51³Ô¹ÏÍø

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• Become part of a huge, stimulating physics community
• Enhance your employability
• Courses reflecting our world-leading research

Become part of a huge, stimulating physics community

As a Master's student at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, you’ll join one of the largest Physics departments in the UK, and become part of a vibrant, intellectual peer-to-peer community of nearly 1,500 students and 250 academic and research staff, located in the heart of London.

At 51³Ô¹ÏÍø we’re keen to break down barriers and create a fluid environment where students feel part of the fabric of our department. Throughout your Master's degree, you’ll get to know other students and staff from across our physics community by attending external speaker events and department socials, and through student-run societies like PhySoc and our Optical Society.

Enhance your employability

Our courses range from fundamental to applied, and the careers our graduates go into are just as diverse. 98.5 per cent of our Master's graduates go on to highly skilled employment or a PhD according to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Graduate Outcomes Survey (2020).

Our Master's courses are a great preparation for a research career: in 2020, three-quarters of our graduates went on to further study. At 51³Ô¹ÏÍø you’ll undertake a major research project and work on original research which you’ll present during a viva, giving you a ‘mini-PhD’ experience. You’ll choose your own topic and supervisor, and work in one of our nine research groups, building your teamworking, problem-solving skills and presentation skills – readying you for a future role in a research lab.

Alternatively, you might decide to pursue a career in industry – particularly if you opt for one of our programmes with a large practical, lab-based component such as the Optics and Photonics MSc. Graduates have gone on to a range of roles in industrial sectors such as:

• Energy
• Information and communication technology
• Manufacturing
• Software
• Finance
• Consultancy

Courses reflecting our world-leading research

At 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, our courses have evolved from the research strengths of the Department. We cover the whole breadth of physics – from fundamental questions about the universe (such as quantum fields and fundamental forces) to applied topics (such as optics and photonics) – and this is reflected in the range of Master’s degrees we offer.

As a Master's student in our Department of Physics you’ll be part of a community of scholars, who are leading the research agenda globally, such as:

• Head of Department Professor Michelle Dougherty, Principal Investigator on two major space missions: the NASA Cassini spacecraft and the ESA JUICE spacecraft.
• Professor Sir John Pendry, who invented a real ‘invisibility cloak’ using research he initiated in plasmonics and nanophotonics.
• The theoretical physics group which pioneers research on fundamental forces. It was founded by Nobel laureate Abdus Salam and later headed by Sir Tom Kibble, both of whom were architects of the Standard Model of particle physics.
• Professor Ben Sauer, leader of our Controlled Quantum Dynamics group which has launched one of the world’s leading quantum computer start-up companies, based in California.