Course summary

This course is great preparation for a career in research, whether you want to focus on the fundamental questions that physics raises about the nature of existence, or refine your logical thinking abilities to help solve problems in industry. You’ll cover most of the same topics as students on our standard Physics courses, and choose modules from the university’s Department of Philosophy that range from religion, ethics and politics, to feminism, art and death, to major thinkers such as Plato, Kant and Hegel. In your first two years, you’ll do the essential physics that all of our students cover: heat, motion, electricity, magnetism and quantum mechanics. You will also be able to choose from a wide range of optional philosophy modules, which range from religion, ethics and politics, to feminism, the arts and death. In practical classes, you’ll run experiments using the equipment in our modern laboratories to help you understand how important theories apply to the real world. In optional programming classes you can learn skills that are key to modern physics and valuable in many graduate careers, from data science to computer game design. In the third year, you can branch out into lots of different areas and complete your own research project in physics or philosophy. Physics options include topics like astrophysics, dark matter and nuclear physics. Philosophy options include free will, phenomenology and metaphysics. A variety of optional physics modules are also available in your fourth year, when you’ll be working on a major research project. You’ll choose a research topic in physics and work closely with a member of academic staff who is an expert in the area you want to explore. The project takes up around half of your final year and can lead to a publication in a scientific journal. OpenPlus entry with the Open University On the OpenPlus scheme, instead of doing our standard first year, you study physics in your own time with the Open University, allowing you to combine work with your studies. Complete this successfully, and you can transfer directly onto the second year of one of this degree programme. Accredited by the Institute of Physics (IOP) for the purpose of fully meeting the educational requirement for Chartered Physicist.