Program Description

This four-year BSc is about animals, their evolution and their interactions with each other, the environment and biodiversity conservation. It spans microbes, invertebrates, birds, fish, mammals and humans. Students will learn how they evolved, how their physiology works, how they behave, and how they respond to global change. Students will have the opportunity to complete a year-long paid work placement as part of their degree to illustrate how what they've learnt can help people address important issues, such as tropical wildlife conservation, disease outbreaks and maintaining functioning ecosystems.

Students have found placements within industry with organisations such as GSK, Atkins Environmental Consulting and EMEC Ecology; with charities like the Wildlife Trusts, Newquay Zoo, and the Field Studies Council; or in government with the Environment Agency. Students can even apply their scientific knowledge and transferable skills within or outside of the bioscience industry in areas including market research, communications or business development. It's a great opportunity to test out a career path that students are considering, and many students are offered a graduate level job at the end. Students will pay reduced fees for the year they're on placement and they will still have the support they need from their tutor and the University.

During their time at Sheffield students cover three main themes:

• comparative physiology - the functional characteristics of animals
• evolutionary biology - how animals adapt to their environment
• behaviour, ecology and conservation - how animals interact with their environment and each other to support biodiversity on the planet

Alongside their specialist zoology modules, students will have the freedom to study topics across the breadth of biology to complement their knowledge. Topics range from ecology and molecular genetics that underpins conservation research, to pharmacology, neuroscience and even human physiology. This flexibility allows students to study zoology in greater depth, keep their interests broad, or even switch to another degree programme within the biosciences.