Food Science and Engineering MRes

Food Sciences sits at the interface of chemistry, physics, biology, nutrition and engineering. If you have already graduated in food or nutritional science or chemical engineering, this course offers the opportunity for further study in your chosen area.

There is a shortage of individuals trained in a systematic approach to solving development and research challenges in the food industry and and allied industries such as cosmetics and pharmacy. Graduates from this degree should have a wide spectrum of job opportunities.

You will acquire advanced understanding of food sciences enabling you to face product development and technical challenges encountered in the food industry to manufacture high quality foods. 

This course includes a laboratory and/or pilot production facility based research project. Most projects will be integrated with an industrial sponsor, although others will be available. Project proposals by applicants to the course will be considered.

Key facts 

• The course is co-ordinated by the School of Biosciences's research group in Food Sciences. This is the highest rated University Food Sciences Research Group in the UK, based at the Sutton Bonington Campus.
• The school is ranked the no.1 research environment in the UK (for Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science) in the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework). 97% of our work (in the Schools of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine and Science ) was judged to be of international quality. 

This MRes requires 180 credits for completion, within one year's full-time supervised study or a maximum of two years part-time supervised study.

You will study specific training modules in food sciences and related industries and modules in other generic training up to 60 credits.  

Your research project (accounting for 120-140 credits) will be laboratory and/or pilot production facility based. Most projects will be integrated with an industrial sponsor; other projects will be closely aligned to topical research in food sciences.  This will be carried out at Sutton Bonington Campus or at your place of employment. 

Course venue

The School is based on the Sutton Bonington Campus, a self-contained site only 20km south of Nottingham. Sutton Bonington is an easy bus or car journey to University Park Campus and to Nottingham City, with free bus service connections between campuses. Two other major UK cities, Derby and Leicester are nearby. East Midlands International Airport is 7Km away, plus there are fast rail links to London close by. 

Compulsory taught module

• Food Topics 2 (ATP)

Food Topics will offer a variety of one-day workshops, covering the breadth of raw materials through to production and assessment, deemed to be of relevant interest to the food industry.

Subjects covered include sensory science, emulsions, thickeners, product design, flavour, salt, sugar and fat reduction, starch, labelling and statistics. Students can choose from the available list of topics. A choice of 10 workshops with relevant assessment will constitute 20 credits.

Other compulsory training

Generic modules may be chosen from the Research Training Programme run by the School of Biosciences, the University's Graduate School and other areas within the University. Typical modules are:

• Statistics and Experimental Design for Bioscientists  
• Preservation, Quality and Manufacture of Food  
• Food Factory Designs and Operations 
• Food and Factory Design
• Organisational concepts for Biomaterial Trading  
• Consumer Studies and Market Research  
• Industrial and Biomedical Macromolecules  
• Polysaccharide and Drug Delivery Biotechnology  
• Basic Laboratory Techniques  
• Fundamentals of Biomolecular Sciences 

The modules we offer are inspired by the research interests of our staff and as a result may change for reasons of, for example, research developments or legislation changes. This list is an example of typical modules we offer, not a definitive list.

UK/EU students

School of Biosciences Awards and Funding may be available for some taught postgraduate courses.

The University Graduate School operates two schemes of its own to help support current postgraduate research, these are, the Graduate School Travel Prize and Universitas21 funding.  The Graduate School also holds a list of other sources of funding.

International students

There is a shortage of individuals trained in a systematic approach to solving development and research challenges in the food industry and and allied industries. Graduates from this degree should have a wide spectrum of job opportunities.

Average starting salary and career progression

Career prospects and employability