Genetics with Integrated Foundation Year

Build your future in human health and disease with our BSc Genetics with Integrated Foundation Year. Join the Integrated Foundation Year to boost your skills and prepare for a degree focused on health, diagnostics, medical research and beyond.

To gain a profound understanding of how living things function, grow and reproduce we must refine our focus to the molecular level. Studying Genetics at Royal Holloway, University of London will give you an insight into the molecular mechanisms that control all life processes on Earth.

Our flexible degree structure allows you to tailor your course to your own interests, even within the first year. In years 2 and 3 you can further specialise with a selection of optional modules including Evolution, Developmental Biology, Climate Change and Cell and Molecular Neuroscience.

The Department of Biological Sciences has specialist equipment for mass spectrometry, bioinformatics and gene and protein sequencing. You'll gain laboratory experience across the three years, joining our renowned research culture in year three as you complete your individual research project alongside our expert academics. 100% of our research impact in the Department  of Biological Sciences was judged to be 4* and 3* world-leading and internationally excellent in terms of its originality, significance and rigour in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF21). This places the department in the top 25% of departments nationally for research impact.

Develop your interest in Genetics and you’ll graduate with a range of transferrable skills that will make you an attractive prospect to employers in a variety of fields. Department of Biological Sciences graduates have gone on to find careers in fields including forensic medicine, medical research and pharmaceuticals, and BSc Genetics will give you a robust skillset to take into your chosen career.

We sometimes make changes to our courses to improve your experience. If this happens, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Core Modules

Foundation Year

• Foundation Mathematics for Life Scientists

• Global and Planetary Health

• Foundation Life Sciences and The Environment

• Foundation Practical Skills and Research (Biological Sciences)

• Foundation Statistics for Life Sciences

• Environmental Science for Foundation Life Sciences

• Life Sciences II: Organ Systems

Year 1

• Becoming a Bioscientist

• Cell Biology and the Origin of Life

• Genetics

• Chemistry of Life

• Fundamental Biochemistry

• Academic Integrity

Year 2

• Cell Dynamics: Division and Movement

• Applications of Molecular Genetics in Biology

• Protein Structure and Function

• Molecular Biology

Year 3

• Individual Research Project

• Cell and Molecular Biology of Cancer

• Functional Genomics, Proteomics and Bioformatics

Optional Modules

Below is a taster of some of the exciting optional modules that students on the course could choose from during this academic year. Please be aware these do change over time, and optional modules may be withdrawn or new ones added.

Year 1

• Protein Biochemistry and Enzymology

• Introductory Animal Physiology

• Introduction to Human Physiology

• Green Planet: Plants and Our Future

• Biology in a Changing World

Year 2

• Microbiology

• Food Security, Sustainability and Green Biotechnology

• Human Physiology in Health and Disease

• Developmental Biology

• Evolution

• Bioenergetics and Metabolism

• Immunology

• Neuronal and Cellular Signalling

• Pharmacology and Toxicology

• Natural Product Biochemistry and Sustainability

• Dissertation - Extended Essay

Year 3

• Biology of Parasitic Diseases

• Climate Change - Plants and the Environment

• Circadian Biology

• Evolutionary Medicine

• Biotechnology in a Changing World

• Nutrition and Medical Biochemistry

• Molecular and Medical Microbiology

• Seed Biology: From Molecular & Conservation Biology to Industrial Applications

• Applications of Genetic Engineering in Health and Disease

• Human Embryology

• Cell and Molecular Neuroscience

• Molecular Basis of Inherited Disease

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/undergraduate/biological-sciences/bsc-genetics-with-integrated-foundation-year/

In your Foundation Year, teaching methods include a mixture of lectures, practical classes and workshops, laboratory classes, individual tutorials, and supervisory sessions. Outside of the classroom you’ll undertake guided and independent practice. You will be assigned a Personal Tutor in the Department of Biological Sciences and will have regular scheduled sessions. In the Foundation Year, you’ll also be assigned a Personal Tutor in the Centre for the Development of Academic Skills (CeDAS).  Assessments are varied; practical exercises, weekly problem sheets, set exercises, written examinations, laboratory reports. In addition the Foundation Year offers a full range of skills-based training.

Each year you will take modules worth a total of 120 credits, with most individual modules worth 15 credits. In your final year, your Individual Research Project is worth 30 credits.

The first year is formative, while outcomes of your second and third year contribute one third and two-thirds of your final degree classification respectively.

You will attend a mixture of lectures, seminars and small-group tutorials, with class sizes that range from 6 to 180 students. Practical classes are a major part of all first and second year modules, and include experiments that are integral to the subject, helping to familiarise you with the material and augment your understanding of key topics. These are either laboratory-based or field-based with laboratory follow-up. In your third year, you will complete an individual research project supervised by one of our academics, and you may have the opportunity to contribute towards a published scientific paper. The individual research project is assessed on the basis of a written report, supervisor assessment, and an oral presentation.

During your first and second years, you will complete essays and reports, and sit written examinations. In your third year, assignments include a range of activities, such as preparation of posters, oral presentations, creation of leaflets and podcasts, coursework essays, mock research grant applications and scientific news-and-views articles, as well as analysis of data from online repositories in mini-research projects.