Biomedical Science

MSc by Research

  • Entry year 2025
  • Duration Full time 1 year, Part time 2 years
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Overview

Lancaster’s MSc Biomedical Science by Research offers you an exciting opportunity to undertake and manage your own research project, allowing you to gain valuable laboratory experience and forge important relationships in the professional sphere.

Areas of research fall within, but are not limited to, the diverse biomedical portfolio of our academic staff - global health, cancer biology, diseases of the brain, infectious disease, drug discovery, biology of ageing and biomedical ethics.

Our 12-month programme provides you with the knowledge and technical skills to produce sustained and original work - work that will underpin progression in your chosen career. At the core of this is your independent research project, in which you will produce new and original data to make a solid contribution to the scientific community.

Our degree format includes nine months of full-time laboratory work as part of an established world-leading research team, directed learning via our graduate training programme, and a three-month writing up period.

The dissertation, and a viva voce assessment, will showcase your knowledge and understanding of your chosen research area whilst also demonstrating your ability to critically evaluate existing literature.

You will be supported by your supervisors at every stage: identifying gaps in your knowledge base (and working together to fill them), helping you to develop practical skills, increasing your data analysis skills, and guiding the writing up of your dissertation.

As well as developing intellectual, practical and transferable skills, Lancaster’s MSc by Research in Biomedical Science will endow you with authoritative knowledge on a specific subject. You will gain a practical understanding of advanced research techniques, and develop competence in applying these to the development and management of your own research project.

Our graduates are highly-regarded for their communication skills, analytical ability, confidence in critical evaluation, and their competence in interpreting data in a biomedical context. This opens doors to careers in the NHS, industry, government and charities. Our MSc programme also provides an excellent grounding for further academic research, such as undertaking a PhD.

If you thrive on autonomous learning and you’ve identified an area of research that you wish to pursue, we are ready to hear from you. Please contact one of our research team leaders, whose interests align with your own, to discuss the proposed focus of your research undertaking. For more general enquiries, or if you are unsure about your preferred area of research, please contact the Director of MSc by Research, Dr Ed Parkin.

Entry requirements

Academic Requirements

2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology or a related subject. Undergraduate MBChB students intercalating between 4th and 5th years of study require a top quartile outcome in MBChB finals.

We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

Applicants should approach a potential supervisor before submitting an application. Please take a look at our research pages to identify the supervisor(s) you are interested in working with and note this in your research proposal..

English Language Requirements

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 5.5 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.

If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Pre-master’s programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master’s pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master’s degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Fees and funding

The tuition fee for students with home fee status is set in line with the standard fee stipend provided by the UK Research Councils. The fee stipend for 2025/26 has not been set. For reference the fee stipend for 2024/25 was full-time £4,786, part-time £2,393.

The international fee for new entrants in 2025/26 is full-time £27,150, part-time £13,570.

Depending on the nature of the research project, an additional programme cost may be charged. This additional fee will contribute towards the costs incurred on specific research projects. These costs could include purchasing specialist consumables, equipment access charges, fieldwork expenses and payments for transcription/translation services. Normally any additional charge will not exceed a maximum of £9,720 but this could be increased in exceptional circumstances.

Applicants will be notified of any specific additional programme cost when the offer of a place is made.

General fees and funding information

Additional fees and funding information accordion

Scholarships and bursaries

You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.

Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.

If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.

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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.

Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.

Important Information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

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