The University of East Anglia is one of Britain’s premier research and teaching universities, committed to achieving international standards of excellence. 

Created in 1963, it has rapidly earned a reputation as one of the top ten research universities for science in the UK.  All research units within the Faculty of Science are rated as being internationally or nationally excellent in the most recent Government-sponsored Research Assessment Exercise.  The Schools of Study within the faculty have a powerful reputation for innovation, excellence and working across the boundaries of academic disciplines. 

The Faculty of Science comprises five Schools of Study and two affiliated Research Institutes; all are located within the campus and adjoining Norwich Research Park.

Undergraduate chemistry programmes

In the School of Chemical Sciences, the longest-established such department in the country, teaching and research are central activities. 

At undergraduate level the School offers both BSc degrees, usually of three years duration, and RSC-accredited MChem ‘integrated Masters’ degrees studied over four years. The latter represent a preferred route for those who from the outset plan to pursue a degree in Chemistry after graduation. A research project forms a significant part of the final assessment for the MChem degree, providing final-year students with hands-on experience of cutting edge research. 

Many more specialised types of degree are also on offer, some combining Chemistry with elements of other allied disciplines, such as Chemical Physics, Medicinal Chemistry, Forensic Science or Pharmacy.  Programmes are also available that involve a year spent in industry or at an overseas university.   

Chemistry Research

Research activity is focused within three broad themes; Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry, and Biophysical Chemistry. These are supplemented by units specializing on topics including metalloproteins, nanostructures and energy materials. 

Whilst traditional core chemistry is at the heart of much of this research, many of the 30 permanent members of academic staff in Chemical Sciences conduct interdisciplinary research. 

Since 2001 more than £8M has been spent on a comprehensive programme of laboratory refurbishment and a building extension.  Chemistry at UEA is vigorous and successful: since 2001 more than £20M has been spent on research from Research Council, EU, charitable and industrial sources, resulting in more than 800 scientific publications. At any one time the School has typically around 50 postdoctoral research assistants and 80 postgraduate students. 

Alongside Chemical Sciences, the UK’s newest School of Pharmacy has recently been created, its first cohort of graduates having completed their studies in 2007.  Research links with Chemistry are extensive, affording additional collaborative opportunities extending into the Faculty of Health and the neighbouring Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital - also newly built - adjacent to the university.