Pharmacology degrees

Why study Pharmacology at UCL?
 

• In the QS World University Rankings 2023, UCL was ranked number one in London and fourth in the world for the study of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 

• UCL retains a strong focus on practical teaching and laboratory skills as well as small group tutorial teaching. From your second year onwards approximately half of your time will be spent either in small group tutorials, in practical classes or in analysing and reporting on the data you recorded in your practicals.

• You will have the opportunity to undertake a year in industry, either between year two and three of the BSc programme or year three and four of the MSci programme, spending time in the pharmaceutical industry or another pharmacology-related area. A year in industry allows you to gain practical experience and give you an insight into what area you would like to pursue upon graduation. 

• We offer a wide range of advanced modules including modules in molecular and receptor pharmacology, neuropharmacology, synaptic, immunopharmacology, psychopharmacology and more.  

• Join world-class laboratories to pursue your own research. For the BSc this will account for 38% of the year, whilst for the MSci it will account for 50-75% of the year. These research projects provide you with a chance to work as part of a world-leading laboratory, making your own scientific discoveries.

• Become part of a great history. Sir James Black, previous professor and head of the department of pharmacology at UCL, was awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on β-blockers and histamine H2 receptor antagonists which lead to the development of propranolol and cimetidine, a drug used to treat stomach ulcers. Other titans of UCL’s proud history in pharmacology include Archibald Hill, winner of the Nobel prize in 1922 for physiology or medicine, Heinz Otto Schild whose work led to the development of modern, quantitative pharmacology and John Gaddum, founder member of the British Pharmacology Society, first editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology and discoverer of Substance P, an important molecule in pain.

Course structure overview

Year four course content (MSci only)

Our latest research 

Careers

80% of our graduates are in work or further study 15 months after employment (Graduate Outcomes 2019-2021). Our alumni can be found in areas including health and social care, manufacturing, research, policy and government. Companies that have employed our graduates in recent years include Novartis, the UK government, UK Biocentre, the NHS and many more. Some of our graduates also hold senior academic positions at other universities.

In addition to pharmacology, we focus on teaching our students highly sought-after transferable skills from the first week of the programme. These include teamwork, problem-solving, critical thinking/evaluation, data literacy, analysis and visualisation, literacy, scientific reading, presentation training, written/verbal communication, IT skills and more. In addition to the development of these skills within the formal structure of the programme, UCL provides many opportunities for students to practice these skills in other environments. These include summer internships, our student societies, the Changemakers programme and our entrepreneurship/start-up programmes. In addition to being enjoyable and educational, these opportunities provide students with examples of their abilities in the key skills sought by employers for their CV and to use in job interviews. These are the examples that can clearly differentiate recent graduates from the rest of the crowd and assist them in landing their first major career role. 

Find out more about our graduate employability and earnings statistics at Discover Uni.

Useful careers resources:

My UCL Careers
UCL Neuroscience Careers Network
Professional Development Courses
Linked In Learning
Public Engagement Training
Public Policy Training

Interested in start-ups?