The MSc in Natural Computation is a one-year full-time degree for students who have found their undergraduate study stimulating and want to learn in-depth about this emerging interdisciplinary area.
The core components of this degree course are:
This programme consist of two mini-projects, one per each semester, which then extend one into your summer project. In previous years, students have surprised themselves by their achievement, regularly producing project work at the level expected of a very good first year research student. Your project supervisors are able to draw on their research experience to help you develop your ability to work confidently on difficult tasks for which, at first, the solution might seem obscure. We also support you by providing training in transferable skills relevant to your project work and in your future career. Our extensive computing facilities are available 24 hours a day with networking (including a wireless network) to allow you to link in to our services from your own machines and the information resources (specialist library, information retrieval databases, electronic journals, etc) to support your project and course work.
At least an Upper Second Class (2.1) degree or an international equivalent in Computer Science or a closely related discipline and a solid foundation in programming are required. Knowledge of object-oriented programming will be a strong asset. Students who have not studied in English must pass a recognised English test.
A £3,000 scholarship will be awarded to a number of privately funded, full fee paying, international Master's students.
Applicants must have accepted an unconditional offer on one of the School's MSc programmes. These scholarships are open to students from outside the European Union. Applicants are nominated by the Admissions Tutors.
When completing your application to study an MSc, please indicate that you wish to be considered for one
The course begins in October. Although there is no deadline for applications, it is best to apply as early as possible, preferably before April.
Applications for all Computer Science MSc programmes are made directly to the University of Birmingham. For full details visit 'How to Apply'.
Natural computation is the study of computational systems that use ideas and take inspiration from natural systems, including biological, ecological and physical systems. It is an emerging interdisciplinary area in which techniques and methods are studied for dealing with large, complex, and dynamic problems. This programme covers a number of topics, such as evolutionary algorithms, co-evolution, evolutionary design, nature-inspired optimisation techniques, evolutionary games, novel learning algorithms, artificial neural networks, theory of natural computation, molecular computation and quantum computation.
Students graduating from this programme usually have developed a taste for working on difficult problems and look for a career where they will be able to apply their knowledge in this interdisciplinary area and enhanced analytical and technical skills. Our students look for PhD places, either at Birmingham, elsewhere in the UK or abroad. Some of our most successful research students studied their MSc degree in our School of Computer Science. Other graduates move into industry, typically taking technically demanding jobs.
International graduates of this programme are eligible to work in the UK for 12 months under the Government's International Graduates Scheme.
The entry requirements for this course are high and we only admit about twelve students a year. Our minimum requirement is an Upper Second class degree or an international equivalent - our usual offer is a First Class degree or its equivalent. As a guide, you should be in at least the top 15% of your academic year.
