BSc (Hons) Astrophysics and Chemistry

Choosing our combined honours in Astrophysics and Chemistry will help you develop skills and experience in two engaging and exciting subjects.

In chemistry, you will learn that the subject is essential to modern life, from the technology that we use to how we treat illnesses. As such, it offers a wide variety of career opportunities in many fields from pharmaceuticals and food technology, to forensic science and education.

This course will provide you with a solid grounding in the underpinning theory of both subject areas with plenty of hands-on practical experience in Keele's state-of-the-art laboratories and opportunities to personalise your learning by choosing from a range of optional modules.

Astrophysics equips you with the quantitative, analytic and communication skills needed for analysing data and solving problems, which are prized by employers. The programme is underpinned by a core physics curriculum as set out by the Institute of Physics. This includes, for example, the fundamentals of classical and quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, optics and solid state physics, together with the mathematics used to describe them. Students on this combined honours programme have the opportunity to learn about astronomical techniques and use our own observatory here at Keele.

As you progress, you will build on your existing knowledge in familiar core areas of physics including mechanics, special relativity and gravitation, to focus on astrophysical topics like stellar structure. Later in your degree you will have the options of studying cosmology, binary stars and exoplanets, black holes and gravitational waves or more advanced physics topics. In your final year you will be involved in a group project. The project for the group is selected by the module leader and has in recent years been based on the analysis of world-class data from NASA's Kepler and TESS missions. The projects often contribute to the research conducted within the Keele astrophysics group.

The course will also enable you to build a strong grounding in core chemistry knowledge and will carefully guide you in understanding the mathematics underpinning chemistry. Particular attention is paid to building your practical skills, in particular delving straight into using a variety of research-standard equipment that you would be likely to use within a career in chemistry.

Throughout the course you will expand your theoretical knowledge and practical skills and start to specialise in studying areas like spectroscopy and investigate core advanced modules including physical and inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry and a wide range of analytical techniques and their applications to solving problems in analytical chemistry.

We provide you with the opportunity to align your Astrophysics and Chemistry BSc to your career aspirations and interests by choosing from a variety of optional modules in your final year as well as a research project in an area that interests you.