Skip Navigation

Discover Biology

Congratulations on your offer

Welcome to the Department of Biology. Our courses prepare you for a range of roles where you can make a real impact. You’ll be immersed in a rich research environment that will give you the skills and opportunities to advance human knowledge and understanding today. To make a difference to tomorrow’s world.

From hands-on experience in our specialist laboratories, to unmissable opportunities and expert, research-active tutors. This page will provide a real insight into your subject area.


What’s next? It’s your Offer Holder Day.

It’s time to book your place.

Take part in a taster session, meet your tutors and find out more from our students. You can also tour the campus, view accommodation and make friends with your future classmates.


Facilities available to you

Plant science

Our plant science laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art LED growth light systems, which can recreate any light environment within the visible IR and UV spectrum sensory equipment including turgor sensors, a thermal imagery system, a leaf area meter, an AP4 porometer, soil sensory equipment and atmospheric sensors. A climate controlled growth chamber and plant microscopy equipment is also available.

Biotechnology

The department is fitted with state-of-art labs and equipment which include dedicated facilities for:

  • microbiology
  • molecular biology
  • cell and tissue culture
  • microscopy and vector biology

Available equipment and techniques include anaerobic microbiology chambers, gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), laboratory-size parallel bioreactor system for plant and mammalian applications including drug development, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), several types of microscopy, DNA extraction and sequencing, qPCR and PCR facilities and mosquito-rearing facilities.

Biomedical science

Access our state-of-the art cell culture facility dedicated to undergraduate student teaching and research. This facility encompasses:

  • class-II safety cabinets
  • various humidified incubators
  • a fully automated inverted fluorescence microscope to monitor cell growth
  • study advanced cell culture experiments

You’ll have access to modern biomedical research equipment, including cooled centrifuges for small and large tubes, fine-scales, pH-meters, water-bathes, hot-plates, various shakers, consumables and material for Western-blotting, toxicity and hormone level analyses.

Genetics

On the genetics programme you will have access to the Biotech laboratory which houses a DNA sequencer, DNA/RNA/Protein Bioanalyser, PCR machines and quantitative PCR machines capable of measuring gene expression, methylation studies and genotyping applications.

Biology

Biology facilities are wide-ranging with access to equipment such as a Scanning Electron Microscope, biotechnology labs and insectaries where we rear the world’s most deadly organism, the mosquito.

Ecology and conservation

Our ecology teaching and research takes advantage of the outstanding countryside in the vicinity. This includes one of the best coastlines in Europe, ancient woodlands and distinctive rare habitats. The department has the use of a private local woodland for research. We also have excellent lab facilities including soil labs and microscopy facilities, dedicated labs for invertebrate ecology and plant science, including reference collections and bookable labs open to all students.

Hear from our students

Studying on one of our biology and bioscience degrees, you’ll combine technical, analytical and communication skills that will make you extremely employable. The Department of Biology has an active research culture and an extensive network of relationships with organisations and other universities in the UK and overseas.

Find out more about what our students have to say about their course, work placements available and their experiences as Edge Hill students.

Emily Webber

There have been multiple opportunities for me to travel and study abroad. This is through both field trips, where we gained experience of common data collection techniques, as well as with study abroad, where I was able to study in Mexico for the summer.

Emily Webber

BSc (Hons) Biology

View student profile

My advice for students who find themselves in Clearing is firstly, don’t panic. There are so many people in the same position. Stay true to what you want in a university but also be ready to take on any suggestions. Remember that the process is about finding the best university to suit you, not the misconception of Clearing that it’s just to fill seats. For myself, Clearing was almost like a second chance to pick the right university for me, and I can wholeheartedly say that it paid off.

Eve Davies

BSc (Hons) Biology

View student profile
MSc Conservation Management student Jessica Maxwell

The course really is second to none in terms of skills preparation and real-world experience. It’s brilliant.

Jessica Maxwell

MSc Conservation Management

View student profile
BSc (Hons) Ecology student Joshua Styles in his role as a botanist

Plants are amazing! They are the fundamental basis of all life on Earth and have fascinated me since I was young, which made my studies at Edge Hill that bit more amazing. Through my work, every day throws up a new challenge and I absolutely love it.

Joshua Styles

BSc (Hons) Ecology

View student profile
Biology student Megan

I handled a sea anemone as big as my head during a marine biology field trip – the kind of real-world experience you can’t get in a classroom.

Megan Quail

BSc (Hons) Biology

View student profile
Biology student Megan

We learned to climb trees safely with a canopy cameraman who had worked on several of David Attenborough’s programmes!

Megan Quail

BSc (Hons) Biology

View student profile
BSc (Hons) Plant Science alumni student, Surya Bhat

If you have a love for nature and life in general and want to ensure a future for our planet, I highly recommend considering biosciences.

Surya Bhat

BSc (Hons) Plant Science

View student profile

Chat to our students

Got any questions about studying biology at Edge Hill? Want to know more about student life? Or just want to chat about Edge Hill in general? 

Take a Virtual Tour

Immerse yourself in our campus with the virtual tour. Explore the buildings from your own home. Get a feel for our learning, living, and leisure spaces and roam the halls of our iconic buildings.