Course summary

Physics is an exciting subject which seeks answers to the biggest questions, covering everything in our universe, from the building blocks of matter to the vastness of the cosmos, and the MPhys degree is ideal if you are aiming for a career as a physicist or for further study in the form of a PhD. Employers seeking physics graduates include academic institutions, government research organisations and industry, including aerospace and defence, education, energy, engineering, instrumentation, manufacturing, oil and gas, science, communication, space exploration and telecommunications. Many physics graduates pursue a career outside physics, for instance in consultancy, IT, the environmental industry, financial services, the legal sector, transport and utilities. Our degrees reflect our cutting-edge research and the Swansea Physics group achieved the trapping of anti-matter. Studying in this dynamic research-led environment, you will also gain unique insights into areas such as superconductivity, nanotechnology, superstring theory and antimatter. Based at our superb seafront campus close to the magnificent Gower Peninsula, you will have the opportunity to study an exciting and flexible range of modules which could include astronomy and cosmology, electromagnetism, atomic physics, the frontiers of nuclear physics, the quantum world and climate physics. Your final year will include a full semester working on a research project in areas such as cold matter, lasers and optics, antimatter, and nanoscale technology, all with expert supervision. It is also possible to carry out your project with the Swansea Antihydrogen group stationed in CERN. This degree is also offered as a five-year course, with a year in industry (F30Y) or with a year abroad (F304). Our facilities include: New laboratories, IT and teaching rooms; scanning probe microscopy (SPM) systems; scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) systems; laser spectroscopy systems based upon fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy; atomic force microscopes (AFM); and Beowulf computer cluster, with 130 CPU cores connected by a low-latency infiniband network. All of our Physics degrees are accredited by the Institute of Physics. Our notable Physics alumni include Professor Lyn Evans, leader of the Large Hadron Collider project at CERN, while Professor Peter Higgs, Swansea University Honorary Fellow and Physics Nobel Prize winner, proposed the Boson particle, and has strong links with the department. “The Physics staff were always very supportive; the lecturers enthusiastic and are good at explaining difficult concepts eloquently. There was a real sense that they thoroughly enjoyed teaching us. Through my degree, I was able to successfully apply to the NHS Scientist Training Programme, a highly competitive graduate scheme through which I will eventually become a fully qualified Medical Physicist.” - Guy Drabble, Physics graduate