Course overview

This course develops comprehensive knowledge and understanding of microbial science in the 21st century and its contribution to solving global challenges facing humanity. It focuses on applying techniques and methods related to molecular biology, microbial culture and classification and in the functional analysis of microbial genomes and microbiomes associated with disease, the biotechnology industry and the environment.

These subject areas are developed in great depth depending on your interest or desired career aspirations.

The course provides the theoretical knowledge, understanding and practical skills to ensure a solid grounding in core and applied microbiology, along with the transferable skills which are essential to enhance your employability options. This aims to prepare you for a broad range of careers within industrial, commercial, government and environmental settings and further postgraduate study. You are introduced to some of the contemporary issues facing the industry and the course provides hands-on practical experience of both laboratory and bioinformatics techniques. You can explore medical, industrial and environmental microbiology, molecular, cell and system biology, recombinant DNA technology, protein biochemistry, structural biology, fermentation, bioengineering and many other areas. During the course, you have the opportunity to investigate diverse areas of microbiology which are of concern to the healthcare, environmental, ecological and biotechnological sectors. You also have the chance to undertake research in relation to medical, environmental or industrial microbiology, which can further enhance your knowledge, skills and career options.

There are three routes you can select from to gain a master’s award:

• MSc Microbiology – one year full time
• MSc Microbiology – two years part time
• MSc Microbiology (with Advanced Practice) – two years full time

The one-year programme is a great option if you want to gain a traditional MSc qualification. The two-year master’s degree with advanced practice enhances your qualification by adding a vocational or research based internship to the one-year master’s programme. A vocational internship is a great way to gain work experience and give your CV a competitive edge. A research internship provides you with the opportunity to develop your analytical, team-working, research and academic skills by working alongside a research team in an academic setting. We guarantee a research internship, but cannot guarantee a vocational internship. We will, however, provide you with practical support and advice on how to find and secure your own vocational internship position should you prefer this type of internship.

Career opportunities

The course provides you with the academic, analytical and practical skills to assist you in to many careers.

Many of our graduates choose to continue in research careers and begin PhDs or become research scientists (research assistants or technicians). Our scientists have obtained posts in universities, industry (including oil and gas), biotechnology and hospital diagnostic and pathology laboratories.

More generally, microbiologists can use their training in education, working in schools, colleges of further education and in universities. Further opportunities are available to apply microbiology training in scientific publishing, in patent offices working on biological patents, in science outreach and contributing to the public understanding of microbiological issues.