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Chemistry MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2026/27 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, Chemistry MPhil/PhD (2025/26), click here

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2026/27)

£6,400

£3,200

Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)

£34,700

£17,350

Duration

3 calendar years

5 calendar years

Programme starts

October 2026

February 2027

May 2027

Applications accepted

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis but should be submitted at least three months prior to your preferred start date.

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A UK Master’s degree in Chemistry, or an MSci or MChem with upper second-class Honours, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

The English language level for this course is: Level 1

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

If you are intending to apply for a time-limited visa to complete your UCL studies (e.g. Student visa, Skilled worker visa, PBS dependant visa etc.) you may be required to obtain ATAS clearance. This will be confirmed to you if you obtain an offer of a place. Please note that ATAS processing times can take up to six months, so we recommend you consider these timelines when submitting your application to UCL.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

The department offers a broad range of research themes across physical, organic, inorganic and computational chemistry, specific departmental strengths are listed under research areas below.

Who this course is for

Applicants should have a strong academic record in a relevant technical discipline (for example Chemistry, Materials, Biochemistry, Physics, Computer Science) and a strong interest in Chemistry and its sub-disciplines. Typically applicants should have achieved or expect to obtain the equivalent of a good UK Masters (e.g. MSci, MChem, MEng or MSc) degree by the start of the new academic year. The programme will not accept applications from candidates who are only qualified to Bachelor's level except in truly exceptional circumstances. We particularly encourage applications from female students and students of minority ethnic backgrounds as these are currently under-represented within the field.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

UCL Chemistry has excellent facilities, a large research staff and postgraduate research cohort spanning a broad range of cutting-edge science and the department is situated in the heart of the UCL campus. There are very strong interdisciplinary links with other departments, including the London Centre for Nanotechnology and extensive collaborations with industry.

UCL Chemistry is among the top departments in the UK for this subject area and is currently 5th in the UK in the QS World University Rankings for Chemistry 2025.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

88% of graduates from the department of Chemistry were in work or further study 15 months after graduation and are working in 18 countries around the world (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017-23). Around 26% of PhD graduates continue to postdoctoral research or become university staff. Approximately 15% go on to industrial scientific research positions. Around 14% continue to manufacturing related positions and the remainder of graduates find employment in IT and telecomms, accountancy, law, publishing and teaching (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017-23).

Recent UCL Chemistry PhD graduates have become postdoctoral researchers at a range of institutions in the UK (Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, Bath) and abroad, including Stanford and Geneva, amongst others (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017-23).

Other PhD graduates have followed a wide range of careers, becoming research chemists or staff scientists (Johnson Matthey, UK Atomic Energy Authority, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), secondary school science teachers, working in finance and publishing (Springer Nature) and becoming technical consultants. (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017-23).

Employability

A UCL Chemistry PhD evidences strong problem-solving skills that are a highly desirable for a career in research or the wider job market. Graduates have followed a wide range of careers, including becoming university staff, staff scientists at national laboratories and teachers. Outside of the sciences, the numeracy and analytical skills obtained during a PhD equip graduates for careers in, for example, finance and law..

Networking

Networking opportunities are available throughout the PhD at departmental seminars and events for interdisciplinary research collaborations with other institutions and departments. Furthermore all of our PhD students have the opportunity to meet with subject-specific visiting academic speakers giving seminars. Networking is also possible at the Chemical & Physics Society (CPS), which holds weekly talks from staff and visiting speakers throughout each term.

Teaching and learning

Students are taught technical skills by supervisors and/or group members. Additionally, students are expected to attend group meetings, departmental seminars and encouraged to attend relevant internal and external training opportunities and conferences.

There are two assessment steps, MPhil to PhD upgrade and once entered onto the PhD programme fully, the candidate is assessed in an oral exam (typically approximately 3 hours) on their PhD thesis by an appointed examiner from UCL (usually from the department) and an approved external examiner from another university in the UK or occasionally from overseas.

Typically a PhD student would work the equivalent to a standard full-time job of around 37 hours per week. Depending on the nature of the research project, a student would expect to spend several hours per week in contact with supervisor(s), face to face meetings, in group meetings, through online meetings or through email.

Research areas and structure

Biocatalysis and synthetic biology
Bionanotechnology
Chemical biology and drug discovery
Chemical modification and synthesis of proteins and complex peptides
Chemical sensors and gas-phase electrochemistry
Chemistry in interstellar space
Computational chemistry, from materials simulations to quantum dynamics
Computational chemistry - biomolecular simulations and drug design
Development of chemical probes for biological systems
Development of synthetic methodology for organic synthesis
Gas-phase reactions of ions and molecules related to atmospheric chemistry
Industrial materials
New synthetic methods for inorganic materials
Thin film growth and analysis
Surface solid-state science
Ultrafast molecular dynamics and coherent control.

The department takes a leading role in the following interdisciplinary research centres, which bring together expertise from various departments in UCL, and which maintain strong and coherent links with external institutions:

The Centre for Computational Science (CCS)
The Centre for Cosmic Chemistry and Physics
The Materials Chemistry Centre.
The Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology
UK Catalysis Hub- Research Complex at Harwell
The Francis Crick Institute (2015 onwards)

Research environment

UCL Chemistry is a thriving department with a large cohort of researchers working alongside academics and potentially, industry. The department has wide-ranging links with science and technology industries offering excellent prospects for employability. The department has excellent facilities and was ranked 3rd nationally for their 4* research submissions and joint 1st for 4* and 3* submissions according to the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF).

: Every PhD is different but typically in Year One, students familiarise themselves with the literature in the area of the research project and formulate their research project as well as receiving training in research skills, as well as technical skills as the project dictates. At around the start of Year Two, there is a MPhil to PhD upgrade assessment to establish that students have achieved sufficient progress that they are on track to produce a high quality PhD thesis. Years Two to Three or Two to Four for a Four year PhD involve intensive research including a period of writing up of the thesis. After the thesis is submitted, the candidate is assessed for the award of a PhD by an oral examination (viva voce).
: The part time programme broadly follows the same structure as the full time programme but over a period of up to six years.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2026/27)	£6,400	£3,200
Tuition fees (2026/27)	£34,700	£17,350

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

There are no programme-specific costs.

For in-person teaching, UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

The department may be able to offer, on a competitive basis, BBSRC, EPSRC, and NERC studentships, teaching assistantships and industrially supported studentships.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

: China Scholarship Council - UCL Joint Research Scholarship

Deadline: 9 January 2026

Value: Fees, maintenance and travel (Duration of programme)

Criteria Based on academic merit

Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Next steps

Deadlines and start dates are usually dictated by funding arrangements so check with the department or academic unit to see if you need to consider these in your application preparation. In most cases you should identify and contact potential supervisors before making your application. For more information see our How to apply page.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This course requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2026-2027

Research Degree: Chemistry, Full-time

Research Degree: Chemistry, Part-time

Year of entry: 2025-2026