Careers & employability

Whatever career path you decide to follow, you will be able to move on with a wealth of skills and a real competitive edge. Where you choose to study is of key significance for your future career options.

Whether you want to pursue an academic career or follow a path in business or other sectors, undertaking postgraduate education that develops your personal and professional skills will give you the edge.

Postgraduate study at the University of Southampton will enable you to push the boundaries of knowledge in your chosen field and make a real contribution to your subject. 

Whatever your situation, the Career and Employability Service offers a wide range of services and support for postgraduate students. Visit the Careers and Employability Service website for more details.

Chemistry is a subject that offers significant benefits to you on completion of your postgraduate study. In particular you will find that your degree is recognised as a badge of quality and commitment that is meaningful to employers both inside and outside the chemical industries.

Our objective is to help you reach your full academic potential so that you enter the next phase of your life being well-informed and confident in your abilities. As well as providing a top class training in chemistry we make every effort to give you the best possible understanding of what careers are available once you have graduated, either in academia or industry.

On completion of their postgraduate degree, our students have pursued a range of career paths, taking up roles such as:

• Discovery chemist
• Process chemist
• Medicinal chemist
• Scientific journalists/ editors
• Materials scientist
• Computational chemist
• Analytical chemist
• Environmental chemist 
• Life scientist
• Combinational chemist
• Lecturer and teacher