£12.71 per hour + £1.53 holiday pay
Advertising End Date
27 Sep 2026

Role & Department Overview

LMS Research Internship: How High is too High - Optimising Ankle Fit in Military Boots.

Please note: these internships are only available to current undergraduate students in Lancaster University Medical School.

This internship is offered as part of an exciting pilot of research opportunities for Medical School undergraduate students (MBChB and SaES). Each internship will be supervised by an academic member of staff. These opportunities are designed to give students experience of contributing to university research. These internships would be ideal for students considering postgraduate study, intercalated degrees or specialised foundation programmes.

Footwear for military personnel is critical to preventing injury and supporting their lower limb biomechanics during load carriage and mobilisation in extreme environments.

Aim: Identify an upper-height configuration around the ankle that supports effective ankle biomechanical function and reduces the risk of and recurrent sprain risk.

Methods: Footwear will provided by OMM and Brigantes with different height uppers around the ankle and lower leg. Ethical approval has already been obtained from Lancaster University Faculty of Health and Medicine Research Ethics Committee. Participants who are staff and students from Lancaster University will be recruited to maximise ease of participant recruitment and reduce the time constraints imposed by securing ethical approval from the MoD. Qualisys Motion Capture and Technology Systems will be used for 3D motion analysis data capture and digitisation, followed by data analysis in Visual 3D to extract joint kinematics and kinetics to compare between different height configurations during walking, marching and running at the same speeds used by military personnel in training and operations (e.g., tactical advance to battle is 4mph). Outdoor testing will include simulative terrain to that used by military personnel (incline, decline, type of terrain) and participants will feedback on comfort and performance for each footwear model.

Outputs: Evidence-based ankle-upper height and manuscript submitted to the Journal of Biomechanics.

Start Date: 1 October 2026
End Date: 31 August 2027
Working Pattern: Up to 5 hours per week for up to 16 weeks during term time.
Location: Remotely (in the UK) and on the Lancaster University campus

Job Description

  • How to collect data and use 3D motion capture (Qualisys Motion Capture Systems)
  • How to process data using Visual 3D
  • How to extract joint angles from biomechanical data
  • Presentation skills
  • Working with two global companies, one being the leading provider of military equipment to MoD and NATO armed forces

Person Specification

No skills needed as all training will be provided for the 3D motion capture, however hard working, ability to work on your own, taking the initiative, attention to detail and flexibility to accommodate participants will be important.

 Please apply through ERS with:

  1. A CV including your education history and any work experience (maximum of two full pages) and,
  2. A cover letter that explains your interest in research, why you would like to be involved in this particular research internship, and how you meet the criteria outlined in the person specification.
Working in this role will help develop the following skills and experience:
  • Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Curiosity
  • Decisiveness
  • Planning and organising
  • Problem solving
  • Resilience
  • Self-motivation
  • Teamwork
  • Time Management
  • Verbal communication
  • Written communication

For any informal information about this role, please contact Dr Hannah Jarvis - [email protected] or [email protected].

 
 
 
You are required to submit a cover letter to support your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please note: Unless specified otherwise in the advert wording, this role is only open to individuals living in the UK.

Under the terms of this work, we endeavour to provide the advertised number of hours however, hours are not guaranteed and that work may cease if there is a fall in demand. 

Adverts that display a closing date should be treated as a guide. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

Help and advice on making applications can be found on the Lancaster University Careers pages. Visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers.