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Handbook

Four departments, one instrumentation suite

Every programme below shares the same core discipline: state the method, state the uncertainty, and produce a result someone else can reproduce. What differs is the chemistry each one puts that discipline to work on.

Structure

How a programme is built

All departments run on the same weekly rhythm. Theory sessions are timetabled to land in the same week as the practical that needs them, and assessment is weighted toward work done at the bench.

Weekly

2 theory sessions

Ninety minutes each, delivered by the member of staff who wrote the practical.

Weekly

1 laboratory session

Four hours at the bench, supervised, groups capped at fourteen.

Weekly

1 tutorial

Six students with a named tutor, working through the previous week's report.

Termly

1 assessed report

Full write-up with error budget, second-marked blind across departments.

Department 01

Analytical Chemistry

The department that most graduates end up working in. Analytical chemistry is the business of answering the question how much of what is in this? to a stated confidence — and knowing when the honest answer is that the method cannot tell you.

Teaching starts with classical wet methods because they make the sources of error visible: you can watch a titration overshoot, and you can weigh the consequence. Instrumental methods follow once students can already say where a number came from.

You will learn to

Select an appropriate method for a stated analyte, matrix and concentration range.
Prepare standards and construct a calibration curve with a defensible fit.
Identify and quantify the limiting source of uncertainty in a procedure.
Determine detection and quantitation limits from blank measurements.
Write a method section a competent stranger could follow without asking questions.

Analytical Chemistry · 14 weeks
Wk	Module	Assessment
1–3	Quantitative foundations Moles, concentration, dilution series	Bench test
4–6	Titrimetric analysis Acid–base, redox, complexometric	Report
7–8	Gravimetry Precipitation, ignition, constant mass	Bench test
9–11	Spectroscopic methods UV-visible, atomic absorption	Report
12–13	Separation science Gas and liquid chromatography	Report
14	Unknown analysis Method selection, full write-up	Final

Entry

Open to all incoming students. No prior instrumental experience assumed; competence with algebraic rearrangement is.

Department 02

Physical Science

Where analytical chemistry asks how much, physical science asks how fast, how far and in which direction. The department covers thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and equilibrium, taught in step with the calorimetry and thermal benches on the second floor.

It is the most mathematical of the four routes, and deliberately so: students spend the first three weeks rebuilding confidence with logarithms, gradients and the manipulation of rate expressions before touching an experiment.

You will learn to

Apply the first and second laws to a closed system and predict the direction of spontaneous change.
Determine reaction order and rate constant from concentration–time data.
Measure enthalpy change by calorimetry and correct for heat loss.
Relate equilibrium position to temperature, pressure and concentration quantitatively.
Judge when a linearised plot is legitimate and when it is hiding a poor fit.

Physical Science · 16 weeks
Wk	Module	Assessment
1–3	Mathematical methods Logarithms, gradients, rate expressions	Problem set
4–7	Thermodynamics Enthalpy, entropy, free energy	Report
8–11	Chemical kinetics Order, rate constants, activation energy	Report
12–14	Equilibrium Le Chatelier, equilibrium constants	Problem set
15–16	Applied thermal project Independent calorimetric study	Final

Entry

Comfortable manipulation of exponentials and logarithms is expected. A refresher clinic runs in the week before term for students who want it.

Department 03

Materials & Synthesis

The making department. Students prepare compounds, purify them, and then prove what they have actually got — which is very often not what the scheme predicted. Structural analysis by infrared and NMR is taught as the natural companion to preparation rather than as a separate subject.

Yield is recorded but is not the mark. A modest yield with a clean spectrum and an honest account of where the rest of the material went scores far better than an unexplained ninety per cent.

You will learn to

Plan a two-step preparation and identify the likely failure point before starting.
Purify by recrystallisation, distillation and column chromatography.
Assign a structure from infrared and proton NMR evidence together.
Calculate percentage yield and account honestly for material loss.
Work safely under fume extraction with reactive and volatile reagents.

Materials & Synthesis · 12 weeks
Wk	Module	Assessment
1–2	Laboratory practice Fume-hood work, reagent handling	Sign-off
3–5	Preparation Reflux, distillation, work-up	Report
6–7	Purification Recrystallisation, chromatography	Bench test
8–10	Structural analysis Infrared and proton NMR	Report
11–12	Two-step synthesis Independent preparation and proof	Final

Entry

Requires prior or concurrent registration on Analytical Chemistry. Laboratory safety sign-off must be completed before bench access.

Department 04

Research Placement

Compulsory for every student, and the only part of the programme assessed by someone who does not work here. Placements run in one of 120 partner laboratories across environmental testing, pharmaceutical quality control, materials characterisation and academic research groups.

Matching

Students submit three preferences with a short statement. Matching is done by the placement office in consultation with department heads, and takes account of travel as well as interest.

Induction

A week of site induction covering local safety procedure, sample handling and the host laboratory's quality system before any independent work begins.

Supervised project

Eight to twelve weeks on a defined piece of work with a named host supervisor. Students keep a countersigned notebook throughout, exactly as they did in first year.

Report and defence

A written report assessed by the host supervisor and an Academy examiner, followed by a twenty-minute oral defence. Both marks must pass independently.

On placement outcomes

Around two thirds of placement students are offered further work by their host laboratory. The Academy does not treat that as a target and does not select placements to inflate it — a placement that teaches a student the work is not for them has done its job.

Assessment

How work is marked

Weighting by department
Department	Practical reports	Bench tests	Written papers	Final project
Analytical Chemistry	40%	20%	15%	25%
Physical Science	30%	10%	35%	25%
Materials & Synthesis	45%	20%	10%	25%
Research Placement	—	—	—	100%

Second marking. A ten per cent sample of every assessment is second-marked blind by staff from a different department. Where the two marks differ by more than one band the whole cohort is re-reviewed.

Next step

Transfers are allowed until the end of term one

Students who find a different department suits them better may transfer without losing credit for completed modules. Speak to your tutor first.

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