Postgraduate research

Chemistry

Chemist in a lab

At Southampton, we'll support you to make your own contributions to chemistry research. You'll gain the skills to carry out advanced research in an academic or industrial environment as a professional scientist.

About

Chemistry at Southampton has a community of 200 people actively involved in research. Each year we accept more than 50 postgraduate students from a variety of backgrounds to study for chemistry research degrees.
 

While much of our research begins with concepts at a fundamental level, we are passionate about using the findings to make a real impact on the world around us.

The work of a research chemist is to find real-world problems produces business opportunities, enhances the quality of life, creates jobs, and boosts the economy, Our research has a significant impact on society, industry, government, and public service.

Our own graduate school offers a supportive environment for postgraduate study and personal development. This includes integrated training modules supervised by our scientists and a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to science.

While most entrants have a background in chemistry we also welcome students with training in subjects including:

  • biochemistry
  • physics
  • polymer science
  • environmental sciences
  • engineering


Study options

MPhil

Usually a one-year programme that focuses on the design and execution of an original research project.

The project will occupy about two-thirds of the year, with the remainder of the time devoted to lectures and preparation of a chemistry MPhil thesis.

All students planning to complete a PhD must formally register for an MPhil degree in the first instance. Students can then transfer after one year to a PhD registration upon completion of a mini-thesis describing the project objectives and preliminary results.

You will normally complete a PhD programme in a period of 3 years after entry to the graduate school.

PhD

We have studentship vacancies in:

  • computational systems 
  • electrochemistry 
  • chemical biology, diagnostics and therapeutics 
  • magnetic resonance
  • organic chemistry: synthesis, catalysis and flow 
  • characterisation and analytics 
  • functional inorganic, materials and supramolecular chemistry 


Studentships are either self-funded or funded from a variety of sources, including: 

Main areas of research

Our areas of research are:

  • characterisation and analytics
  • chemical biology, diagnostics and therapeutics
  • computational systems
  • electrochemistry
  • functional inorganic, materials and supramolecular chemistry
  • magnetic resonance
  • organic chemistry: synthesis, catalysis and flow 
  • education

Similar research degree topics

As scientific research within the University becomes increasingly multidisciplinary, you may find that your chosen project area is jointly supervised by staff from other schools, such as:

Horizon Europe Programme

The University of Southampton is pleased to announce that PGR students from EU and Horizon associated countries joining us in 2024-25 will pay the same as UK PGRs for their PhD.