Intercalated BSc degrees

These intercalated BSc courses improve students' transferable skills such as critical thinking, time management, and academic, written and oral communication skills to enhance their future careers. 

Many students have presented their data at national and international conferences and several have successfully published their work.

For any enquiries about the intercalation process, contact Jody Findley (j.findley@sheffield.ac.uk) or Carolyn Staton (c.a.staton@sheffield.ac.uk).

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BSc Medical Sciences (Research)

The BSc Medical Sciences research degree is an incredible opportunity to gain experience in a research environment, undertaking clinical research, lab/bench projects, research in medical humanities or qualitative research.

The course comprises three taught modules and an eight-month research project:

• The Research Skills module consists of tutorials and workshops designed to help students with the research process, assessed by a written assignment.
• The Research Ethics module consists of lectures, seminars, and group work, assessed by a presentation and completion of the online GCP module.
• The Applied Statistics module provides training in applied statistical methods and SPSS with tutorials and online lectures assessed by a written assignment.
• In the Research Project module, students complete an eight-month original research project, self-directed with the support of a supervisor and assessed by a dissertation and an oral presentation. The projects are offered in disciplines including oncology, cardiovascular sciences, infection, immunity, neuroscience, child health, endocrinology and reproductive medicine. They are categorised into clinical, lab, medical humanities or qualitative projects.

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BSc Medical Sciences (Surgery)

The BSc Medical Sciences (Surgery) is a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of surgical practice and research through three taught modules and an extended clinical module and a surgery-based research project. 

This course will provide a useful foundation for those interested in surgery or related specialities. The course comprises three modules which are taught in conjunction with the BSc Medical Sciences Research, and then a core clinical module and a six-month research project as follows:

• Research Skills module consisting of tutorials and workshops designed to help students with the research process, assessed by a written assignment
• Research Ethics module consisting of lectures, seminars, group work and assessed by a presentation and completion of the online GCP module
• Applied Statistics module providing training in applied statistical methods and SPSS with tutorials and on-line lectures assessed by a written assignment
• Core clinical module: Understanding Surgical practice. This extended module comprises a mixture of tutorials and clinical attachments to give students basic theatre skills and core surgical knowledge. The clinical attachments will be facilitated by faculty tutors in specialities relevant to the students learning needs. As part of the module students will be required to maintain a reflective portfolio of their activity, which will be assessed.
• Research project module where students learn and apply research methods to test a research question related to surgical research. The project lasts six months and will culminate in a dissertation and oral presentation describing their research.

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Benefits of an intercalated BSc degree

The intercalated BSc is an incredible opportunity to gain experience in a research environment, either Clinical Research, Lab/Bench Projects, research in medical humanities or qualitative research. Past students have found that having this experience has opened up more opportunities to them, whilst improving various transferable skills.

Expand your academic skills

• Design a research project in accordance with appropriate research methodologies and ethical principles
• Exercise independent judgement and critical thinking
• Apply basic statistical methods to data evaluation and interpretation
• Present work orally and in writing to an academic audience
• Where your own project requires it, carry out practical experiments and tasks in a laboratory setting in accordance with health and safety guidelines
• Produce a well-structured and substantial dissertation to present the results of their research project
• Conduct an extensive literature review using relevant sources

Develop your transferable skills

• Apply good time-management skills to structure their work and meet deadlines
• Effectively use a wide range of IT packages for a variety of tasks
• Work independently on a project
• Display good written and oral communication skills
• Understand and apply basic statistical methods
• Self-direct your learning

Enhance your career

• Spend a year doing a high quality research project
• Improve their CV
• Take the first step in a career in academic medicine
• Gain a better knowledge of one medical speciality
• Work closely with leading and internationally renown research academics and consultant staff
• Gain skills in oral presentations, poster writing and writing for publications.
• Present papers and posters at major international conferences and to get work published.

Attend conferences

Students have had the opportunity to go to different conferences both in the UK and abroad, including the British Sarcoma Conference, the College of Emergency Medicine's Annual Conference, Twickenham, the European Network for the Cure of ALS Conference, the International Conference on Children's Bone Health in Rotterdam, and the Royal College of Psychiatry International Congress in Edinburgh.

Publish your work

At the end of the project, each student presents a poster to other academics in the Medical School. Some students have additionally published their work.

Win prizes

There are two prizes available at the end of the year. The Examination Board will make the recommendations as to the award of the prizes:

School of Medicine Intercalated BSc Medical Sciences Research Prize - awarded to the best performing student in the intercalated BSc Medical Sciences Research, based on the overall final mark: including the ethics and statistics assignment marks. Value of prize: £50

The Academy of Medical Sciences Prize - this prize was made available from funds given by the Academy of Medical Sciences INSPIRE award to encourage medical students to follow careers in academic medicine. It is to be awarded to the student receiving the highest mark for the final piece of project work (in this instance to the dissertation) submitted for the degree. The value of the prize is £100.