Chemistry is at the heart of breakthroughs in medicine, clean energy, materials, food production, and forensic science. From developing new pharmaceuticals to tackling climate change, chemists solve real-world problems that affect everyday life. At MChem level, you can take this further by developing advanced scientific independence, professional confidence, and clearer career direction.
The MChem Chemistry degree at the University of Lincoln is designed for students who want to go beyond a standard undergraduate chemistry course and graduate with advanced scientific knowledge, practical laboratory expertise, and the confidence to pursue high-level careers or postgraduate research.
A key strength of the course is the opportunity to build towards a substantial placement, research, or industry-facing final year, supported by guidance that helps students recognise their skills, prepare applications, and make informed decisions about where they want to go next.
This integrated Master's degree combines core chemistry disciplines - organic, inorganic, physical, and analytical chemistry - with advanced research experience and specialist study. You'll learn how chemistry works in the real world through hands-on laboratory teaching, industry-relevant projects, and modern scientific techniques used across professional laboratories today. You can also explore short-course options across areas such as battery science, green and sustainable chemistry, advanced spectroscopy, catalysis, medicinal chemistry, materials, sensors, environmental chemistry, and method development.
I felt my student experience was enhanced by the support available from both my peers and the staff, who were always ready and willing to help in any way they could.
Victoria Hugill
MChem Forensic Chemistry
Build practical skills employers actively seek
You’ll spend significant time in laboratories developing real scientific techniques, data analysis skills and problem-solving abilities that translate directly into graduate careers. Across the degree, you can build experience in synthesis, purification, spectroscopy, chromatography, molecular analysis, laboratory safety, and scientific reporting.
Integrated Master's study
The MChem combines undergraduate and advanced-level study in one degree, helping you develop deeper subject knowledge, stronger research skills, and confidence for specialist scientific pathways. This allows you to build progressively from core chemistry and practical skills towards more independent, advanced and professionally focused work.
Learn across the full spectrum of chemistry
Study the core areas of chemistry while exploring how they connect to industries including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, energy, sustainability, food science, analytical science, materialism and advanced manufacturing. This broad foundation helps keep your career options open while allowing you to develop interests in areas that matter to the future.
Develop career-ready experience
You’ll gain experience in: Laboratory techniques and instrumentation Scientific communication and reporting Data handling and analysis Research and investigative skills Teamwork and project management Problem-solving in applied chemistry contexts Health, safety, and professional laboratory practice Sustainability, green chemistry, and modern industrial challenges
Study in a supportive environment
Chemistry at Lincoln is designed to help you understand where your skills can take you. You’ll explore how chemistry supports sectors such as clean energy, pharmaceutical science, materials development, quality control, environmental analysis, biotechnology, and manufacturing. You’ll also develop transferable skills that are valuable beyond the laboratory, including communication, evidence-based thinking, and project planning.
Explore future pathways
A Chemistry degree opens the door to a wide range of career opportunities, including scientific research, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, environmental science and sustainability, energy and renewables, materials science and chemical manufacturing, analytical science and quality control, food and biotechnology, and consumer products. Graduates can also pursue careers in education and science communication, progress into graduate-entry medicine, or continue their studies through postgraduate research and specialist qualifications.
Learn in modern scientific facilities
You’ll work with specialist laboratory equipment and analytical tools that reflect professional scientific environments. Practical learning is supported by access to modern instrumentation and techniques used in areas such as spectroscopy, chromatography, separation science, imaging, and molecular analysis.
This course is designed to help you understand both the fundamentals of chemistry and how chemistry is applied in the real world.
You’ll explore topics such as:
As you progress, you’ll move from guided practical learning to more independent scientific investigation and research.
In later stages of the course, you may undertake independent research projects that allow you to investigate areas aligned with your interests and career goals. These projects help you bring together your laboratory, analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills in a more professional research context.
The course also introduces themes that reflect where chemistry is heading, including sustainability, green chemistry, clean energy, pharmaceutical and formulation science, materials, analytical technologies, and digital approaches to chemical data.
Short-course options in the MChem year allow students to develop a more personalised advanced profile. Current themes include energy storage, sustainable chemistry, environmental chemistry, industrial catalysis, advanced fluorescence, spectrometry and chromatography, NMR, medicinal chemistry, electroanalysis and sensors, forensic toxicology, and method development and validation. These options help students connect advanced chemistry with different career worlds, including energy, pharmaceuticals, analytical science, materials, environmental work, forensic and regulatory sectors, research and industrial problem-solving.
This module aims to introduce students to fundamental concepts of electrochemistry, photochemistry, and spectroscopy, as well as their role in understanding molecular structure, reactivity, and energy changes. Students will develop the ability to use basic theory to explain simple spectroscopic and electrochemical observations. In particular, students will have the opportunity to build confidence in the handling and quantitative problem-solving of representative spectroscopic data within an application context.
This module aims to provide a breadth core understanding of the main chemical principles behind the chemistry of elements, systems in equilibrium and chemical reactivity, with special emphasis in basic organic reactions.
Students will have the opportunity to learn basic concepts about elements and their main periodic properties and how some of these elements can be combined to produce molecules. Organic molecules will be used as an example to explain reactivity and how chemical structure can condition molecular properties. Energy transfers are also studied to understand the key role they play in chemical and physical transformations and how systems in equilibrium are affected by these.
This module aims to introduce core chemistry concepts with an emphasis on chemical change. Movement and interaction of molecules and chemical kinetics are key physical chemistry topics covered and applied to chemical reactions of both organic and inorganic substances. The use of empirical data to develop and support laws, theories and models will be covered and how chemical kinetics can be used to develop reaction mechanisms. An introduction to crystallography and absorption spectroscopy is covered.
This module establishes the habits and standards of professional laboratory practice and develops the practical, analytical and recording skills expected in chemistry. Students learn to work safely and accurately under supervision, apply defined methodologies to generate reliable data, and maintain complete, traceable records that support integrity and reproducibility. Practical experience is integrated with underpinning theory and quantitative reasoning so that students can plan simple investigations, analyse and interpret results, and communicate findings clearly to different audiences.
This module introduces students to the professional application of chemistry within commercial, industrial, computational and analytical science contexts. It provides a foundation for later modules both in the professional practice and in the core series. Students will develop fundamental mathematical, statistical, and IT skills essential for success in core chemistry modules, while also gaining awareness of health, safety, and quality assurance standards in laboratory and industrial practice. The module emphasises transferable skills, including teamwork, oral and written communication, and information retrieval. Students will learn to critically evaluate scientific literature and databases, apply these skills to problem-solving in chemistry, and understand the role of chemistry in addressing global challenges and industrial market needs.
This module aims to deepen understanding of the electronic structure of molecular systems and the implications of electronic structure on the properties, uses and reactivity of d- and f-block metals. The goal is to provide an understanding of the origin of molecular properties and how this information can be harnessed to comprehend the world around us, and develop new materials and technologies.
This module builds upon foundational knowledge developed in Level 4 to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of chemical reactivity in molecular systems. Knowledge of physicochemical approaches to understanding and quantifying chemical change, via reaction kinetics, is advanced. It also offers insight into the fundamentals of transition metal complexes and their utility in homogeneous catalysis, and extends understanding of mechanism and reactivity of organic compounds.
This module develops core chemistry concepts focusing on activated compounds and their reactivity. Knowledge of the stability, formation and reactivity of radicals, carbenes and related organic species is developed. Additionally, structural and chemical aspects of organometallic compounds are expounded. In parallel, knowledge of characterisation of molecular species is advanced by deepening knowledge of rotational and vibrational spectroscopies.
This module provides an incremental and integrative laboratory experience, where each experiment builds upon previously introduced skills, concepts, and analytical methods. The design ensures students progressively develop confidence and competence, while steadily connecting organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry practices into a coherent professional skillset.
This module aims to develop students’ ability to apply chemical knowledge in professional and industrial contexts, with emphasis on health and safety, regulatory frameworks, and sector specific practices related to specifically pharmaceutical and formulation science. Building on earlier professional practice modules, students will extend their knowledge and understanding through advanced mathematical, statistical, and IT applications, applying these to chemical problem-solving.
The option to study overseas is a valuable educational opportunity for our students. Provision of this option supports the educational aims of the Chemistry programmes and enhances the distinctiveness of its degrees at Lincoln. The experience is intended to:
- enable students to benefit from studying within a cross cultural environment;
- expose students to a wider academic and cultural experience;
- enhance their future employment opportunities;
- by increasing their cultural and professional mobility.
This module is optional for students within the School. Study Abroad is a module which enables students to spend a year studying abroad at one of the University’s approved partner institutions. Eligible students must have completed their third year of study to a satisfactory standard and successfully completed the application process for the year abroad.
During the time spent abroad, students will complete the professional development portfolio and will critically reflect upon their experience of living and studying in a different cultural environment and the skills acquired.
This module provides students with the opportunity to undertake an independent research project under academic supervision. This module provides students with the opportunity to undertake an independent research project under academic supervision. It aims to develop advanced practical, analytical, and project-management skills; foster originality and critical thinking in the design and execution of research; enable students to formulate hypotheses, design experiments, and interpret data using appropriate methodologies; prepare students for professional scientific practice through engagement with ethical approval processes, and enhance scientific communication skills through the production of a formal report and oral presentation.
This module develops a systematic understanding of how molecular shape, symmetry and stereochemistry govern bonding, properties and reactivity across the chemical sub‑disciplines. Students apply group theory and MO concepts to interpret character tables, predict selection rules, and rationalise bonding in polyatomic and cluster species; and they evaluate statistical thermodynamics (distributions, partition functions, ensembles) and read potential‑energy surfaces to relate microscopic behaviour to bulk properties and spontaneity.
This module challenges students to engage with the latest multidisciplinary research from across chemistry, biology and materials science in order to develop an awareness of how chemical principles underpin functional processes and their exploitation in industry and emerging fields. The overarching aim is to foster critical thinking, synthesis of knowledge across disciplines, and the ability to apply theory to practical and industrial contexts.
This module extends prior laboratory experience by integrating advanced synthetic and analytical techniques with the theoretical foundations delivered in other modules.
This module aims to provide students with critical understanding of the position of the chemical industry in the modern context and associated environmental regulation-induced constraints. Global issues such as waste production, recycling and scarcity of natural resources and their impact on the future challenges faced by chemists will be discussed. Strategies and emerging technologies will be then presented in detail to instil Students to widen their knowledge on emerging topics in the fields of sustainable energy and green chemistry.
This module aims to provide students skills to critically analyse and adopt topical areas of research and advance instrumentation in the field of chemistry. This information will be utilised to provide students with an understanding and appreciation of how fundamental chemistry theory and experimentation are being applied to contemporary cutting edge science. The module will reflect the current research focus within the School of Chemistry. Students learning will comprise a series of ‘short courses’ (consisting of lectures and workshops) in two key areas: Frontiers in Chemistry and Advanced Techniques. Typically students will be offered choices in each area and will assemble six short courses to include a minimum of three from Frontiers in Chemistry and three from Advanced Techniques.
The short courses will build on student’s knowledge of basic physical, organic and inorganic chemistry and will deliver in-depth coverage of its application in the main-stream chemical, biological and environmental processes.
This module aims to develop systematic personal and professional development of a student in a specialist area of chemistry to enhance employability. This is achieved through development and execution of a personal learning plan designed using a process of self-reflection around five development themes: personal development; professional skills development; technical skills development; research interests; career development.
This module provides students with the opportunity to apply chemical knowledge and laboratory skills to an extended practical research study. It also provides the opportunity to further develop professional skills, including the use of online literature/chemical data searching; ability to critically review relevant published literature & written/oral presentation of research activities.
This module provides students with opportunity to apply chemical knowledge & laboratory skills to an extended practical research study within a commercial context. Further develop professional skills incl. use of on-line literature/chemical data searching; ability to critically review relevant published literature & written/oral presentation of research activities
† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.
This course is accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Through accreditation, the Royal Society of Chemistry aims to promote good practices in the university education of chemical scientists, and ensure that future practising scientists are knowledgeable and competent.
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Starting university can feel like a big step, and at Lincoln, support is available throughout your studies. Students can access academic guidance, feedback, laboratory and study skills support, personal tutoring, and help developing confidence in areas such as maths, data analysis, scientific writing, and practical skills. Wellbeing and wider support services are also available, including mental health and disability support, financial guidance, careers advice, and help adjusting to university life.
Learning to work like a professional scientist
Rather than simply gaining more knowledge, MChem students are encouraged to develop the habits of professional chemists: planning projects, evaluating evidence, managing time, communicating results, working safely, solving problems independently and reflecting on their own development. This emphasis on confidence, competence and independence is designed to help students move into employment, placements, postgraduate study or research with a clearer sense of direction.
Placement and professional development
The MChem year is a distinctive opportunity to put chemistry into practice. Depending on the route available, students may be able to undertake an industry placement, academic research placement, international experience, or advanced research project. Students are supported through the placement journey, from identifying suitable opportunities to preparing applications, CVs and interviews by our staff. Either through the professional practice modules or by our personal academic tutors.
Chemistry graduates are valued for their analytical thinking, technical expertise, and problem-solving ability. These skills are in demand across scientific, industrial, healthcare, and commercial sectors. A Chemistry degree can lead to a wide range of pathways because the discipline underpins so many industries.
Graduates may progress into roles such as:
Career pathways linked to modern chemistry
Lincoln’s MChem approach is designed to help students not only gain advanced chemistry knowledge, but also recognise their strengths, develop professional confidence and make clearer decisions about where they want to go next.
Industry and Placement Pathways
The MChem is especially valuable for students who want to build experience through placement, research or industry-facing projects and move confidently towards professional scientific roles.
Net Zero and Sustainable Industry
Chemistry is central to work around clean energy, green chemistry, environmental analysis, sustainable materials, and reducing the impact of industrial processes.
Health and Medicines
Chemists contribute to drug discovery, formulation, pharmaceutical analysis, quality testing, biotechnology, and healthcare-related research.
Materials and Manufacturing
Chemistry supports the development of polymers, coatings, catalysts, advanced materials, consumer products, and modern manufacturing processes.
Analytical and Quality Sciences
Many industries rely on chemists to test, identify, and measure substances using advanced analytical techniques, ensuring products are safe, reliable, and fit for purpose.
Digital and Data-led Chemistry
Modern chemistry increasingly uses data, modelling, chemical databases, specialist software, and digital tools to interpret results and support scientific decision-making.
Chemistry is one of the most versatile science degrees. Graduates are valued not only for scientific knowledge, but for transferable skills including data analysis, precision, communication, and logical thinking.
112 to 120 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels or equivalent Level 3 qualifications, to include 40 points from Chemistry.
If you are eligible for a contextual offer, a one grade or 8 UCAS Tariff point reduction to the standard entry requirements will be applied. Subject specific requirements will still be required as part of the standard entry criteria.
A Level: BBB to include a Grade B in Biology or Chemistry
BTEC Extended Diploma in Applied Science accepted depending on modules: DDM
(Please include units on application)
We will accept a Pearson Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National (equivalent to 1 A Level) in Medical Science or Applied Science to meet the subject specific requirement: Merit
T Level: Not currently accepted.
Access to Higher Education Diploma: 120 UCAS points to be achieved from 45 Level 3 credits, including 40 points from 15 credits in Chemistry.
International Baccalaureate: 30 points overall to include a Higher Level 5 in Chemistry.
GCSEs: Minimum of three at grade 4 or above, which must include English, Maths and Science. Equivalent Level 2 qualifications may be considered.
The University accepts a wide range of qualifications as the basis for entry and do accept a combination of qualifications which may include A Levels, BTECs, Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).
We may also consider applicants with extensive and relevant work experience and will give special individual consideration to those who do not meet the standard entry qualifications.
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Non UK Qualifications:
If you have studied outside of the UK, and are unsure whether your qualification meets the above requirements, please visit our country pages
https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/studywithus/internationalstudents/entryrequirementsandyourcountry/ for information on equivalent qualifications.
EU and Overseas students will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. For information regarding other English language qualifications we accept, please visit the English Requirements page
If you do not meet the above IELTS requirements, you may be able to take part in one of our Pre-sessional English and Academic Study Skills courses.
For applicants who do not meet our standard entry requirements, our Science Foundation Year can provide an alternative route of entry onto our full degree programmes:
https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/course/sfysfyub/lifesciences/
If you would like further information about entry requirements, or would like to discuss whether the qualifications you are currently studying are acceptable, please contact the Admissions team on 01522 886097, or email admissions@lincoln.ac.uk
University Study is a major investment, so it’s important to understand the costs and support available. A full breakdown of the fees associated with this programme can be found below. Eligible students may be able to access scholarships and bursaries to help with study costs.
This course could be a strong fit if you:
You do not need to have your entire future planned before starting. The MChem gives you time to build advanced chemistry knowledge, explore different sectors, develop professional confidence and shape a career direction that fits your interests and strengths.
The best way to find out what it is really like to live and learn at Lincoln is to visit us in person. We offer a range of opportunities across the year to help you to get a real feel for what it might be like to study here.
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We want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision on where and what you want to study. In addition to the information provided on this course page, our What You Need to Know page offers explanations on key topics including programme validation/revalidation, additional costs, and contact hours.
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