Course description

Our MSc Biological Sciences course offers a unique opportunity to experience research projects across a broad range of disciplines and laboratory environments before you start a career in research.

You will gain research experience and professional skills - perhaps in a different area to your first degree - before deciding on a future career in industry or academic research. This will allow you to make an informed choice about the research area you want to go into.

You choose the laboratory placements from a list provided by your programme director. Projects on this list come from any of our areas of research within the biological and biomedical sciences. As we have over 200 research-active labs, we can offer a wide range of projects to choose from. For an idea of the breadth of available projects, browse our Research pages.

Our course will also help you to develop transferable skills in essential areas such as experimental design, statistics, bioethics and science communication.

Teaching and learning

We use a range of teaching and learning methods, including tutorials, workshops, seminars and research placements.

Career opportunities

Our graduates acquire a vast array of subject-specific and transferable skills, and gain extensive laboratory research experience.

The University has a strong record of placing students in PhD programmes at Manchester and other universities, and several of our graduates have pursued research careers in industry.