MSc Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £16,300
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £37,800

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

For the latest scholarship and bursary information please visit the fees and funding page.

International scholarships

Scholarships for international students are available through the Global Futures scheme. Visit the scholarship page to find out more about eligibility and how to apply..

It introduces students to basic practical molecular sequence and structure analysis techniques, tools and resources (including molecular evolution and phylogeny), and provides an overview of transcriptomics and comparative genomics. Emphasis is given to the application of bioinformatics and computational analysis to problem solving in real research scenarios.

• Understand the complexity of biological systems & molecular functions

• Understand a range of bioinformatics & ‘omics analysis tools, resources & databases

• Understand proteomic, genomic & transcriptomic data-types

• Understand methods of genome sequencing

• Understand & apply methods of genome analysis

• Understand the fundamentals of molecular evolution and phylogeny and apply methods

• Understand pattern-recognition concepts underpinning commonly used analysis tools

• Understand the limitations of current databases & analysis tools

• Understand the importance of synthetic analysis & interpretation of resource outputs

• Gain hands-on experience of practical analysis of biological data

• Gain experience in communicating research findings in a short research ‘paper’.

Sequence Analysis: written report on practical assignment – up to 1,500 words in length - 33.33 % weighting;

Genomics: written report on practical assignment – up to 1,500 words in length - 33.33% weighting;

Phylogenetics and Structural Biology: written report on practical assignment – up to 1,500 words in length - 33.33% weighting.

After lectures and workshops, students complete a series of built-in MCQ quizzes that  cover all aspects of the sessions. For each MCQ quiz, answers are computed and  relayed to the student, with information to indicate how many correct answers were obtained and, if mistakes were made, what the errors were and why. If the scores at the  end of a particular quiz are poor, students are recommended to re-visit the relevant  sections of the session, to make better use of the background information, and ultimately to re-take the MCQ quiz. . In addition, guidance and advice is given throughout the practical work, and especially  on how to write up the results (for which separate hand-outs are also provided).

The following books are recommended:

Higgs, P. & Attwood, T.K. (2005) Bioinformatics & molecular evolution. Blackwell.

Attwood, T.K. & Parry-Smith, D.J. (1999) Introduction to bioinformatics. Pearson Education.

Zvlebil, M. & Baum, J.O. (2007) Understanding Bioinformatics. Garland Science (Optional)