Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Biology with International or Placement year

at Keele University United Kingdom

Natural Sciences allows you to study a broad range of disciplines within a Single Honours programme. You choose one core discipline as a named route, accounting for half of your learning, that ensures you have a solid grounding in an established discipline. The remaining half of your learning is through an even mix of programme-specific interdisciplinary modules that cover the full range of disciplines offered by the programme and your own choice of elective modules that allows you to mix and match different subjects.

This highly interdisciplinary course provides you with a strong theoretical and practical background in human geography giving you the understanding and professional geographical skills to explore an array of world issues from different perspectives. You will develop problem-solving skills and the ability to research, evaluate and synthesise information from diverse sources.

Our staff's diverse research interests and creative methods reflect modern human geography that can develop your skills to address contemporary societal issues such as climate change, sustainability, health and migration from political, economic, social and cultural perspectives. What you learn here will equip you for future employment and for a lifelong appreciation of the world around you.

Studying Sociology will enable you to think independently, critically, and imaginatively about the issues that shape our everyday lives and our futures. You will gain a solid understanding of the key areas which make up this discipline such as inequalities, social theory, and research methods. Our programme also covers a wide range of topics including families, activism and protest, social media, globalisation, and belief systems.

This course includes training in professional and research skills, and opportunities for either a module or a whole year of work placement.

The Sociology course involves a mix of compulsory and research-led modules to enable you to think independently, critically, and imaginatively about the issues that shape our everyday lives and our futures. Through a mix of lectures, seminars, and workshops you will study societies, social problems, and how they impact upon the lives of individuals.

We will consider how our lives are shaped by relationships with other people, institutions, habits, and ways of thinking that make up the complex societies in which we live. You will be encouraged to develop sociological explanations for the wide-ranging changes taking place in the contemporary world and think about potential solutions to social problems. In the final year of your studies, you will receive individual supervision to carry out your own piece of social research.

This programme has been carefully developed for students who are interested in gaining advanced knowledge of psychological theory as this relates to social and political issues and the potential for such knowledge to generate progressive social change. The degree programme will equip you to engage critically and analytically with these issues and help you to develop novel ways of thinking about yourself, those around you and society at large. The theoretical and applied nature of this programme will offer you the opportunity to study how psychology helps interpret some of the most pressing social and political issues facing human society in the 21st Century and how it can contribute to tackling some of them.

In addition to your taught components, you will have the opportunity to undertake a dissertation project on a topic of your choice under the direct supervision of a member of staff. You will be able to use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method approaches.

A further unique feature of this degree programme is that it involves you in the design and implementation of an Action Research Project that is aimed at bringing a tangible, positive change on or off campus in collaboration with your fellow students and under the supervision of your Module Leader.

The programme is aimed primarily at students with a degree in Psychology but will also be valuable and relevant to students with an interest or background in Criminology, International Relations, Politics, Sociology, History, and other relevant Social Sciences degrees. Applicants without a degree will be considered on a case by case basis, where they can provide evidence of relevant professional experience or other experiential prior learning.

We will equip you with the skills to tackle a range of increasingly problematic and complex issues which may include our ever growing and ageing human population, our medical problems and the impacts our actions have on each other and on life on Earth.

Combining Biochemistry and Biology gives you the chance to approach problems from the molecular and organismal level. The Biochemistry element of the course covers mainly mammalian Biochemistry and has a focus on health and disease. You’ll have the opportunity to engage in additional opportunities which may include field courses and research projects. You may also have the opportunity to apply for a placement.

During your studies, you will examine how organisations function within their wider political and economic environment; how they develop and deploy management, and how they plan strategies to address future goals that are essential for becoming the business leaders of tomorrow. The programme explores the formal and informal ways of regulating the employment relationship in the public, private and voluntary sectors. 

Our Environmental Science course at Keele draws on the expertise of scientists within the disciplines of life sciences, chemical sciences and geosciences to emphasise the role and importance of scientific understanding and practical skills in the analysis and management of environmental problems.

The course emphasises the role and importance of scientific understanding and practical skills in the analysis and management of environmental problems, ensuring a course which is targeted at employment in the environmental sector.

Alongside studying topical global environmental issues, you will have the opportunity to develop a broad range of practical, laboratory and field-based skills to take into future employment. You’ll also have the opportunity to complete fieldwork in the UK and gain valuable work experience or study abroad at one of our partner institutions. This course is accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES), meaning students can gain free membership of the IES to support their personal and professional development in the environmental sector. The course is also accredited by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

For the Computer Science element of this course, you will learn the underpinning theories of software, hardware and computing techniques – and how to apply them in the real world. You’ll learn to use technology to create new opportunities and to solve a wide range of problems, benefiting every aspect of society from the home to business, government and beyond. Our teaching is informed by our research, and we also reflect what’s happening now in industry.

You'll have the opportunity to explore topics linked to a range of specialisms which may include information systems, evolutionary systems, or creative computing. You’ll have access to our own computing labs, based on Microsoft Windows and Linux, plus a wide range of software.

Studying Neuroscience, you’ll explore a range of topics which may include how we learn and remember, how the brain controls the body, and how the brain can be targeted by disease but in some instances can repair itself. Within the course are interesting related disciplines such as neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology and neuropathology. 

Working in diverse ways, including in our well-equipped labs, you’ll develop your independent research skills as you learn to acquire, interpret and analyse data from multiple sources. You’ll also understand how neuroscience can help us understand medical problems and improve the quality of life.

Studying History at Keele will enable you to develop your appreciation of various global histories, whilst enjoying the rich history of our local area. In your spare time, you might find yourself exploring the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork most likely deposited in the 7th century in the then Kingdom of Mercia. The Staffordshire Hoard provides a window to England in the 6th and 7th centuries and also to the warrior elite that existed during these times and now rests less than 5 miles away from Keele.

Our History programme will carry you chronologically from the medieval period to the present, and span the globe. You will be introduced to a wide range of history – from political, social, economic and cultural history to the history of gender, health, sexuality and religion. Throughout your first year, you may engage in modules that encourage you to explore topics such as how European rulers tried to strengthen their authority with the increase of military power between the late fifteenth and late seventeenth centuries, or some of the key defining moments in History which may include the 1720 South Sea Bubble in Britain, the 1791 Haitian Revolution or the 1933 Bauhaus movement.  

As a History and International Relations student you will develop an understanding of the different approaches to both disciplines and the range of theories and methods used. The programme encompasses a broad range of topics, from societies in the very distant past to contemporary migration, conflict, gender, security, and the EU, in order to understand how social and political organisation today comes from that of yesterday.

The History element of the degree will carry you chronologically from the medieval period to the present, and span the globe. You will be introduced to a wide range of history – from political, social, economic and cultural history to the history of gender, health, sexuality and religion. Throughout your first year, you may engage in modules that encourage you to explore topics such as how European rulers tried to strengthen their authority with the increase of military power between the late fifteenth and late seventeenth centuries, or some of the key defining moments in History which may include the 1720 South Sea Bubble in Britain, the 1791 Haitian Revolution or the 1933 Bauhaus movement.  

Additionally, throughout the International Relations element of the programme, you will study more than just current events - you will explore how history, structures, ideas, power, people and politics all come together to shape and direct the world that we live in. International Relations is everywhere around us, from what we see on the nightly news to the films we watch. It is an interdisciplinary subject that draws on an almost inexhaustable list of disciplines, such as history, politics, sociology, cultural studies, regional studies, anthropology, economics, business, philosophy and gender studies.