Natural Sciences

Physics, Earth Science and Maths

Natural Sciences is a multidisciplinary degree which allows you to study three subjects in the first year and continue with two subjects in the second and third year. If you have undertaken a Natural Sciences course with a year in industry, placement year, or year in computer science, this will take place during your second year and so all following years will be pushed by one year (e.g. year two becomes three, year three becomes four).

Year One

You will study 40 credits of each subject from your chosen three-subject streams.

Compulsory year one module

All students are required to take the Academic and Transferable Skills Portfolio. This will be taught throughout the first full year. It will support organisational and professional competencies which will be used during the course. 

Physics

Students taking Physics must take 40 compulsory credits.

From Newton to Einstein
 


Earth Science

Students must take a total of 40 credits. 10 credits are from a compulsory module.

Earth, Atmosphere and Oceans
 

 

Select a further 10 credits from the following optional modules:

Physical Landscapes of Britain
 
Introduction to Geographic Information systems
 

Maths

Students must take 40 compulsory credits.

Calculus and Linear Algebra
 

Year Two

You will continue on your stream comprising of two of your first year subjects. You will take 60 credits of modules from each subject and greater emphasis will be put on studying outside of formal classes.

Physics

Students taking Physics must take a total of 60 credits.

If you've chosen Biology as one of your subjects you will study these compulsory modules in year three:

Classical Fields
 
Experimental Techniques and Instrumentation
 
The Quantum World
 


If you've chosen Maths as one of your subjects you will study these compulsory modules in year two:

Thermal and Statistical Physics
 
Optics and Electromagnetism
 

 

Plus select an additional 20 credits from these optional modules to cover in year two:

Structure of Stars
 
Force and Function at the Nanoscale
 
Structure of Galaxies
 
Health Physics
 
Introduction to Scientific Computation
 


Maths

Students taking Maths must take 60 credits from their chosen specialism:

Applied, Computation and Statistics specialism

20 compulsory credits:

Vector calculus
 
Differential Equations and Fourier Analysis
 

 

And 40 optional credits from the following modules:

Applied Statistics and Probability
 
Modelling with Differential Equations
 
Introduction to Scientific Computation
 

 

If you've also chosen Physics as one of your subjects you will study these compulsory modules in year two:

 

Modelling with Differential Equations
 
Introduction to Mathematical Physics
 
Vector calculus
 
Differential Equations and Fourier Analysis
 

 

 

Earth Science

Students take 60 credits from this list

Spatial Decision Making
 
Soils
 
Rivers in the Landscape
 
Earth Observation
 
Environmental Geochemistry
 
Computer Modelling in Science: Introduction
 
The Urban Environment
 

 

Year Three

You will continue with the same two subjects studied in the second year, taking 50 credits in each.

Compulsory year three module

Alongside subject-specific study, you will undertake a 20-credit compulsory synoptic module which aims to tie together the subjects you are studying through an interdisciplinary group project.

The Natural Sciences programme is by nature interdisciplinary but is mostly taught via specialized modules delivered by individual Schools with little exploration of the interfaces between the sciences. The synoptic module (C13602) gives students the opportunity to combine knowledge and skills acquired whilst on their pathway to carry out a (number of) interdisciplinary piece(s) of work.

20 credits throughout the full year.


Physics

Students taking Physics must take 50 compulsory credits from your chosen specialism.

If you've chosen Biology as one of your subjects you will study these compulsory modules in year three:
Thermal and Statistical Physics
 
Atoms, Photons and Fundamental Particles
 
Physics Project C
 

If you've chosen Maths as one of your subjects you will study these compulsory modules in year three:

Introduction to Solid State Physics
 
Atoms, Photons and Fundamental Particles
 
Physics Project
 


Maths

Students taking Maths must take a total of 50 credits from the below modules:

Optimization
 
Mathematical Medicine and Biology
 
Coding and Cryptography
 
Game Theory
 
Fluid Dynamics
 
Scientific Computation and Numerical Analysis
 

 


Earth Science

You must take 50 credits from:

Freshwater Management
 
Environmental pollutants: fate, impact and remediation.
 
Palaeobiology
 
Sustainable Soil Management
 
Environmental Pollution Field Course
 

 

Year Four (MSci students only)

You will choose one of your third-year subjects to focus on in the fourth year, spending half your time working on an independent research project aiming to develop the skills needed to pursue a career in research.

All students take 120 credits of modules in the fourth year and each subject has a minimum number of credits listed. Students can take 120 credits from a single subject (where available) or they can use modules from their second subject to make up the difference between the minimum and the required number of credits.

Physics

You must take a total of 120 credits from physics throughout the year.

60 compulsory credits: 

Physics Research Project B
 

 

And a minimum of 20 credits to be selected from the below optional modules:

Atmospheric and Planetary Physics
 
Introduction to Cosmology
 
Extreme Astrophysics
 
Semiconductor Physics
 
Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics
 
From Accelerators to Medical Imaging
 
Soft Condensed Matter
 
Magnetic Resonance
 
Solid State Physics for Natural Science
 
Functional Medical Imaging
 


Earth Science

You must a take a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 120 credits from earth science throughout the year. 

60 compulsory credits:

MSci Research Project
 
Project Management
 
Writing and Reviewing Research Proposals
 
Statistics and Experimental Design for Bioscientists
 
Communication & Public Engagement Skills for Scientists
 

 

You may then choose up to 10 credits from:  

Advances in Managing Rivers and Catchments
 

 


Maths

You must take a minimum of 80 and a maximum of 120 credits from maths throughout the year.

40 compulsory credits:

Mathematics Dissertation
 

 

And select a minimum of 40 credits from the optional modules:

Techniques for Differential Equations
 
Differential Geometry
 
Introduction to Quantum Information Science
 
Financial Mathematics
 
Scientific Computing and C++
 
Black Holes
 
Topics in Biomedical Mathematics
 
Time Series and Forecasting
 
Computational Applied Mathematics
 


Disclaimer
This online prospectus has been drafted in advance of the academic year to which it applies. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate at the time of publishing, but changes (for example to course content) are likely to occur given the interval between publishing and commencement of the course. It is therefore very important to check this website for any updates before you apply for the course where there has been an interval between you reading this website and applying.

Natural Sciences

School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham
University Park
NG7 2RD

Tel: +44 (0) 115 823 2376
Fax: +44 (0) 115 951 3555
Email: naturalsciences@nottingham.ac.uk