Master of Science in Zoology

at University of Bristol - Clifton Campus United Kingdom

Our biochemistry course immerses you in groundbreaking research and gives you the opportunity to contribute to work that could have a significant impact on future generations.

You can tailor the course to suit your interests across all years by combining your study of biochemistry with a choice of options. In the first year these include anatomy, pathology, microbiology, pharmacology and physiology.

Your second year combines biochemistry and molecular genetics with a choice of units, such as neurophysiology, infection and immunity, mathematics and languages.

In the final year you will select from a choice of advanced options in biochemistry, covering topics such as synthetic biology, neurobiochemistry and cancer.

Your third-year research project will involve collaboration with internationally renowned scientists on pioneering work. Previously, students have collaborated on the development of a technique for the manufacture of red blood cells from human stem cells, and on the molecular modification of an antibiotic, increasing the range of infections it can treat.

We focus on the development of your practical and research skills throughout the first two years. We also offer summer studentships and subject-specific employability and enterprise sessions.

The first two years of this course provide a background in mathematical analysis, modelling and scientific computation and their application to engineering. These core topics underpin the advanced material that follows.

As well as gaining first-hand exposure to pioneering research, in your third year, you will have a wide choice of options from across engineering and mathematics to fit your interests.

A major focus of the course is real-world problem solving, spanning many different application areas from robotics and social media to medicine and environmental modelling. Problems come directly from our industrial collaborators or address real challenges in current research. By working on these case studies and using theory and techniques from other units, you will be able to develop your mathematical modelling, collaboration and communication skills.

The MSc Education Open Pathway allows you to design your own programme of study based on your areas of interest, rather than tying you in to a particular subject area. You can therefore pick and choose units from across the seven different specialist pathways as well as from our wider bank of optional units. For example, if your interests spanned both educational policy and the use of technology in education you might combine units from the Leadership and Policy Pathway with units from the Learning, Technology and Society Pathway.

A very diverse range of students take this pathway, attracted by the freedom that it offers. Many students are international drawn from a range of countries beyond Europe having recently completed their undergraduate studies. Many of these students nonetheless have some experience of teaching, volunteering or some other work experience in schools or education more broadly.

Other students, are more mature and returning to education after a longer period of work and so bring a wider wealth of experiences, yet wish to formalise their learning. All this diversity in backgrounds and experiences creates a rich learning environment and sharing of ideas among students and academics alike.

After completing the MSc, most students want to work in education in some form. But here too there is range in students’ goals and aspirations. Other students want to use the Masters year to develop their skills as educational researchers in order to go on to study for a PhD with us or elsewhere.

This MSc conversion program is for students from a variety of academic backgrounds who have little or no previous academic computing experience. The aims of the programme are to build:

• An understanding of the basis of computer science and its importance in software development;
• An understanding of the underlying principles of computer systems and their applications;
• An introduction to industrial-style methods of analysis, design, implementation, testing and documentation in software development;
• An appreciation of the current state and future directions of technological advances in computer science.

The innovators of the 21st century will bring together arts, science, engineering, humanities and enterprise to deliver innovative products, services and ways of living. They will be team players with a breadth of skills and qualities that enable them to work across specialisms and cultures.

This course combines in-depth study of geography with interdisciplinary breadth, creative teamwork and entrepreneurial skills. Alongside your geography studies you will apply your subject knowledge by translating ideas into plans for digital and creative enterprises, both social and commercial.

The course will equip you to use the critical, theoretical and practical skills central to geography, developing your knowledge and skills across a range of areas.

You will come together with students from other innovation disciplines, such as computer science and anthropology, each contributing a unique perspective on a challenge as you identify needs and develop ideas. Ultimately, you'll create innovative solutions together.

By the time you graduate you will have a portfolio of work ranging from live client projects to planning your own entrepreneurial venture. You will have learned how to evaluate the potential of your product or service and how to finance it, and you will have a network of peers and advisers who have worked with you along the way.

This taught postgraduate program is research-led and will draw heavily on academic literature. It will build on your existing knowledge of technical aspects of accounting and finance. You will develop your ability to critically analyse the nature and conditions of effectiveness for these techniques to contribute to accounting and finance practice and governance.

In the first term you will explore contemporary issues in accounting and finance research literature. You will also build key skills in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This will prepare you for the more specialist elective units taught in the second term.

The final part of the MSc is a research-based dissertation, which involves identifying and analysing a research question in accounting and/or finance under the guidance of a member of staff. For those planning on undertaking a PhD, this dissertation represents an important bridge between taught and advanced research studies.

This program develops skills for critical analysis of accounting and finance topics, which will be valuable in your future career. The strong conceptual foundation it offers will support students who want to pursue an academic or professional career in accounting or finance.