Marco Love-Murelli, Summer School Manager, spoke to Staff Matters about the 2026 summer school.

University of Southampton Summer School 2026 ran for three weeks and three days in July, and I thought I would share a few highlights with you all.

Our Summer School provides international students with the opportunity to engage in an interactive short-term course and a suite of social-cultural events, such as a guided walking tour of historic Southampton, a day out in London, and a trip on the university yacht!

The programme had 118 enrolments this year (up from 64 last year), acting as an effective vehicle for emerging and existing partnerships, with students coming from 11 of our partner institutions.

We were able to run eight courses this year (up on four last year) thanks to the participation of colleagues in FAH, FELS, FSS and the Web Science Institute. Here are just a few highlights from University of Southampton Summer School 2026:

Opera Studio: Performing Italian Bel canto

As part of this intensive opera performance course run by Professor Francesco Izzo, the students had a masterclass with Lisette Oropesa (pictured below). Lisette is considered the best soprano in the world, and one of the students described her as their idol! The students also enjoyed masterclasses from Francesca Aspromonte, a soprano from the Glyndebourne festival, and renowned conductor, Sebastiano Rolli. University of Southampton is the only institution in the UK to offer this kind of Summer School programme.

The Neurobiology of Disease: Understanding Alzheimer’s

For the second year in a row, Professor Amritpal Mudher ran a one week course looking at the neurobiology that underpins disease, taking Alzheimer’s as an illuminating case study. As a direct result of this course, three of the students from the course are going to publish in collaboration with three PhD students who supported the programme. Another student has decided to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience on the strength of that Summer School course. Many students took the course as part of a Biomedical Sciences pathway that also included Revolutionary Therapies in Cancer Treatment.

Interest in Postgraduate Taught study

Five students expressed an interest in returning to University of Southampton for Postgraduate Taught study thanks to the extremely engaging courses delivered by colleagues, and we are continuing the conversation with those alumni of the Summer School.

Thank you

I would like to thank all the colleagues who made University of Southampton Summer School 2026 a success! This includes the many colleagues in Professional Services who supported the programme; Associate Deans (International) and the Course Leads: Francesco Izzo, Bruce Hearn, Les Carr, Claire Wilkins, Rosalind Davies, Delia Crowe, Yihua Wang, Amritpal Mudher, Juan-Pablo Bermúdez, Sara Narimanfar, Cagla Dayangan, Fanzhuo Zeng.

Contact me on summer@soton.ac.uk if you would like to discuss University of Southampton Summer School 2027.

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