What you will study
You will gain key skills in the specialised area of pharmaceutical analysis, including good measurement and scientific practice, evaluation interpretation of data, and other professional and organisational skills. In addition to studying core analytical techniques and their applications, you will be introduced to various pharmaceutical technologies, for example, formulations and topics such as clinical pharmacokinetics.
You may be offered a placement within industry (depending on your results and project availability) where you will carry out your independent research project.
The Management Studies option enables you to explore the fundamentals of management theory within the commercial and public sectors.
Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list.
For a student to go on placement they are required to pass every module first time with no reassessments. It is the responsibility of individual students to find a suitable paid placement. Students will be supported by our dedicated placement team in securing this opportunity.
Management Studies pathway modules
Core modules
Separation Science
30 credits
This module introduces students to the principles and theory of separation science and its application in the laboratory including solvent extraction, high performance liquid chromatography, gas/liquid chromatography, centrifugation, gel and capillary electrophoresis and hyphenated techniques.
Pharmaceutical and Analytical Technology
30 credits
The module is intended to ensure that students are aware of the processes by which a drug is formulated into a medicine. It examines the effect that formulation decisions have on the safety, efficacy and quality of medicines, and on the pharmaceutical industry's business model. It includes the principles of pharmaceutical analysis and the application of pharmaceutical analytical techniques (both routine and non-routine) for the design, process- and quality-control of manufactured pharmaceuticals and process-intermediates. It is designed to enable students to review instrumentation choices when confronted with pharmaceutical issues and to select the appropriate tool(s). It also looks at the emerging quality assurance concepts of process analytical technology and quality by design. The module aims are:
- To analyse aspects of pharmaceutical development and manufacturing including process analysis.
- To extend the students' knowledge of total quality management and apply it to the analytical laboratory in the pharmaceutical industry.
- To provide current examples of the applications of the techniques studied in this course specifically to pharmaceutical problems.
Molecular and Atomic Spectroscopy
30 credits
This module introduces the main spectroscopic techniques used in industry, e.g. UV/Vis, FTIR, Mass Spectrometry, NMR, AES, AAS and X -Ray methods and later progresses to the more advanced designs and applications, eg MS/MS, FTMS, TOF, sector and quadrupole mass analysers, 2D NMR, LCMS, MALDI, Atomic Fluorescence and ICPMS/AES.
Business in Practice
30 credits
This postgraduate module covers the theory and practice of the business and management needs of students from different academic contexts such as, but not limited to Science, Engineering, Computing and Health Services who are aspiring team leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs in business within the context of the commercial, public, voluntary, or academic sector.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
- Investigate business topics ranging from finance, accounting, budgeting, and marketing, to organisational management by developing the leadership skills to meet business challenges and to cope with their complexity.
- Explain and put into context business concepts to graduates from a variety of sectors including those encompassed by Science, Engineering, Computing and Health Services.
Project
60 credits
This module involves a research- or industry-based in-depth research project. You will develop your ability to critically evaluate your own work as well as the work of others, utilising analytical and laboratory skills.
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
- Prepare a realistic and coherent project proposal, formulate aims and objectives and plan your own time to achieve stated objectives.
- Critically evaluate the current literature.
- Carry out appropriate experiments in a safe manner (applying COSHH) and generate reliable data suitably analysed and apply appropriate statistical tests.
- Communicate the results of the project in a coherent report and in oral and visual manner.
Professional Placement
120 credits
The Professional Placement module is a core module for those students following a masters programme that incorporates an extended professional placement. It provides students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in an appropriate working environment, and develops and enhances key employability and subject specific skills in their chosen discipline. Students may wish to use the placement experience as a platform for the major project or future career.
It is the responsibility of individual students to find and secure a suitable placement opportunity; this should not normally involve more than two placements which must be completed over a minimum period of 10 months and within a maximum of 12 months. The placement must be approved by the Course Leader, prior to commencement to ensure its suitability. Students seeking placements will have access to the standard placement preparation activities offered by Student Engagement and Enhancement (SEE) group.
