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Our Programmes

Three programmes, each designed for the student

Individually designed research programmes for students aged 14 to 18, with one-to-one mentorship from researchers at Harvard, Oxford, NYU and Columbia. Each programme is written for the student before it begins, looked after by an academic adviser alongside the mentor, and closed with a written report and a recommendation for what comes next.

01 One-to-one research · 8 weeks or longer

Research Scholar

One-to-one with a doctoral or postdoctoral researcher in the student's field, in at least eight 60-minute sessions over eight weeks or more. A longer programme spaces the sessions out, leaving more time between them for reading and written work. The programme is written in advance, with a reading path and a project plan, and ends with a student-authored essay, literature review or policy brief, typically 3,000 to 5,000 words, then a presentation, the written report and a recommendation for what comes next.

Fields

Technology, AI & Engineering

One-to-one research on a question in technology and related fields.

Medicine, Life Sciences & Behaviour

One-to-one research on a question in medicine and related fields.

Economics, Business & Innovation

One-to-one research on a question in economics and related fields.

Politics, Law & Global Affairs

One-to-one research on a question in politics and related fields.

Humanities, Media & Communication

One-to-one research on a question in humanities and related fields.

Arts, Design & Creative Industries

One-to-one research on a question in arts and related fields.

Places are offered after a short interview. If no mentor in our network fits the student's question, we recruit one who does.

02 Seminar course · 8 to 10 sessions

Field Seminars

A university-style seminar course in one field: 8 to 10 sessions, for one to three students. Each seminar is written in full before it starts, with a syllabus, an assessment brief and a reading bank, and ends with a research essay or project marked against published criteria, a written report and a recommendation for what comes next. Choose a field to see example seminars.

Technology, AI & Engineering

5 example seminars · one to three students

  • AI, Data & Machine Learning Foundations How modern AI systems learn from data, and where their limits lie.

    Students explore the core ideas behind machine learning, how systems learn patterns from data, why data quality matters, and where models succeed and fail. The seminar balances technical intuition with the bigger questions: bias, interpretability, and what it means to delegate decisions to a machine. No advanced maths is assumed; curiosity is.

  • Engineering Thinking and Systems Design How engineers break complex problems into systems that work.

    Engineering is a way of thinking before it is a set of tools. Students learn to decompose a complex problem, reason about trade-offs and constraints, and design systems where many parts must work together. Real-world cases, from bridges to spacecraft to software, illustrate how good design anticipates failure.

  • Robotics, Automation & the Future of Work What automation can and cannot do, and how it reshapes society.

    From factory arms to autonomous vehicles, students examine how robotics and automation are changing the economy and everyday life. The seminar pairs the technical question, what can be automated, with the human one, what should be, and asks how societies might adapt to rapid change.

  • Cybersecurity and Digital Society How digital systems are attacked, defended, and governed.

    As life moves online, security becomes everyone’s concern. Students learn how attacks work at a conceptual level, how systems are defended, and the larger questions of privacy, surveillance and trust in a connected world. The focus is on understanding the landscape, not on any operational technique.

  • Climate Technology and Sustainable Engineering The technologies and trade-offs behind the energy transition.

    Students explore the engineering behind decarbonisation, renewable energy, storage, efficiency, and carbon capture, alongside the economic and political constraints that shape what actually gets built. A grounded, evidence-led look at one of the defining challenges of their generation.

03 Academic skills · one to three students

Academic Essentials

Work on academic writing, English for university study and admissions tests (including IELTS, TOEFL and SAT), source use and citation, study habits and research-question foundations, for one to three students.

Starts with the Academic Readiness Review, a 60-minute session that produces a written plan: priority skills, duration, weekly plan and the evidence the student will produce.

A written plan for each student
The one to three areas that matter most
Ends with a written report and a recommendation
Apply for Academic Essentials Full programme details →

Course areas

Academic Habits & Study Systems The habits that make everything else possible, built deliberately.

Strong academic work rests on habits most students are never explicitly taught. This course builds them deliberately: effective note-taking, reading with purpose, planning and time management, and how to approach a difficult task without being overwhelmed. Students develop a personal study system they actually use and the confidence to take on more demanding material.

Active reading & note-taking Planning and time management Academic mindset & resilience
English for University Study & Admissions Tests Academic English, admissions tests (including IELTS, TOEFL and SAT), and the language demands of university.

Focused work on the four skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking, calibrated to the IELTS or TOEFL band a student needs and to the language of English-medium university study: academic vocabulary, lecture comprehension and confidence in seminars. Where a student is sitting the SAT, the plan covers that too. Feedback is specific and actionable throughout.

IELTS, TOEFL and SAT Academic vocabulary & register Lecture comprehension & seminar confidence
Academic Essay Structure & Argument How academic writing actually works, from the paragraph to a persuasive essay.

Students learn the craft of academic writing from first principles: how a paragraph carries a single idea, how paragraphs build into a sustained argument, and how a full essay leads a reader persuasively through a claim. The course moves from structural foundations through thesis design, counter-argument, and using evidence to persuade rather than merely assert. Instruction is paired with writing practice and individual feedback throughout.

Paragraph & essay structure Thesis & argument design Evidence, counter-argument & persuasion
Source Use, Citation & Academic Vocabulary Reading scholarly sources and writing in a precise, academic register.

Students learn to work with scholarly sources: reading critically, quoting and paraphrasing with integrity, and citing correctly. Alongside this, they expand their academic vocabulary and develop a more precise, formal register. Writing that sounds like a scholar rather than a student can be learned, and this area teaches it directly.

Critical reading of sources Quoting, paraphrasing & citation Academic vocabulary & register
Research Question Foundations Moving from a broad interest to a focused, answerable research question.

Research starts with a good question. Students learn to narrow a broad area of interest into a focused, answerable question, specific enough to investigate and significant enough to matter, which they can take into their school work, a Field Seminar or the Research Scholar programme.

Narrowing from topic to question Framing an answerable enquiry Taking a question into research
How every programme works

What every Aldevere programme includes

These hold for every student, in every programme.

  • Designed before it begins

    Every programme is written for the student before the first session: a syllabus, assessment brief and reading bank for a Field Seminar, a reading path and project plan for Research Scholar, and a written plan from the Academic Readiness Review for Academic Essentials.

  • A mentor for the question

    Students are matched to a mentor whose work fits their question. If no one in our network fits, we recruit someone who does.

  • An academic adviser alongside the mentor

    Every student also has an academic adviser, separate from the mentor, who looks after their progress and wellbeing from start to finish.

  • Parents kept informed

    Parents receive the schedule before the first session, progress updates at set points and whenever they ask, and a debrief at the end.

  • A new mentor if the match is not working

    If the match is not working, we change the mentor.

  • A written report at the end

    Every programme ends with a written report on the student's work, covering strengths, next steps and evidence of growth, and a recommendation for what comes next.

  • Certificates

    Each certificate says Completion only when every session was attended and the final work submitted. It carries its own number, and anyone the student shows it to, such as a university, can verify it at aldevere.com/verify with that number and the student's full name.

  • References

    Mentors are glad to write a reference for a student who has attended and taken the work seriously.

The student writes every word. Mentors question, teach and give feedback. Our academic integrity policy sets out what that means in practice.

With the family's consent, a referring counsellor is kept informed of the recommendation, the match and the student's progress. How counsellor referrals work.

Not sure where to start?

We'll recommend the right programme

The programmes are starting points, not a required sequence. In a short interview we look at the student's interests, readiness and goals and recommend the programme that fits. Still exploring? Browse research project ideas across 24 subjects to see the kind of work students take on.