Biomedical Science with an Industrial Placement Year BSc (Hons)

The University of Sheffield

Biomedical Science is devoted to understanding the human body and our ability to control it during health and disease. Our four-year BSc covers everything from human physiology and pharmacology, to molecular and cell biology. You’ll do a year-long, paid work placement as part of your degree.

Our Biomedical Science courses cover everything from human physiology and pharmacology, to molecular and cell biology, helping you to define the future of clinical medicine. You’ll study the basis of genetic diseases, cancer, the physiological consequences of ageing (including hearing loss) and consider how we tackle antimicrobial resistance. You’ll explore therapies that use stem cell technology, and discover how we develop drug treatment for inflammatory disease.

As you progress through your degree you’ll be able to specialise in key areas such as Stem Cells and Cancer, Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, and Developmental and Cell Biology. Whichever specialism you’re interested in, your personal tutor will support you to tailor your degree to your interests and career goals.

As a biomedical science student you'll learn in lots of different ways, from lectures and small group tutorials to learning by doing during practical lab sessions and research projects.

From your first year you’ll study a range of biomedical science modules, with the freedom to explore optional topics from across the breadth of bioscience. You might incorporate genetics to focus on heritable disease, microbiology to focus on infectious disease, evolution to focus on developmental defects, or biochemistry that underpins all life.

We encourage our students to be fully engaged throughout their courses, so you'll have lots of opportunities to be creative, think independently, and express your ideas. You’ll be in the lab completing in-depth practicals, studying human anatomy alongside our medics using dissection and advanced modelling techniques, and even sharing your own knowledge and benefiting from others' expertise through peer assisted study sessions. All giving you plenty of chances to gain new transferrable skills and experience to put on your CV.

Our students have found placements at organisations that include RB, Eli Lilly and GSK. A placement is a great opportunity to test out a career path that you're considering, whether that's in the lab or through applying your scientific knowledge and transferable skills in industry. Many students are even offered a graduate-level job at the end of it. You'll pay reduced fees for the year you're on placement and you'll have the support you need from your tutor and the University.