Postgraduate study
Edinburgh: Extraordinary futures await.

School: Chemistry

About the School

The teaching of chemistry at Edinburgh has a long and distinguished history – 2013 marked our 300th anniversary of the establishment of the ‘Chair of Physick and Chymistry’.

We offer you a large, internationally recognised research community, and the benefits of the latest facilities, well-published and award-winning academic staff, a lively graduate school environment and a broad range of study opportunities.

Our membership of ScotCHEM takes this collaborative spirit even further, providing links with all the major schools of chemistry in Scottish universities.

Nobel Laureate

Our notable alumni include Professor Sir J Fraser Stoddart who was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 for his work on the design and synthesis of molecular machines. Professor Stoddart graduated from the University with a BSc in 1964 and later with a PhD. He continues to inspire current students through the Fraser and Norma Stoddart PhD prize, established 2013, which recognises excellence in research.

The best teaching

The School of Chemistry offers a globally connected teaching community, enriched by incoming students from around the world. Our programmes are all accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry and we’re a recent ‘Best Department’ winner in the Edinburgh University Students’ Association Teaching Awards. We teach all the chemistry skills you will require for employment in the modern research environment. We have a well-developed training policy that ensures many different sources of training are available to you including courses at School, College and University level.

Rewarding research

Pursuing research at the School of Chemistry could be one of the best experiences of your life. In addition to gaining research skills, making friends, meeting eminent researchers and being part of the research community, a research programme will help you to develop invaluable transferable skills which you can apply to academic life or a variety of professions outside of academia.

Supporting business opportunities

As well as pursuing research for the purpose of academic advancement, we are ever alert to the commercial possibilities of our findings, and we work with business to identify and develop these opportunities. Should your research show potential for industrial applications, we have the tools available to support its development and commercial success.

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About our degrees

We offer a range of options for postgraduate study: from professional qualifications to independent research, on-campus taught programmes to part-time, online study. Find out which graduate study option is right for you: