Building your own degree
You will create your own unique programme which can combine arts and/or sciences and/or social sciences. You will typically choose one or two subject(s) as your Major, which will serve as your specialism. This is then complemented by the different subjects you choose to explore and build into a portfolio of expertise.
To get an understanding of this, we’ve prepared a group of real undergraduate student pathways to show you how every student has a unique and individual experience on the Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences programme.
Examples of real undergraduate student pathways
Dr Ilija Rašović
Academic Lead: Subjects in Engineering and Physical Sciences
Lecturer in Engineering and Physical Sciences
Ilija’s research interests lie at the interface of materials science, chemistry and medicine, harnessing supramolecular chemistry, particularly with carbon nanomaterials, for use in medical applications. He also focuses on practical science communication, aiding students, staff and research groups throughout the university.
Dr Simon Scott
Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Admissions Tutor
Associate Professor in Philosophy
Simon's research has focused ancient and continental philosophy, particularly the trajectory of Plato, Nietzsche and Deleuze. He is currently working on 'Deleuze's strategy for overcoming ressentiment in his reading of Nietzsche', and 'Shame and erotic love in Plato's Symposiumand Phaedrus'.
Dr Julian Pänke
Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Academic Lead: Subjects in Social Sciences
Associate Professor in European Politics
Julian's role draws together Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences (LANS) and the College of Social Sciences (CoSS). In LANS he is a personal tutor, lead for subjects in social sciences, and oversees the Cultural Programme. In POLSIS he is teaching Comparative Politics. Julian is promoting interdisciplinary learning within the Social Sciences with a specific focus on civic leadership and social enterprise.
Dr Jennifer Marshall
Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Academic Lead: Subjects in Medical and Dental Sciences
Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
Jennifer’s research interests are fibroblasts in inflammatory diseases. She is also an imaging using a variety of imaging and analysis methods to obtain insight into patient disease stage and outcome. Jennifer is an enthusiastic and engaged member of the teaching community within the Medical School as a lecturer, personal tutor and developer of new teaching material. Her previous post-doctoral work and PhD studies concentrated on B cell responses; how they respond to different antigens in vitro and in vivo. This encompassed vaccine design, aging and B cell differentiation.
Dr Betsy PORRITT
Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences
Teaching Fellow in Interdisciplinary Humanities
Betsy is a poet and literary scholar, with a special interest in post-war American poetry. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Kent on the inter-disciplinary practice of painter, writer, sound artist, and archive diver Susan Howe. Betsy’s own poetry practice uses visual and sound elements to think about the poem as site of potential resistance and reimagination.
Professor Diana Spencer
Dean, Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences
Professor of Classics
Diana’s research explores the nature of individual and collective identity in ancient Rome during the late Republic and 1st century CE. This puts her in regular conversation with intellectual and political luminaries: Cicero, Caesar, Horace, Vergil and Varro.
Shanti talks about the experience of chosing modules, getting involved in student societies and advice for prospective students.
Read about Martha's excitment as a first year student studying Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences and how the programme will help shape her unique career goals.
Ratnadip, an international student from India, is majoring in International Relations but has explored many modules outside of his major.