SPARK (Student Programme for AI Research and Knowledge) is a fully remote AI research programme for secondary-school students. The flagship Fellowship is a part-time, eight-week project in a team of 2–4 with PhD mentors from universities including Cambridge and Imperial, and researchers from labs such as Google DeepMind, Amazon, and Meta. Teams produce a paper prepared for submission to a top AI conference. Insights are short programmes that teach core AI research skills, from a weekend taster to a three-week deep dive.
In their words
SPARK Insights was very comprehensive. I’m leaving the programme with new skills, greater confidence, and excitement for what comes next.
This course gave me insight into how to study research papers and conduct experiments independently. It also taught me the fundamentals of AI, from the mathematics behind models to how they reason and where they can be vulnerable.
The programme was extremely enriching. The lectures were comprehensive, every class felt productive, and the mentors supported us throughout the process.
What I liked most was the structure of the programme. The mentors first explained the theory clearly, then we applied what we learned in workshops. This made complex topics much easier to understand.
Who this is for
We welcome secondary-school students curious about AI, mathematics, computer science, or research, whether you want an eight-week Fellowship that ends in a paper, or a short Insights programme to get started.
Programmes
Fellowships are eight-week research projects that produce a paper. Insights are short programmes, from a weekend workshop to a three-week deep dive, focused on AI research skills.
Short, fully remote programmes that teach core AI research skills through hands-on, practical work: reading papers, framing questions, writing and running code, training and evaluating LLMs, and running your own experiments to make sense of the results. Choose a two-day weekend taster, a one-week intensive, or a three-week deep dive.
£150 per student
A two-day taster of AI research methodology
£200 per student
A focused first taste of AI research methodology
£500 per student
A deeper hands-on dive into AI research skills
Insights programmes are generally aligned with UK school breaks, but run on a rolling basis, so you can choose from start dates throughout the year to fit around school.
Applications close roughly one week before each cohort starts. Questions? Email [email protected].
Apply with a short application, reviewed by our team.
Some of our mentors
PhD researchers and scientists from top universities and industry labs. Many have also trained students for Oxbridge interviews and admissions.
CISPA · Imperial College London · Google DeepMind · Amazon
Machine learning at the interface of algorithms, systems, and trustworthy behaviour, connecting security-conscious evaluation and efficient learning with large-scale deployment in industry settings.
University of Cambridge · Meta
Natural language processing and generative models, with emphasis on retrieval-augmented text and efficient embeddings. PhD research in the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, Cambridge; industry research at Meta on scalable language technologies.
University of Cambridge · AWS AI lab
Adversarial robustness and reliability of large language models, including evaluation under stress and failure modes in deployment. PhD research in the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, Cambridge; applied NLP research at the AWS AI lab.
Past projects & publications
Selected research papers from our mentors' students
Used by Google DeepMind to evaluate Gemini models
View →EMNLP 2024 (main)
View →arXiv preprint
View →ACL 2026 (Findings)
View →ML4H 2024
View →ACL 2024 (long)
View →EACL 2025 · Oral
View →LREC-COLING 2024
View →arXiv preprint
View →ICML 2026
View →Parents, schools, partners & counsellors
We welcome conversations with parents and guardians, schools, counsellors, and organisations supporting talented students. Email or message us on WhatsApp to discuss options or organise a meeting.
FAQs
Fellowships are eight-week, in-depth AI research projects in teams of 2–4. The goal is a paper-quality write-up prepared for submission to a top AI venue. They run multiple cohorts a year and require a serious weekly commitment (10–20 hours per week depending on tier).
Insights are short, fully remote one- or three-week programmes focused on AI research skills rather than producing a full project. They are a strong fit if you want a focused introduction to how AI research works before committing to a fellowship.
Mentors are PhD researchers and industry practitioners from top ranked academic institutions such as University of Cambridge and Imperial College London, as well as organisations like Google DeepMind, Amazon, and Meta.
In addition to research experience, many of our mentors have prior experience guiding students through highly competitive university applications, including Oxbridge admissions processes, interviews, and entrance assessments. All mentors are selected for both their technical expertise and their ability to support and challenge students effectively.
Apply
Fellowship admission is selective. All programmes are fully remote. See cohort start dates in Programmes.
Questions? [email protected] or WhatsApp us
