Our research underpins everything we do, from drawing up policies to designing banknotes.
We have launched our annual Research Support Programme this academic year to encourage greater collaboration with universities, and provide students with a chance to experience research at the UK’s central bank. The programme offers research projects for MSc dissertations, with students supported by our staff and academic supervisors.
Each year we identify key research themes. Our current priorities include digital currencies, machine learning and payment systems. You’ll see the full list of our current research priorities further down the page.
Universities interested in participating in the programme should contact us to express their interest, specifying the research themes (from our list) that interest them. More details about how to participate are available down the page.
The annual Research Support Programme has four stages.
Universities register for the programme. They tell us which of our research priorities they want to work on. For this year’s programme, universities should email us at ResearchSupportProgramme@bankofengland.co.uk by 31 December 2024 to register.
We contact universities with suggested topics for MSc dissertations. We specify the skills required for each project. For example, we might say that coding skills are necessary for a project.
Universities share details of the research projects with students. Each university selects one student per topic and sends us profiles of these students and their work. For each topic, we review all student profiles and select one student to work on each project. We tell universities whether their students have been selected for the programme, or not.
We work with students, alongside their academic supervisors, to shape their research project. We provide up to seven hours of support on each project.
Students submit their final dissertations in September. Each year, we may ask some of the students who participated in the programme to present their work at a workshop. This usually happens in early September at our building in London.
Each year we select key research themes. In 2024-2025, our research will focus on:
The Programme may offer the opportunity to cover undergraduate dissertations. Interested university can discuss this with the Programme’s management, given the different timelines for undergraduate dissertations.
