Molecular Biology and Environmental Change with a Year in Industry BSc (Hons)

Royal Holloway, University of London

Population growth, global industrialisation, natural hazards, food and resource security and climate change are among the greatest challenges faced in the 21st century, putting life on our planet under unprecedented strain.

BSc Molecular Biology and Environmental Change is a new degree designed to develop a strong scientific understanding of the core concepts of molecular biology and how these can be applied to develop new technologies to tackle the problems caused by environmental change.

Our flexible degree structure will develop your understanding of how biological principles can help develop sustainable solutions to 21st century challenges. Your degree will include core modules that are essential for the degree, plus a wide choice of optional modules to provide opportunities for you to specialise and tailor your degree to your study interests.

You’ll be taught by international research leaders across a broad range of topics, learning to apply and integrate molecular and environmental approaches to address societal challenges related to climate change, including food sustainability, energy production and organism resilience. You’ll also experience the thrill and challenge of an individual research project, designing your own experiments and driving your research forwards in well-equipped laboratories, guided by our expert academics.

Over the course of three years you will develop your technical ability and research skills alongside problem-solving and quantitative analysis, as you learn how to be a bioscientist, from performing experiments, through evaluation of data, to presentation of results in both verbal and written formats.

You will graduate equipped with the specialist knowledge of ground-breaking latest advances and practical skills to tackle the scientific challenges of a rapidly changing world, ideally prepared for a career in your chosen field, or ready to progress into postgraduate study.

You can further enrich your degree by taking an integrated year in industry to gain professional experience. Our year in industry degrees are highly valued by employers and they give you the chance to gain first-hand experience of the world of work and to apply your learning to real-world scenarios. Your year in industry will start at the end of year 2.

• Gain practical skills in molecular biology and molecular genetics to address the problems arising from environmental change
• Choose from a range of optional modules to tailor your degree to your interests
• Develop your technical ability and research skills alongside problem-solving and quantitative analysis, to equip you for a career in industry or research
• Develop practical laboratory and data handling skills.
• Examine the life cycle of flowering plants, their evolution, developmental and functional biology.
• Learn how biological and ecological principles can help develop sustainable solutions to 21st-century problems.
• Join a close-knit and supportive learning community with a high staff-to-student ratio.

Accredited by the Royal Society of Biology for the purpose of meeting, in part, the academic and experience requirement of membership and Chartered Biologist (CBiol).