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Study design
Turn a broad topic into a question that can be answered, with the right data, controls and success criteria.
Now accepting requests
Academy · Research support
Research support for theses and projects.
We support masters and doctoral theses and research projects that need computational biology, computational chemistry or AI. We help you design the study, run and check the analysis, understand the results and present them clearly. Support, not substitution: we do not write work for you to submit as your own. The research and the authorship stay yours.
Why we do this
Good computational work
should not depend on luck.
Many excellent students and research groups meet the same difficulty. The biology or the chemistry is strong, but the computational part is new, the right software is hard to find and few people nearby can check the analysis. The result is a thesis chapter that takes months longer than it should, or a result that a reviewer does not believe.
We do this work every day. We help you plan the computational design, run the methods correctly, test your models rigorously and write up what was done, and we explain each step so that you understand it well enough to defend it. The support is set to your degree, your field and your university's rules.
Where we help
Six areas of support.
Use one or several. Most requests combine design, analysis and writing.
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Computational analysis
Run the docking, simulation, sequencing and omics analyses your work needs, or guide you while you run them.
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Machine learning and statistics
Build models that hold up, and learn how to show that they do.
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Figures and visualisation
Clear, accurate figures that carry the argument of a chapter or paper.
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Methods and writing
Help with methods sections, results, reproducibility records and responses to reviewers.
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Training and mentoring
Sessions that teach you the methods behind your own results, so that you can explain and defend them.
By stage of work
What support looks like
for your kind of work.
Support for
Masters thesis or dissertation
- Choose a topic that fits your time and resources
- Plan the computational part of the study
- Learn and run the standard tools with guidance
- Interpret results and prepare chapters and figures
- Rehearse for the viva
Support for
Doctoral thesis
- Review the design of each chapter and the methods behind it
- Run larger analyses and build machine learning models
- Strengthen validation so that reviewers accept it
- Prepare papers from thesis chapters
- Support the thesis defence
Support for
Research project
- Scope the computational work package
- Provide analysis and modelling capacity to your group
- Deliver reproducible workflows and reports
- Support grant applications with preliminary results
- Prepare outputs for publication
Our own work
We present our own research
in the open.
We write posters, defend results and answer questions at conferences. The support we give is built on that experience.
How we work with you
A clear process,
agreed up front.
- 1Discuss
A first conversation about your question, your data and your deadline.
- 2Agree the scope
A written outline of what we will do, what you will do, the timeline and how we will work together.
- 3Work together
Regular sessions in which we run, review and explain the analysis.
- 4Review
We check results, figures and written methods against what was actually done.
- 5Hand over
You receive the workflows, records and understanding to reproduce and defend the work.
Our principle
Support, not substitution.
You remain responsible for your thesis and your research. We explain every method well enough for you to defend it, we keep a record of what was done so that it can be reproduced, and we do not write work for you to submit as your own. Authorship follows the contribution criteria of your institution and the target journal, such as the ICMJE criteria. Where our contribution to the science is substantial, we discuss acknowledgement or joint authorship with you and your supervisor before the work starts.
Where our own research overlaps with yours. We run our own discovery programmes, so occasionally an enquiry touches a target we are already working on. If that happens we tell you before any work begins, and you decide whether to continue. We do not take a project forward into our own programmes, and anything you share with us stays out of them.
What to bring to the first conversation
- Your research question, even if it is still rough
- Your data, target or system of interest, if you have it
- Your institutional timeline and the name of your guide or supervisor
- The format and rules of your university for the thesis
Ways to work together
- Consultation. One or a few focused sessions to settle design or to unblock an analysis.
- Project support. A defined piece of computational work, delivered with documentation.
- Ongoing mentoring. Regular sessions through the course of a thesis or project.
Consultations, project support and ongoing mentoring are quoted before any work starts, based on scope and duration. Academic rates apply to students and university groups, and we will tell you honestly if your question is small enough that an hour is all you need. The first conversation is free.
Preparing a paper? See also our own research for the standard we hold ourselves to.
Ask for support
Tell us about your research.
A short description is enough. We usually reply within two working days with questions, and if the work is a fit, with a proposed scope.
Your work stays yours, and stays confidential. Anything you tell us about an unpublished project is treated as confidential, is seen only by the scientists working with you, and is never used in our own research. We are glad to sign a non-disclosure agreement before you describe anything sensitive. Ask, and we will send one.
Requests go to info@silicoscientia.com