Cardiovascular Research

Entry requirements

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK 2:1 Honours Degree.

Months of entry

October

Course content

This programme has a "1+3" structure: the master's (MRes) year aims to deliver research experience and training to prepare students for focusing on a topic for PhD, and it also offers opportunities to sample multidisciplinary teaching and research to broaden appreciation of the context in which their own research falls.

In the MRes year, students will rotate in the laboratories of three different contributing supervisors to give experience of different working environments; attend lectures and seminars to gain a critical understanding of the major topics in their area of research; choose from a series of lectures and practicals on research methods; and develop a doctoral research proposal, which is assessed along with other elements, for a master's degree.

The Cardiovascular Research programme trains scientists in cross-disciplinary research related to cardiovascular disease, combining formal training in molecular and cellular biology, physiology of model organisms, human physiology, human genetics, genomics and population health sciences.

The programme brings together world-leading expertise in three interlinked research areas: vascular biology; stem cell and developmental biology; and population health and genomics. Contributing researchers are drawn from cardiovascular medicine and respiratory medicine, public health and primary care, clinical biochemistry, clinical pharmacology, haematology, biochemistry, pharmacology and physiology, and several interdisciplinary institutes: the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Institute of Public Health, Institute of Metabolic Science, and Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine.

The programme has close links and shares investigators with the established Wellcome Trust MRes + PhD doctoral training programme in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease.

The main aims of the MRes are:

• to give students with relevant experience at a first-degree level the opportunity to carry out focused research in the discipline under close supervision; and
• to give students the opportunity to acquire or develop skills and expertise relevant to their research interests.

Learning Outcomes

Successful students will be awarded the MRes degree in Medical Science at the end of the first year and will start their PhD in the lab of their chosen supervisor.

By the end of the MRes, students will have:

• a comprehensive understanding of techniques, and a thorough knowledge of the literature, applicable to their own research;
• demonstrated originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in their field;
• shown abilities in the critical evaluation of current research and research techniques and methodologies;
• demonstrated some self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and acted autonomously in the planning and implementation of research.