No worries. I asked around (I work with some sensor platforms that use M2M SIMs) and both Three and Eir have starter IoT packages which are a lot cheaper than I thought, but you still need to be a business and open a business account with a rep.

You can also ask your university - when I was in college, a certain unnamed CS department bought a ludicrously expensive tiny computer and satellite modem for a project I worked on at my request (this was ~15 years ago, and it was ludicrously expensive - more than my registration fees for the full four years. We never even used the parts). Many universities already have partnerships with telcos and can get M2M sims at low prices.

Bear in mind that you can rack up huge bills with M2M - they are almost never capped/throttled/region-locked (since they often end up in places where you can't get physical access), so you can get yourself into trouble. Unlike personal accounts, business bills aren't forgiven.

Also check out whether the M2M STK in the SIM will actually support the functions you want. Unlike 3/4g modems and consumer SIMs, you will have to delve a little deeper in the configuration and understand the network a little better to get the SIM and modem set up. It won't be abstracted away like a consumer device, but it'll be a great learning experience.