Course summary

Over the past few years, bioinformatics has become the most exciting field in biology. At Cranfield University, we provide some of the longest running postgraduate training courses in bioinformatics in the UK. Our courses provide a unique hands-on learning experience in bioinformatics skills, by combining the latest advances in analysing high-throughput genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomics data. Through our various Bioinformatics Master's-level apprenticeships delivered against the Bioinformatics Scientist L7 Standard, you will be able to gain the required knowledge, technical and computational skills to conduct a bioinformatics research at your workplace by signing up to one of our training options toward the Level 7 Bioinformatics Scientist Apprentice. Cranfield University training toward the standard is provided through two entry routes: The Bioinformatics L7 Apprenticeship Cranfield’s Bioinformatics L7 Apprenticeship aims to equip employees with the applied computational skills and awareness needed to process, analyse and interpret the vast amounts of biological data now becoming available. Because Cranfield is a solely postgraduate university it means that every single taught module is uniquely tailored to be master's level. The Bioinformatics Apprenticeship includes a series of taught modules covering in great depth a plethora of programming languages commonly used in bioinformatics, such as Python, Java, R and SQL, and modern web technologies. The Bioinformatics Apprenticeship also includes a number of specialised modules focusing on established protocols for proteomic, next-generation and 3rd generation sequencing. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Research L7 Apprenticeship This is a more research-focused training programme provided for employees with previous experience in bioinformatics, and who do not necessarily need to pursue a large taught component as part of their training. The apprenticeship includes a Bioinformatics by Research MSc component pursued during the first 24 months of the total 30-month period of this apprenticeship. This will include a single research component done in a form of a thesis (the thesis report is substantially larger than a taught MSc thesis but smaller than a PhD thesis) conducted at the employer workplace. Additionally, candidates can gain up to 20 additional credits of transferable bioinformatics training skills by attending up to four bioinformatics taught modules from a total of eight modules of the Applied Bioinformatics MSc course. The programme is flexible in nature and the choice of the additional accredited taught credits is done in consultation with their supervisor dependent on the candidate qualification and experience.