Course summary

Prepare to work as a researcher in the chemical industry, or to go on to a PhD and an academic career. Over four years, you'll do research training and spend most of your final year working on your own project as part of a team of professional scientists. Four years of advanced study and hands-on experience will give you the skills of a forward-thinking 21st-century chemist, ready to start your career as a researcher. The four-year Chemistry MChem degree at the University of Sheffield is the best route if you’re planning your career in scientific research, a PhD and an academic career. Accredited by the Royal Society for Chemistry, this MChem builds from fundamentals to a final year spent mostly working on your own project, as part of a team of research scientists. Sustainability modules are part of our core teaching, and you’ll learn about this right from the start. And just like our Chemistry BSc, the first two years will be about the concepts and skills you need to eventually unlock a host of advanced topics in your third year. Your lectures are supported by small group tutorials, where you can delve deeper into complex topics. These small group teaching sessions are led by your personal tutor in first year, and specialists in years two and three, when you’ll explore chemistries environmental, computational, biological and medicinal – plus advanced materials and nanotechnology. In the fourth year you will have an opportunity to develop your research skills through advanced study, and in a research project – where you’ll join a team working on new discoveries, before graduating, primed for an exciting career. Why study this course?

• RSC accredited - this course is accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry for fully meeting the academic criteria for Chartered Chemist (CChem).

• Taught by the experts - most of the people teaching you will have first-hand experience of industry and business processes, and running spin-out companies.

• Hands-on experience - you’ll learn laboratory skills and techniques in your first and second year in our teaching labs. In your final year, you’ll work on a research project giving you independent research experience working on a real scientific problem. You’ll conduct experiments in our multi-million pound research labs, learning from our academic researchers.

• Sustainability focus - at Sheffield we have a major focus on sustainability. Sustainability modules are part of our core teaching in all our undergraduate courses from the start, and are also available as in-depth specialised options in year three.

• Summer research placement - we offer a guaranteed summer research placement if you meet the requirements of our Undergraduate Research Scholarship scheme.