Course summary

Chemistry is central to solving humanity's most pressing problems - climate change, renewable energy, sustainable materials, and eliminating hunger and disease. Our chemistry degrees help develop the practical, analytical, numerical, and logical reasoning skills you need to help solve these global challenges – and also offer an exciting route into a wide range of future career paths. In this course, you can satisfy your curiosity for medicinal chemistry with tailored modules later in the course, providing insights into the drug discovery and pharmaceutical pipeline. In contrast to our three-year BSc degrees, the MChem degree takes place over four years; the fourth year builds on the experience of the BSc degree by enabling students to undertake a significant research project, working with an academic group to help solve important real-world problems drawn from the wide spectrum of the chemical sciences. This course is accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry, subject to passing required modules. By branching into medicinal chemistry you will apply your chemical knowledge to the discovery, design, and synthesis of new drugs for clinical use. Our four-year Medicinal Chemistry degree combines a solid foundation in chemistry with specialist knowledge in advanced medicinal chemistry/biochemistry. Specialist modules explore the process of medicinal drug discovery, from the initial concept of a new product to the discovery stage, clinical trials, scale-up, and production. You can explore the biochemistry of these processes, and how this leads to medical breakthroughs. In addition to research-led teaching from top academics, you will benefit from external lectures given by pharmaceutical industry leaders. You will also complete a final-year research project.