Medicinal Chemistry with Industrial Placement

This career-focused MChem Medicinal Chemistry with Industrial Placement degree has been developed to equip students with the necessary expertise to excel in pharmaceutical and drug development settings. Whether your interests lie in understanding how medicines work at the molecular level, discovering new therapeutic compounds, or contributing to the fight against devastating diseases, the programme provides a focused, modern curriculum tailored to those ambitions. From day one, you will follow a chemistry curriculum that builds strong foundations in core areas such as chemical reactivity, molecular structure and bonding, and organic synthesis. As you progress through the degree, your learning will be increasingly focused on topics central to medicinal chemistry, including pharmacology, drug design, molecular modelling, as well as pharmaceutical analysis.

As part of our MChem Medicinal Chemistry with Industrial Placement programme, you will choose an industrial placement to develop your skills and get to know an industrial chemical company. You will benefit from the staff training and assessment courses of the company, and gain wide experience of the industrial sector.

Throughout your studies, you will benefit from extensive hands-on laboratory experience, with practical classes designed to develop your technical skills and reinforce theoretical learning. Laboratory work is a key feature throughout the programme, allowing you to build confidence in experimental design, data analysis, and communication — all crucial for a successful career in the pharmaceutical sciences. Chemistry graduates from Heriot-Watt University have a good reputation with employers who appreciate this unique combination of skills and knowledge, and alumni have secured roles with organisations including Veranova, GSK, Charles River Laboratories and Novo Nordisk. You’ll also be well prepared for postgraduate research to study for a PhD.

In addition to career pathways that directly use your practical skills and chemical knowledge, you can apply your problem-solving abilities, numeracy and other transferable graduate skills to various roles beyond chemistry. The broad range of skills involved in a chemistry degree means chemistry graduates are in high demand in other employment sectors, ranging from environmental protection to education, law and finance.