Neuroscience

As an undergraduate neuroscientist at UCL, you’ll study in the UCL research department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology (NPP) – a pioneering university department embedded in a wider research community responsible for multiple Nobel Prize-winning discoveries that have shaped our understanding of the brain.

You’ll delve deep into the molecular and cellular mechanisms which allow neurons to compute information and communicate. You will explore how neurons form connections and circuits that give rise to complex behaviour and cognition. You’ll develop a multifaceted tool kit and build a cross-disciplinary understanding of the brain and nervous system.

From week one, UCL Neuroscience undergraduates receive expert tuition in neuroscience-specific modules. You'll benefit from practical lab experience and research-oriented teaching, interacting with leading researchers in NPP and in our world-renowned partner institutions, such as the Francis Crick Institute, the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit and Google DeepMind.

In the second year of the course, you’ll choose whether to pursue the three-year BSc, or continue onto the four-year integrated MSci programme (dependent on good first and second-year results).

Throughout your studies you will gain familiarity with cutting-edge research techniques such as optogenetics, two-photon microscopy and fMRI. 

Through research projects, you’ll explore how memories are formed, how brain cell activity shapes behaviour, how your senses perceive the world, how the brain controls movement, speech and language, as well as causes of and novel treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease or schizophrenia.