Aberystwyth University

Located on the attractive Penglais Campus overlooking Cardigan Bay, we offer a unique environment in which to study and engage in research.

Active in academic and policy oriented research and participating in consulting, the staff offer students, policy makers and the business community stimulating courses, contemporary insights and practical solutions to the fast moving demands of today’s world.

The Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) is a world class research and education centre at Aberystwyth University. IBERS is an internationally recognised centre of excellence and students' choice for the study of biological, environmental and rural sciences.

IBERS was formed in 2008 by bringing together staff from the Institutes of Rural Sciences and Biological Sciences at Aberystwyth University, and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER). Around >370 research, teaching and support staff conduct basic, strategic and applied research in biology from the level of genes and other molecules to the impact of climate change and bio-energy on sustainable agriculture and land use.

The Computer Science department at Aberystwyth is long established but continues to move with the times. There are currently 60 teaching, research and support staff and about 450 undergraduate students. We have close links with other departments in and beyond Aberystwyth and strong collaboration with industry. Our graduates and industrial year students are eagerly sought by employers.

You will find that the people in our department are professional and at the cutting edge of technology, but also friendly and approachable. We strongly advise you to arrange a visit and see for yourself.

Postgraduate Study

Taught MSc Courses
The Department of Computer Science at Aberystwyth has a strong research focus on techniques and applications of intelligent systems, working with many major companies. Our taught Masters degrees draw on this focus, and link to the expertise and interests of the Department. They are designed to meet the needs of both students wanting a foundation for a career in research, and those wanting to expand on their skills to accelerate their industrial career.

For more information about our taught MSc programmes, please see Taught MSc Programme.

Research Degrees
The Department offers both 3-year PhD and 2-year MPhil research degrees. These programmes involve individual research on a topic agreed by the student and the Department. Each research student conducts research under the guidance of a staff member as the student's principal supervisor and another as the second supervisor. Research degrees are awarded on the basis of a thesis and oral examination.

Send us a brief CV if you wish to explore possibilities of undertaking PhD or MPhil research.

Overseas PhD Scholarships
A small number of Aberystwyth University Overseas PhD Scholarships are available within the Department of Computer Science each year for outstanding students.

Current PhD Studentships
There are currently no externally funded PhD positions available.

We welcome potential applicants to apply for a place and encourage applicants to contact potential supervisors to discuss projects.

Information on possible sources of funding is maintained here.

In addition the University runs an annual scholarship competition DCDS.

The department has a number of (partial fee) Overseas PhD Scholarships available for overseas students for 2012 entry.

Please contact cs-pg-admissions@aber.ac.uk for further information and details of application.

The Department of Geography and Earth Sciences (DGES) at Aberystwyth offers a range of Masters programmes that provide the opportunity to specialise in particular areas of interest. We have always been at the cutting edge of innovations in teaching and research, which is why Aberystwyth is the UK University of the Year for Teaching Quality (The Times & The Sunday Times, The Complete University Guide 2018). In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF2014), DGES was positioned in the top ten of UK Geography departments with regard to its research power, providing a measure of the quality of research, as well as the number of staff undertaking research.

We are committed to providing a challenging and fulfilling course of study for all our postgraduate students. Group work, individual attention and personal contact are hallmarks of the postgraduate culture at Aberystwyth. Students join a thriving research culture and all students are encouraged to become fully integrated in the academic community. There are many opportunities for informal as well as formal contact with staff, and we encourage students to make the most of them. During term time, we hold a seminar series led by visiting speakers who are leading debates within the human and physical geography fields.

DGES has excellent research facilities with a range of well-equipped laboratories and field equipment. It is constantly reviewing, updating and investing in equipment to ensure its continued position as one of the best equipped Institutes of Geography and Earth Sciences in the UK.

1.Remote Sensing and GIS
The Institute has been awarded Centre of Excellence status for research in eCognition software, and IDL ENVI and Erdas Imagine are included within the remote sensing software suite. Specialised software is available for radar interferometry, photogrammetry and hyperspectral processing. GIS software includes ArcGIS and ArcInfo. The laboratories have just been fully refurbished and are equipped with state of the art Windows and Linux workstations with field equipment including a Leica Terrestrial Scanner. There is also a dedicated research laboratory for postgraduate students with 18 brand new workstations.

2.Glaciology
The Department has extremely well equipped laboratories in this area including:

Ice and Climate Facility - this suite of equipment has been assembled to enable field-based analysis of the relationships between climatic drivers and ice-mass responses. The facility is based around oceanographic and geodetic GPS equipment that has been deployed in Antarctica and Greenland.

Aberystwyth Cold Laboratory - this facility provides a sub-freezing working environment for sampling ice and analysing its physical composition. This includes ice sampling and thin sectioning apparatus as well as a G50 automatic ice fabric analyser.

4.Aberystwyth Luminescence Research Laboratory
The Aberystwyth Luminescence Research Laboratory is involved with dating a variety of Quaternary sediments in the age range from 100 years to 200 000 years using state-of-the-art methods and equipment. The laboratory is fully equipped including two single grain laser luminescence readers, and a wide range of facilities for measurement of environmental radiation doses. The laboratory is one of the best equipped and most dynamic in the world, with a reputation for innovation.

5.Sediment Core Analysis Laboratory
A major use of this facility is in the study of lacustrine cores of Quaternary environmental change. An Itrax X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning system is capable of producing digital X-radiograph images, digital colour images, and measurement of elemental abundances using XRF at a spatial resolution as fine as 200µm. Other equipment is available for grain size analysis, carbon coulometry and magnetic susceptibility.

6.Quaternary Palaeoecology Laboratory
The Department has a suite of facilities for the preparation and analysis of pollen and diatoms from Quaternary sediments. A dedicated set of chemical laboratories are available for sample preparation, and an adjoining laboratory is equipped with a range of microscopes for analysis. Also housed here are reference collections and a library of reference publications.

7.Geochemistry Research Laboratories
The Department maintains a specialist geochemistry laboratory to support the work of the research groups. Facilities include: 3 atomic absorption spectrophotometers; a quadrupole and a high resolution magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) with two UV laser ablation systems for high resolution solid sampling; an anodic stripping voltameter; and standard chemical and microwave digestion facilities.

8.Libraries
The newly refurbished Digital Map Library provides individual workstations for students and access to digital mapping resources such as Digimap and Getmapping. The University's Hugh Owen Library has a full collection of books and periodicals covering the research needs of the Institute and the National Library of Wales (one of only five UK copyright libraries, and five minutes walk from the Institute) has an archive of historical maps, in addition to its other holdings.

History has been taught at Aberystwyth since the founding of the College in 1872. The Department is one of the largest in the University, and the research interests of its staff extend across the full chronological and geographical range from the medieval period to contemporary political issues, and from Wales and Britain to America, Germany, and Russia. A new generation of historians has added to the department’s research interests such fields as media history, political culture, science and health, peasants in the medieval world, sport and leisure, women's and gender history, historiography and the application of computer techniques to the study of the past.

Meanwhile, Aberystwyth is proud to maintain its long standing position as the leading centre of teaching and research in Welsh history from the medieval period to the present day. The first lecturer in Welsh history was appointed in 1910 and since its creation in 1931 the Sir John Williams Professorship of Welsh History has been held by such distinguished historians as E.A. Lewis, David Williams, W. Ogwen Williams, Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, J. Beverley Smith and Aled G. Jones.

The National Library of Wales, based at Aberystwyth since its inception in 1909, is home to the largest existing collection of material relating to the history of Wales, from medieval court rolls to the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. The extensive holdings in the National Library and elsewhere in Aberystwyth present unparalleled opportunities for students of Welsh history to pursue their research interests.

The Department has been a leading centre of historical research and teaching for over a hundred years. It enjoys a long-established reputation as a place in which to undertake postgraduate study, offers specialist research training and excellent supervision by a distinguished team of historians, and has research facilities unparalleled by most universities in the UK. We are keen to recruit enterprising and imaginative graduate students from all kinds of background, and are always ready to give research proposals or enquiries careful consideration.

The Department of International Politics is committed to a philosophy of combining outstanding teaching with some of the most interesting and most provocative research in the field. As the world’s first department of its kind, the Department of International Politics has been a pioneer in the subject, with members of staff striking out in new and innovative directions while shaping the agenda that defines the subject.

The Department of International Politics offers an exceptional combination of outstanding teaching and an energetic and lively community that welcomes students from all over the world. It is the UK’s leading centre of excellence for the study of international relations as indicated by the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

A large and extremely successful graduate school is one of several defining features of an unrivalled research culture. Over 100 postgraduate students working towards a Masters degree or pursuing PhD research make a significant and valuable contribution to the intellectual life of the Department. Their considerable achievements are confirmed by conspicuous success in both the academic and professional worlds.The Department’s extraordinary research culture is also evident in a wealth of events and activities. Several prestigious annual events bring major academic and political figures to Aberystwyth. Leading scholars join staff and postgraduate students in the weekly International Politics Research Seminar. Staff and students are able to explore specialised interests in one of thirteen research groups, which host visiting speakers, organise conferences, and run their own seminar series. And no fewer than seven academic journals are edited by members of the Department.

The magic of the Aberystwyth experience is found in a superior education, which encourages critical thinking, and a friendly learning environment that is alive to the importance of a free and open exchange of ideas. These values reflect the rich tradition of the Department of International Politics and the vision of its founder, Lord Davies of Llandinam: to work for a more just and peaceful global order.

The Department has a long history of teaching law; it is the oldest law school in Wales and one of the oldest in the United Kingdom. The Department is located in the spacious and modern Hugh Owen Building, centrally located on the University campus. It is self-contained with lecture theatres and the purpose-built Law Library less than a minutes walk from each other. Close at hand are the vast resources of the National library of Wales which, as a copyright library, receives copies of all books published in Great Britain.
One distinctive feature of the Department, which many students comment upon, is the friendly atmosphere and sense of community, including the informal relationship which exists between staff and students.

Our masters' programmes are also available to students who have a bachelor's degree in a non-law subject, and are therefore particularly suited for those who are interested in acquiring a knowledge of the law in order to enhance and enrich their understanding of legal regulation and the involvement of the law on society more widely.We offer a range of master level schemes including:

LLM in Law-this degree will place you in the jobs market armed with impressive expertise in the latest developments in a range of law specialisms. This course will allow you to tailor your study of law entirely to your needs and interests and direct your own study amid a wide array of options, choosing from areas of law such as the environment, human rights, international business, commerce, and technology.

LLM in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law-this is your opportunity to engage with the distinct yet complementary regimes of human rights law and humanitarian law and to study an area of law with urgent contemporary significance and practical relevance.

LLM in International Commercial Law-offers a professional and firm academic degree that will provide a solid foundation in the current global market.


Each of these are can be taken as full-time, part-time, or distance learning.

The Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies provides high-quality learning, teaching and research opportunities for students drawn from Wales, the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond. Firmly located in Wales, and with an established international profile across its various disciplines, the Department's research explores theatre, film, performance and media within historically, geographically and politically located cultural contexts. We are a thriving centre for an exceptionally wide range of kinds and traditions of research, spanning a wide range of subject areas (theatre and performance studies, scenography, media and communication, film and television) and a wide range of kinds of research into these domains. These encompass historical and archival work, close textual investigation; audience and reception research; and practice as research. And of course there is a strong presence of work both about Wales, and conducted in the medium of Welsh.

On a regular basis throughout the year, we hold seminars at which researchers from within the Department, from other Departments, from other Universities in the UK, from abroad, or indeed from outside academia altogether, come and talk to us about their work. All postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students are warmly invited to attend these presentations.

The Department is based in the Parry-Williams Building on the Penglais Campus, as well as in the Joseph Parry Building and the Castle Theatre, both of which are located in the centre of town. We have a wide range of excellent facilities at our disposal, including three fully equipped studio theatres, three rehearsal rooms, fourteen digital video editing suites, digital television studio with chroma key and auto-cue capability, and costume and wardrobe facilities. The Joseph Parry Building provides students on the MA Theatre Practice: Performance and Scenography degree with access to dedicated studios and workspace. We have constructed a viewing, dubbing and grading theatre which will allow students to produce, complete and screen film production projects in a professional environment, ensuring that you can achieve the best result.