Human Biology

Human biology is the integrated scientific study of the human body, examining anatomy, physiology, and the mechanisms that maintain health and give rise to disease. It is a broad and flexible discipline that allows you to develop deep knowledge of the body as a system, from the molecular and cellular level through to whole-body function and the interaction between the body and its environment. Unlike the more clinically directed biomedical sciences, human biology at Queen's offers a greater degree of flexibility in how you build your knowledge, letting you shape your degree around the areas that interest you most.

At Queen's University Belfast, this three-year full-time programme covers the full range of foundational subjects that make up human biology, including genetics, microbiology, immunology, anatomy, microanatomy, and physiology. Beyond this core, you will have the opportunity to study specialist areas in depth, including pharmacology and therapeutics, cardiovascular pathology and treatment, topographical anatomy, exercise science in medicine, embryology and developmental biology, public health science, and neuroscience. This range of options means the degree can serve students with very different career interests, whether you are drawn towards clinical medicine, research, public health, or sport and exercise science.

Graduates of human biology go on to a wide range of careers in healthcare, research, education, and industry. Medicine, dentistry, and allied health professions are destinations for graduates who go on to professional training. Pharmaceutical and biomedical research, science communication, public health, laboratory work, and teaching are other common routes.

The flexibility of the degree and the breadth of specialist options available at Queen's mean that graduates are well placed to pursue postgraduate study in a specific area of the life sciences or health sciences, building on the foundation the undergraduate degree provides.