Biological Physics

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Manchester is one of the largest and most active physics departments in the UK. We have a long tradition of excellence in both teaching and research, and have interests in most areas of contemporary research.

The Department has a strong presence in a number of Manchester-based centres for multidisciplinary research: The National Graphene Institute, the Photon Science Institute, the Manchester Centre for Non-Linear Dynamics, and the Dalton Nuclear Institute. In addition, the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire is a part of the department.

The Biophysics research group adopts experimental, theoretical and computational approaches to study biological and biomedical systems at molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. In any given system, we often combine these approaches to aim for better and more rigorousunderstanding of the underlying physics and biomedical sciences. The offered projects are all multidisciplinary. Thus, apart from welcoming postgraduate applicants from physics and chemistry, we often have recruits from biosciences, computing science,mathematics and engineering.

Our main areas of research cover four general aspects: Physics of cell membranes and bio-interfaces, physics of peptides, physics of the heart and bio-systems, AI in medicine.

The postgraduate research environment is well funded and world-class as demonstrated by our ranking in REF2021. Supervision is provided by academic staff, who are leaders in their fields, with independent pastoral back-up. Transferable skills training is available and there are some school teaching opportunities.

For more information about research themes within the department please visit our themes page or view available projects within the department on our Postgraduate Research projects page .

Note: Although the course requires 1 year full time study, students should expect the process of examination of the dissertation may take several months. MSc degrees are usually awarded several months after the end of the programme.