Program Overview

Why choose this course

If you have a passion for understanding the universe and a love of mathematics, our mathematics and physics courses could be perfect for you.

Our BSc, MMath and MPhys degrees give you a deeper understanding of mathematics and explore how it’s applied to solve physics problems. Whether you think of it as applied mathematics or theoretical physics, this joint programme gives you the best of both worlds.

Two unique aspects of these courses are:

• Our award-winning Professional Training placements:
  • As part of our BSc Mathematics and Physics course, you can take a paid placement in a research laboratory or company, gaining valuable industry-relevant experience. On our MPhys or MMath, you can take a research placement in Year 4 in one of our world-leading research groups.
• Our focus on undergraduate research and innovation:
  • You can apply for paid summer research placements with our research groups and those of our South East Physics Network partners. We offer in-house grants that students can apply for to fund a research placement, attend a conference, or develop a new business idea.

What you will study

• Explore core topics across both subjects, including linear algebra, quantum physics, differential equations and particle physics.
• Choose from a range of fascinating optional modules – such as fluid dynamics, nuclear astrophysics, Galois theory and general relativity – and take an extended project, enabling you to tailor the course to suit your own interests.
• Your final research project will be carried out under the supervision of an academic who’s a leading researcher in the field. The outcomes of the project could even lead to a publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
• Formal lectures are complemented with work in our specialist radiation laboratories, which have recently been refurbished and enlarged at a cost £2.7m. As an undergraduate student you’ll use these labs to undertake experiments related to the Nuclear and Particle Physics module.
• You can apply to study for either a BSc or an MMath or MPhys. The latter two are direct routes to a masters qualification, known as an integrated masters. If you study toward one of the integrated masters, you’ll spend part of your last year doing a research project in either physics or mathematics.

Mathematics and physics placements

Our award-winning Professional Training placements take place between Years 2 and 3.

Physicists and mathematicians are in demand in many areas of business and industry, and the work students carry out on placement reflects this breadth. This varies from operational research or computer programming in insurance or banking, to analysing clinical trials or solving heat transfer and aerodynamic problems encountered in the atomic energy and aerospace fields.

Over the past few years, we’ve placed students with many big-name companies and organisations both in the UK and abroad, these include:

• AXA Actuarial
• Culham Science Centre for Nuclear Fusion
• Deloitte and Touche
• Department of Transport
• GlaxoSmithKline
• HM Customs and Excise
• Intel
• Lloyds
• NHS
• Royal Sun Alliance.