This one year, residential, taught M.Sc. provides graduate students, scientists and clinicians with highly advanced theoretical and practical understanding of human reproductive biology, embryology, infertility and assisted reproductive technology (ART) along with intensive ‘hands-on’ practical training in essential laboratory skills and the sophisticated gamete micromanipulation techniques associated with ART. The MSc course is based alongside Oxford Fertility in purpose-built premises, the Institute of Reproductive Sciences, with dedicated state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities.
Our broad intention is to inspire, motivate and train a network of future leaders in clinical embryology throughout the world. Additionally, our students benefit from intensive training in a range of laboratory skills highly suitable for a research career in reproductive science.
The course runs over a period of one year, from October to September, incorporating the three University terms: Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity. Fundamental reproductive science and laboratory methods/practical skills are taught in the first term (Michaelmas) over five discrete modules. Applied and clinical aspects are delivered in the second term (Hilary) over a further set of five modules. Each module is delivered over a period of one to three weeks and together, the ten modules comprise the ‘core content’ of the course. The third term (Trinity) is extended to allow sufficient time for a high quality research project.
The deadline for applications for the MSc in Clinical Embryology starting in October 2018 is 12 noon (midday) GMT on Monday 8th January 2018. Please see our Graduate Admissions page for further details: http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-clinical-embryology
The Clinical Embryology MSc is an internationally recognised qualification that provides academic and professional development for clinical scientists and clinicians working in the field. It is delivered by distance learning, allowing you to remain in full-time employment.
The programme aims to provide a high standard of education in clinical embryology and to provide enhanced academic and professional development for clinical scientists and clinicians working in the field through provision of a recognised qualification which will contribute to uniformity of knowledge in the theory and practice of clinical embryology.
It was the first web-based MSc programme in clinical embryology, established in 2000. Since then nearly 300 students, from around 40 countries, have attended. The programme was developed by the Division of Reproduction and Early Development in association with the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine (LCRM) at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
More information
The programme leader is John Huntriss. Course lecturers include staff from the University of Leeds, Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University College London and the University of Sheffield.
You can also study this subject at Postgraduate Diploma level (distance learning).
Building on your existing knowledge and experience, the programme offers advanced learning in clinical embryology. It aims to help establish good practice in the field of assisted reproductive technologies.
Through a series of compulsory modules, you’ll develop your knowledge of both the theory and practice of clinical embryology.
For the research project, you’ll write a persuasive research proposal in a subject area relevant to clinical embryology. The subject is chosen by you and comprises an original area of investigation. This research module aims to give you useful experience of hypothesis-driven research, including: critical evaluation of published literature in the chosen field of study, collation and justification of the project itself, research methodology and resources needed, statistical methods, report writing and scientific presentation.
Year 1 Compulsory modules
Year 2 Compulsory modules
You’ll learn through a combination of:
There are three, compulsory, one-week, residential workshops in the UK over two years. In the first of these workshops you’ll be assigned a tutor and will meet the teaching staff and your fellow-students. You’ll take part in practical sessions, seminars and discussion groups and will attend lectures, sometimes by guest speakers. Formal examinations will also take place during the second and third residential workshops.
Contact with your tutors and fellow-students is through email and online discussion rooms.
Student assessment will be split between assessed course work and formal examination.
For the MSc award you are also assessed on the research project proposal you submit as your dissertation.
The programme allows students to gain a wide breadth of knowledge that can give them confidence in their subject and allow skills to be transferred to the workplace.
Enhancing mobility and success in the workplace are engrained in the course. The course intake comprises embryologists, clinicians, reproductive technicians and reproductive scientists, typically working full time. The programmes are designed to fit around these requirements. We aim to uphold the academic excellence and integrity that has made the University of Leeds postgraduate programmes in clinical embryology highly respected in the field, and recognised for their high standards.
The enhancement of academic understanding of clinical embryology gained through the programmes provides good prospects for promotion and mobility in the workplace and for application to other positions. This has allowed many former students to move on to more senior positions, including several laboratory directors. Some former students are now directing policy in the field of ART. Other students have gone on to open their own ART clinics and many have become research active. Students also get the opportunity to network with an international group of ART practitioners, which is important for exchanging ideas on clinical practice and for career networking.
The Clinical Embryology PGDip is an internationally recognised qualification that provides academic and professional development for clinical scientists and clinicians working in the field. It is delivered by distance learning, allowing you to remain in full-time employment.
The programme aims to provide a high standard of education in clinical embryology and to provide enhanced academic and professional development for clinical scientists and clinicians working in the field through provision of a recognised qualification which will contribute to uniformity of knowledge in the theory and practice of clinical embryology.
It was the first web-based MSc programme in clinical embryology, established in 2000. Since then nearly 300 students, from around 40 countries, have attended. The programme was developed by the Division of Reproduction and Early Development in association with the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine (LCRM) at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
More information
The programme leader is John Huntriss. Course lecturers include staff from the University of Leeds, Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University College London and the University of Sheffield.
You can also study this subject at Masters level (distance learning).
Building on your existing knowledge and experience, the programme offers advanced learning in clinical embryology. It aims to help establish good practice in the field of assisted reproductive technologies.
Through a series of compulsory modules, you’ll develop your knowledge of both the theory and practice of clinical embryology.
Year 1 Compulsory modules
Year 2 Compulsory modules
You’ll learn through a combination of:
There are three, compulsory, one-week, residential workshops in the UK over two years. In the first of these workshops you’ll be assigned a tutor and will meet the teaching staff and your fellow-students. You’ll take part in practical sessions, seminars and discussion groups and will attend lectures, sometimes by guest speakers. Formal examinations will also take place during the second and third residential workshops.
Contact with your tutors and fellow-students is through email and online discussion rooms.
Student assessment will be split between assessed course work and formal examination.
The programme allows students to gain a wide breadth of knowledge that can give them confidence in their subject and allow skills to be transferred to the workplace.
Enhancing mobility and success in the workplace are engrained in the course. The course intake comprises embryologists, clinicians, reproductive technicians and reproductive scientists, typically working full time. The programmes are designed to fit around these requirements. We aim to uphold the academic excellence and integrity that has made the University of Leeds postgraduate programmes in clinical embryology highly respected in the field, and recognised for their high standards.
The enhancement of academic understanding of clinical embryology gained through the programmes provides good prospects for promotion and mobility in the workplace and for application to other positions. This has allowed many former students to move on to more senior positions, including several laboratory directors. Some former students are now directing policy in the field of ART. Other students have gone on to open their own ART clinics and many have become research active. Students also get the opportunity to network with an international group of ART practitioners, which is important for exchanging ideas on clinical practice and for career networking.
This vocational training programme is for recent biology, biomedical, biochemistry and medical graduates who want to develop a career in the field of clinical embryology and assisted reproductive technology (ART) and/or the associated reproductive sciences. It provides a detailed knowledge of the underpinning theory and practices and is a laboratory-based science degree not a clinically-based infertility treatment course.
The programme emphasises all aspects of practical training for clinical embryology and assisted reproduction technology. You’ll receive hands-on training from specialist practitioners in andrology, gamete handling, IVF, ICSI, embryo culture, gamete and embryo freezing, vitrification and biopsy and will interact with established, clinical embryologists and reproductive medicine specialists. You’ll also be trained in research methods.
You will be part of a world-renowned School, being taught by and working with internationally recognised scholars.
More information
The programme has been developed by the Division of Reproduction and Early Development within the Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics, in association with the clinicians and embryologists working at the Leeds Centre of Reproductive Medicine in the Leeds NHS Trust. The programme leaders have over 20 years of experience of training clinical embryologists, reproductive medicine practitioners and reproductive scientists.
You can also study this subject at Postgraduate Diploma level.
Through a series of compulsory modules you’ll learn about:
The programme also gives you valuable insights into the theory underpinning clinical treatments and the ethical and legal controversies surrounding assisted reproduction in humans.
Compulsory modules
The programme is delivered using a blended learning approach, which combines lectures, seminars, tutorials, interactive group discussions, presentations and problem-based-learning sessions or case studies, with self-directed learning.
Theoretical training is complemented by the original research conducted by the student and by an extensive series of laboratory-based ART practical and skills training sessions.
The course content is enhanced by extensive online resources and the provision of printed versions of all module workbooks, as appropriate.
Course assessments will include essays, presentations, projects, practical log books, a research dissertation and examinations.
The Clinical Embryology and Associated Reproductive Technology MSc equips graduates to pursue a career in human assisted reproduction (eg clinical embryology, infertility treatment) and/or research in the reproductive sciences.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
In this program you will:
Our programme aims to improve your theoretical and practical knowledge of human anatomy through an intensive on-campus dissection course, as well as the development and learning of theoretical and practical aspects of teaching anatomy at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
This programme has two main strands. One is the in-depth study of the anatomy of the human body. Anatomical knowledge will be learned to a level to teach undergraduate and postgraduate students and professions allied to medicine. This strand will involve the dissection of a body in groups of three to five students over two semesters. This part of the course is largely self-directed, with regular “surgeries” when teaching staff are present to answer questions and help students with the dissections.
The other is anatomy pedagogy, covering the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching anatomy to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Next to theoretical lectures and workshops the first semester will focus on observing the teaching of anatomy to medical undergraduate students. The second semester will focus on being involved in preparing and carrying out teaching sessions to both small and large groups of students. The learned theoretical material, the observations and practical experiences will be compiled in an end-of year teaching portfolio. The experience that you will gain can be used towards an application as associate fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Complementing these strands will be a lecture-based embryology course providing you with an understanding of normal human development and how normal development can go wrong, manifested in commonly observed congenital abnormalities. You will also study neuroanatomy, the health and safety of embalming procedures and handling bodies, the legal and historical aspects of anatomy in Scotland and the UK, an introduction to the ethics of using bodies in medical education and explore clinical techniques used to image the body.
The programme is made up of six courses plus a summer dissertation project. The courses "Teaching Anatomy" and "Basic Human Anatomy 1 & 2" make up the majority of the degree with 40 credits each. The other courses are 10 credit courses that are spread out over two semesters as follows (10 credits equal 100 hours of work):
Semester one:
Semester two:
Semesters one and two:
Summer period:
Teaching is by lectures, seminars and tutorials. Courses are assessed by either, or a combination of, oral examinations, essays, multiple choice question exams, extended matching question exams, presentations and practical anatomy exams.
You have the option to finish after the second semester graduating with a Diploma in Human Anatomy, or to gain your masters by completing a summer dissertation project that can be either library-, practical- or laboratory-based.
More information on anatomy at the University can be found on our website:
This programme has been designed to help you gain a highly regarded qualification in anatomy and the teaching of anatomy. It will provide you with a set of major transferable skills such as dissecting experience, teaching experience, expertise in health and safety and anatomy law and ethics.
This programme can therefore open up possibilities in for example anatomy teaching, anatomy laboratories, further studies in medical and biomedical sciences, further research leading to a PhD, and many more increasing your long-term career prospects.
The course provides training in reproductive and developmental medicine for scientists, clinicians and others, for instance ethical advisers or lawyers looking to specialise. It’s a good platform for a research career or a career in clinical laboratory training for IVF or embryology. Through the taught modules you’ll develop a solid understanding of reproductive science relevant to clinical applications.
We cover the breadth of processes from gonadal development and production of gametes through to pregnancy and parturition. Each module is taught by leading scientists and clinicians in that field. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn about the ethical issues and international laws regulating reproductive medicine. Finally, you’ll undertake a research project to develop a depth of knowledge in a specialist topic.
