牛津大学

About

The course is designed to provide you with the knowledge and skills of advanced technologies, to conceptualise and run research projects that develop and test novel psychotropic and neurological agents.

The MSc taught course in Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience is a one-year course designed to equip students with the transferable skills required for a career in translational (“cell to patient”) research. The course will offer you insights into a range of fields including molecular biology, brain imaging, behavioural research and epidemiology. It is delivered by pre-clinical and clinical research teams based in the Department of Psychiatry, in other University of Oxford centres within the neuroscience community, and in the NIHR Oxford Cognitive Health Clinical Research Facility.

The course will provide you with.

• a broad knowledge of neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders and their current treatments and management;
• direct experience in integrative, multidisciplinary and novel pre-clinical and clinical research investigation for treatment discovery;
• an ability to critically appraise research methods and experimental results;
• familiarity in conceptualising and designing experimental protocols and clinical trials for drug/treatment discovery;
• an opportunity to communicate research results and their clinical implications to a wide audience.

The course will be delivered through a range of methods, including lectures, seminars, student presentations and independent learning and study. You will participate in small group teaching and develop close working relationships with academic and project supervisors. In addition to this, practical classes will enable you to acquire analytical skills required for the processing of structural biology, brain imaging and clinical trial data.

Assessment

Course assessments are based on four essays, two 6,000 word dissertations and an oral poster presentation. The dissertations are based on two 12-week projects, one completed in the second term and the other in the third term. You will be provided with a list of topics, some laboratory- and some clinic-based, and will have the opportunity to consult with project supervisors and submit a list or preferred topics.

Graduate destinations

As this is a new course we are unable to give details of destinations chosen by past graduates. Based on the course design and content, we anticipate that some MSc students will apply for PhD places in the UK and overseas and that others will carry on to medical school, work for pharmaceutical companies and health services around the world or as research assistants and clinical trials co-ordinators.

Other potential career destinations include positions as medical writers, patent lawyers, regulatory affair officers and medical sales representatives.