Chemistry careers

I’m planning on doing a chemistry masters, does anyone know what type of careers in industry this opens up? I particularly am interested in sustainable energy, would I be able to go into something like this? There seems to be very little info online about this. Thanks

Hi there,

You could get into sustainable energy, depending in what you specialise in for your master's. It might be worth shopping around a few unis to see if any offer master's with modules related to the environment, renewables or agriculture.

In terms of wider job prospects, you might find this page on the Prospects website useful, it has information about the most common roles and industries that chemistry graduates get into, clicking on a job title in here will lead you to a full profile, so it's a good way to learn about your potential options if you do go down this route... prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/chemistry

Hope this helps!

Thank you! So would you say focusing on the environmental side of things is more important during the 4th year or find a uni with modules on environmental chemistry in the first 3 years?

Ok thank you, I’m also a bit confused about masters, can you pick any topic that is researched at a university, or will they have topics for you to pick between?

So there are two types of master's, 'taught' and 'research'. Taught ones are similar to degrees, where there are set modules and a set curriculum, these are the most common ones. Research ones are where you set out to do a research topic and get supported by the university to do so, these types of courses are more common for people who want to work in the field of academic or scientific research. If you wanted to go down the research route, most likely you'll generate some ideas for research off the back of what you do during your degree.

The Prospects website has a useful guide to master's degrees that you might find useful reading... https://www.prospects.ac.uk/postgraduate-study/masters-degrees