Biological Sciences

Choose what you study from a range of bioscience topics to build a degree that matches your interests. If you're thinking about a career in industrial or academic research, this course involves a major research project of your choice in your fourth year.

Why study this course?
- Top 100 in the world for life sciences (THE World University Rankings by Subject 2025)

- Close links with the NHS: Complete research on cancer and ageing in partnership with the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

- Four-year course: Graduate with a masters degree and spend your fourth year focused on a major research project of your choice.

Our four-year MBiolSci Biological Sciences course is perfect if you're thinking about a research career. It offers you the flexibility to discover what kind of biologist you want to be. You’ll then complete a major research project in your fourth year (known as an integrated masters).

You'll start by studying a broad foundation in biological science. This will allow you to explore the subject and discover what excites you most. You can then choose to focus on areas including biodiversity and conservation, the anatomy or biochemistry of plants and animals, or the molecular basis of human health.

At Sheffield, you’ll be encouraged to be creative, think independently and express your ideas. Depending on what modules you choose, you could be carrying out fieldwork in the Peak District, studying life at the atomic level, modelling the gene networks that resulted in speciation, or even working with scientists from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to diagnose cancer samples.

No matter what areas of biological science you choose to study at Sheffield, you'll develop practical laboratory and transferable skills - such as project management, problem-solving, communication skills and data analysis - that make our graduates attractive to employers.

All this experience will prepare you for your third-year research project where you could be laboratory-based, field-based, focus on computer modelling, or even science communication.

Your fourth year is designed to equip you with advanced laboratory or field research skills, ready for a rewarding career in science. You'll spend the bulk of this year focused on a major research project in an area of biological sciences of your choice, and graduate with a masters degree.