Duration: 16 consecutive weeks (May-August) on a full-time basis.

Award Value: $9623 minimum (same value as NSERC-USRA).

Eligibility: complete details for Eligibility Requirements can be found here.

Descriptions of eligible projects can be found at the link below. You may apply to multiple projects with a single application submission.

Western and the Faculty of Engineering are committed to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization. As part of this commitment, we will consider diversity of the awardees to provide opportunities for Black, Indigenous, students of colour, students that identify as LGTBQ2S+, women, visible minorities, and students with disabilities.

Want to know more about the projects offered for Summer 2025?

Frugal Biomedical Innovations Summer Projects Descriptions

Ready to apply? Click here!

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COVID-19 showed us how quickly innovation can happen, when demand for traditional medical supplies and devices outstripped supply. What would happen if we applied that same ingenuity and energy to health-care challenges in remote and resource-constrained places?

Summer Internship strengthens passion for research