Master of Biology (Hons) with Placement Year

at University of Bath United Kingdom

Develop your understanding of human disease and learn to apply cutting-edge methodologies to help tackle global health challenges.

Biosciences research has a huge impact on helping people live longer and healthier lives. With the World Economic Forum identifying healthcare as one of the top 10 Global Challenges for 2030, there is a growing demand for specialists in this field.

This course provides you with a broad understanding of the molecular basis of biological systems, with a focus on how medical biosciences can address some of the world's biggest challenges in human health and disease.

Start a new language or achieve fluency in a language you’ve already studied. Gain the skills to understand the international political environment.

This degree enables you to combine the study of a language at either ab initio (beginner) or advanced level with the study of international politics. In the course, the language and politics strands carry equal weighting. You will gain a strong competence in both your chosen language and in relevant issues of international politics.

You can choose your language of study from either advanced French, German or Spanish (intended for those who have studied to A level standard) or any beginner language (which you do not need to have studied before): French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Russian or Spanish.

Year abroad

This course includes a compulsory year abroad when you will spend time in a country of your chosen language. You could spend your time on a study placement at a foreign university, as a language assistant in a school, or on a work placement. You may also have the flexibility of a combination of any of these options.

Integrate structural, architectural and environmental principles to advance the creative and sustainable design of our built environment.

Our course is for creative engineers who want to develop a holistic approach to designing buildings and structures. As a graduate, your imaginative approaches, ingenuity and communication skills will help you develop responsible solutions for the engineering challenges you will face.

In your first two years, you will learn the foundations of materials, geotechnics, structures and digital design. Once you have developed your fundamental engineering design skills, you will then explore aspects of sustainable building and structural design in later years.

Our courses draw on the strengths of a joint department with architecture, offering you a different experience from most universities. You’ll work with architecture students to prepare you for the professional relationships you'll experience in your career.

At Bath, you will have the opportunity to experience studio-based projects and gain insight from industrial guest lecturers, preparing you to tackle the range of structural engineering projects you will meet in your career.

We also offer this course with a placement year, giving you the opportunity to gain work experience as part of your degree. You can move between our Civil Engineering and Structural and Architectural Engineering courses, as well as decide whether you want to go on placement, up to the end of your second year.

Explore how we can build a sustainable global future that leaves no-one behind. Develop a broad-based social science approach with a grounding in economics.

On this degree you will study some of the most important challenges facing our global society – poverty, inequality, climate change, conflict and migration. Alongside economic methods and analysis, training in sociology and anthropology, politics and social research will enable you to apply a multi-disciplinary approach.

With a strong orientation towards policy and practice, you will explore problems and solutions at local through national and international levels, guided by staff sharing from their own experience of development work and research.

Apply the full breadth of physics to a wide range of astrophysical phenomena from star formation to black hole growth and the expansion of the Universe.

Physics with Astrophysics at Bath will give you a strong grounding in physics, along with in-depth specialist knowledge of astrophysics. You’ll learn how to combine evidence from stellar and extragalactic astronomy to build consistent theoretical models of the evolution of galaxies.

Topics covered include exoplanets, galaxies, cosmology, stars and stellar evolution, general relativity and high energy astrophysics. There'll also be opportunities for you to carry out both observational and computational astrophysics projects alongside our astrophysics research group.

Year abroad

Broaden your horizons by spending a year studying at a university abroad. You’ll experience another culture whilst studying a course that complements your studies at Bath.

We currently have links with universities in North America, Australasia, Asia and Europe, including Purdue University, the University of Queensland, National University Singapore and the University of Helsinki.

Equip yourself to work as a professional interpreter and/or translator on this highly respected master's, which can include a training opportunity.

Our MA Interpreting and Translating is designed to give you the practical skills and experience you need to work as an interpreter and translator at a high level.

You must have an excellent understanding of two languages. You can choose from one of two pathways:

• Path 1 allows you to work with two other languages (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish) into English
• Path 2 allows you to work in both directions between Chinese/English or Russian/English

Our interpreting and translating master's have has been running for over 50 years and is highly respected internationally for the quality of the training provided. Many Bath graduates have gone on to work in organisations such as the EU and UN, as well as other language services around the world.

The course covers professional translation and simultaneous, consecutive and liaison interpreting in public service and commercial settings.

You'll have access to the latest digital interpreting labs, and you will participate in mini-conferences to put your skills into practice, holding debates on controversial topics and acting as both delegate and interpreter.

We seek to arrange external training opportunities for our students with the United Nations or independent agencies, giving you first-hand experience of the workplace and valuable contacts for building your career.

The course is taught by experienced tutors who have all worked as professional translators and interpreters themselves. Some have interpreted for heads of state and government ministers, and/or work for international organisations. They are therefore able to share this wealth of experience with you and provide useful advice on joining the profession.

Learn about global development from a heterodox economics perspective, and gain the skills to work in economic and development policy and practice.

This course addresses the contemporary challenges of global development, utilising core economic concepts, theories and methods. Rooted in real-world practical and policy challenges, the course is founded on Bath’s longstanding engagement in international development and applied economic analysis. It uses innovative learning approaches to promote in-depth investigation of cases and issues, drawing links across global, regional, national and local scales. We offer you the opportunity of a placement-based research project, providing hands-on experience to complement campus-based learning.

Learn how to research, design and develop machine learning and autonomous systems technologies. You’ll develop the knowledge and skills to solve complex problems.

Intelligent and autonomous systems are increasingly important in all areas of our lives, from medicine and space exploration to agriculture and entertainment. Machine learning is at the heart of these systems, including computer vision and robotics. It also underpins the recent developments in data analytics across many fields.

Understanding and developing autonomous systems involves a range of skills and knowledge including designing interactive systems with both human and machine elements, and modelling and building systems that can sense and learn. This course will give you the opportunity to develop these skills including the theory of machine learning, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems design and engineering. You’ll also learn about the implications of us interacting with intelligent and autonomous systems more and more.

Explore new and creative ways to tackle key social challenges. Learn theory and methods to understand, critically examine, and influence organisations.

This course will appeal if you want to combine an understanding of the social world from different perspectives with a rigorous analysis of policy responses to social problems. You will examine theory and techniques from sociology alongside the analytical focus of social policy.

You’ll explore areas such as health, welfare and poverty, race and discrimination, inequality and exclusion. You’ll be able to take a range of optional units on topics such as the sociology of death, lobbying, justice and conflict. By the end of the degree you’ll have an understanding of how social institutions develop, operate and how they might be improved.

Placement Year

The placement year will give you valuable practical experience and is an excellent opportunity to try different careers. It enables you to leave university with a strong CV and may set you apart from other graduates entering the job market. You can take placements in commercial, voluntary or government organisations, or in a research setting.

Learn about the deep connections between mathematics and theoretical physics and develop your scientific computing and theoretical modelling skills to understand and solve complex physical problems.

This course is for you if you want to study a broad physics degree with less emphasis on experimental laboratories and a stronger focus on theoretical, mathematical and computational aspects of physics.

You'll study the cornerstones of theoretical physics while developing your understanding of their mathematical foundations. Our courses reflect our theoretical research expertise in condensed matter, photonics and astrophysics. The computational physics and programming aspects also reflect the more applied nature of our theoretical research.

The combination of theoretical and practical knowledge of physics and mathematics is highly sought-after by employers and also gives an excellent grounding for postgraduate or industrial research.

Placement Year

As an MPhys student, you can choose to undertake a research placement in the final year of the course. You’ll spend six months (July to December) working in a research organisation of international standing, before returning to the University for the final semester. We have links with leading research organisations, including CERN, NTT Basic Research Laboratories (Japan), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France) and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.