Masters of Arts in Philosophy and History of Science

at University of Bristol - Clifton Campus United Kingdom

This degree will equip you to find solutions to environmental problems and to design large and unique structures, such as buildings, bridges, dams and coastal defences. If you are creative, enjoy design and aspire to improve the built environment we live in then civil engineering is for you.

At Bristol you will have access to our world-class laboratory facilities, including the most advanced earthquake shaking table in Europe.

The Study Abroad degree is a great opportunity to broaden your view of the world and experience a different culture. You will study at one of our partner universities in Australia, Canada, the US, Hong Kong or Singapore in your third year. There is no direct entry onto the course but you can transfer from the other courses if you reach a high academic standard in your first two years.

The first two years provide a strong foundation in engineering, including mathematics, structures, soil and fluid mechanics, computing and surveying, as well as optional units. More optional units are introduced in subsequent years, allowing you to pursue your interests while developing key professional skills.

Your third year overseas will mirror the third-year curriculum at Bristol. To find out more about where you can study overseas visit Global Opportunities. You will return to Bristol for your fourth and final year.

Design is central to the course and this is reflected in the projects you will undertake. In the first year you will develop a solution to an open-ended problem, such as designing and making a model bridge. Later projects include steel work, reinforced concrete, geotechnical design and water supply systems.

You will take part in an exciting group design project in the fourth year, combining all your learning as you tackle realistic design challenges identified through our industry links. Design projects range from transportation to smart cities and from skyscrapers to sustainable housing.

Our graduates are highly sought after by top employers, including civil engineering consultancies, utility companies, the army, public transport, power generation and supply companies.

You will explore all the major mammalian body systems from a molecular level up to whole body responses.

In the first year you will learn the physiology of how the body works, system by system, including in-depth exploration of the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems.

This equips you to undertake an integrated approach to physiology in your second year, such as understanding the demands of exercise and how we form memories. Alongside physiology, you will have the opportunity to study complementary subjects, including pharmacology, anatomy and psychology, broadening your knowledge base of the biomedical sciences.

By the third year you will be getting to grips with the latest cutting-edge research, taught by staff who are internationally recognised in their research area on topics such as neurological and psychiatric disorders and the heart in health and disease. You will also have the opportunity to explore physiological topics of interest in greater depth by engaging in one of a wide variety of research projects.

Graduates in BSc Physiological Science have wide-ranging skills and go on to take up a variety of careers, including roles within biomedical and healthcare research, graduate medicine, teaching and management.

BSc Economics and Politics combines an enriching experience with exciting intellectual challenges in two schools with strong reputations for teaching and research. By studying these two social sciences you will develop a deep understanding of global markets and political systems.

Economics follows a series of core units in the first and second years, covering micro- and macro-economics, mathematics, statistics and econometrics. This lays the foundations for specialising in the areas of economics that most interest you in your third year. Popular unit options previously have included Development Economics, Behavioural Economics, History of Economic Thought and International Economics.

You will also study the politics of individual countries and governments and the relationships between countries, communities and individuals. Politics is organised around three themes: political theory, comparative and national politics, and international relations. In addition to compulsory units, which will give you a solid grounding in politics, you be able to select from a range of units that are closely linked to staff research interests and thus unique to Bristol.

Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to data to estimate economic models. It is used by economists to verify or disprove theories and analyse the impacts of policies and events on the health of the economy. This course combines the study of economics and econometrics with a wide range of optional units. 

Econometrics is a vital tool for economists because, unlike natural sciences, where controlled experiments are used to determine the effect of one thing on another, it is impossible to hold the economy constant while tinkering with a single variable. Econometrics provides the scientific means to overcome the issue using empirical observations.

Alongside mandatory modules in econometrics and the applied economics dissertation, you will select from a wide range of optional modules from within the Schools of Economics, Finance and Management during all three years of your degree.

The Study Abroad course extends your degree to four years, with your third year spent studying economics in English at a top-ranking university in Europe or farther afield before returning to Bristol for your final year. This course allows you to combine the challenging, broad academic content of all our economics degrees with an overseas dimension that reflects the international nature of the economy.

This course offers a superb grounding in chemistry with the opportunity to specialise in your final year. The first two years are common to all of our degree courses. You will study fundamental concepts in inorganic, organic and physical chemistry and applications in areas such as analytical, environmental, materials and theoretical chemistry.

You will also develop your ability to design experiments and interpret results, and gain key skills through our chemistry-specific communications and mathematics units.

Our BSc course includes a final year project. Options include working in a research laboratory or in a local school helping to develop science resources or carrying out chemistry education research.

We are one of the UK’s biggest chemistry schools and we have a superb reputation for teaching and research; over a third of our research was rated 'world-leading' in the Research Excellence Framework 2014.

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, after your first two years you will have a wide choice of options from across engineering and mathematics to fit your interests.

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

A highlight is your final year project – a highly creative, challenging and enjoyable experience that is excellent preparation for your future career.

Pharmacology is the study of the action of drugs in the widest possible sense; it encompasses many types of chemicals that affect the functioning of the body rather than just medicines.

For the first two years you will study a number of core units run by the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and choose others from a wide selection, such as biochemistry, molecular genetics, infection and immunity, cellular and molecular medicine and mammalian physiology. Final-year units emphasise the molecular mechanisms of drug action and take you to the forefront of current research.

In your final year, formal lectures are replaced by seminars and tutorials and a fully integrated programme of activities develops your transferable personal and professional skills.

We use a wide variety of teaching approaches, which are both traditional (including lectures, practical work and tutorials) and innovative; for example our practical teaching is currently enhanced by self-directed learning using computer-assisted packages, such as eBiolabs.

This course is ideal for students interested in learning how to use numbers and data within sociology. It provides training in practical and analytical skills, which will enhance your career prospects and provide you with a strong platform for postgraduate study. No prior knowledge of statistical techniques is required.

About two thirds of your studies will follow the single honours BSc Sociology course. You will study society’s structures, forms of action and cultural practices, and understand changes in social life. You will gain a thorough grounding in sociology, as well as opportunities to specialise in new areas of research conducted by academics at the forefront of the discipline.

The remaining third of your course will provide interdisciplinary training in quantitative methods. In year one of the quantitative pathway we discuss how numbers and data are used to tell convincing stories in the media and social research. We consider what is meant by segregation and how it can be mapped and measured.

Year two offers practical classes in social statistics and applied data analysis, which will develop your skills in numeracy and analysis and enable you to undertake your own individual research project in an area of quantitative social science in year three.

This programme provides an introduction to a range of debates within the so-called 'cultural turn' in sociological studies. Increasingly, sociologists are looking to the concept of culture as a source of explanation - and questioning - in their studies of contemporary social formations.

The MSc in Social and Cultural Theory addresses both theoretical and substantive elements of this cultural turn. The works of key thinkers within social and cultural theory are explored, while the role of cultural explanations within theories of race and ethnicity, gender relations and the sociology of religion (among others) is also given both theoretical and empirical consideration.

These issues are situated within the framework of analyses and critiques of wider debates and discourses in social and cultural theory. They cover questions such as postmodernism, postfeminism and postcolonialism.