Program Overview

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Personalised Medicine - MSc

Overview

The right treatment, for the right person, at the right time.

Revalidation

The University regularly ‘refreshes’ courses to make sure they are as up-to-date as possible. In addition, it undertakes formal periodic review of courses in a process called 'revalidation’ to ensure that they continue to meet standards and are current and relevant. This course will be revalidated in the near future, and it is possible that there will be some changes to the course as described in this prospectus.

Summary

Personalised Medicine is at the cutting edge of a new era for medicine. Our ability to understand how genes, lifestyle, and environment can influence disease promises to revolutionise healthcare practices. Personalised Medicine relies on using biomarkers (e.g., genes or protein) to stratify (or split) patients into specific groups for diagnosing or treating diseases. The ideals of Personalised Medicine will be realised with the development of technologies and systems to predict disease, select the best treatment, and reduce side effects for individual patients. This approach to streamline healthcare provides more accurate clinical decision-making tools to identify ‘the right treatment, for the right person, at the right time.’

About this course

About

The course is designed as a Masters programme but it is credit-bearing and flexible, so you may also exit with a PgCert or PgDip at key points. Interested students are also welcome to undertake some of the individual modules as short courses.

Attendance

Fully Online.

Start dates

• October 2026
• January 2027

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Teaching and Learning

All course content will be delivered online, the course will be taught using a combination of lectures, tutorials, and independent reading. Problem areas identified by students will be further explained during tutorials, and lecture material will be supplemented with possible sources of reading material to encourage independent learning.

Assessment

Assessment will be by 100% coursework. The pass mark for the module and individual pieces of coursework is 50%. Coursework will consist of online tests, discussions, and assignments.

Modules

Year one

Biomedical Informatics

Year: 1

Status: C

This module develops essential skills, knowledge, and understanding of biomedical informatics in relation to basic and applied research and practice. Providing an overview of biomedical informatics and its application.

Clinical trial design & patient recruitment

Year: 1

Status: C

This module is designed to provide students with the ability to critically evaluate clinical trial design, and in-depth understanding of patient recruitment and the regulatory and ethical processes involved. The module will also provide students with the ability to critically appraise clinical trial analysis, reporting, and quality assurance.

Year two

Introduction to Personalised Medicine & Pharmacogenomics

Year: 2

Status: C

This module seeks to develop students' knowledge of important and emerging areas within personalised medicine. It explores the role of pharmacogenetics developing an understanding of the molecular aspects of personalised medicine and creates a foundation for future learning in modules to follow. The module reviews the methods of biomarker discovery and translation and considers the issues surrounding personalised medicine research and its application into society.

Multi-omics Methods

Year: 2

Status: C

This module provides an overview of in silico methods, theories, and applications to study genes, proteins or metabolites. It will also provide students with an understanding of Python.

Healthcare economics & innovation

Year: 2

Status: C

This module will provide an overview of the vital importance of economics in healthcare provision, before considering the potential large-scale economic benefits promised by personalised approaches to treatment. The effect that the emergence of personalised medicine is having on the economic and business models of big pharma, as well as regulatory agencies will also be addressed, as well the importance of entrepreneurship and small medium enterprises in driving forward healthcare innovation, especially within the personalised medicine space.

Health Data Science

Year: 2

Status: C

This module establishes foundational concepts in data handling, processing, and analysis. Students will gain fundamental analytical skills and the understanding required to apply these skills to future data sets. This will include knowledge of how data is analysed and how these analyses can be implemented in code. The module will cover key data analysis techniques including data visualisation and supervised and unsupervised machine learning.

This module will establish a critical level of literacy in data science and scientific computing that is applicable across all quantitative sciences.

Year three

Clinical translation & regulatory pathways

Year: 3

Status: C

This module details the regulatory and clinical guidance which is required to ensure the use of tests are evidence-based. Prognostic and clinical decision-making theory are explored in consideration of current and future clinical applications for personalised medicine.

Research Ethics & Governance

Year: 3

Status: C

This module is designed to provide an understanding of the importance of research ethics and governance. The module covers the regulatory processes involved in seeking research governance approval and provides students with an opportunity to complete an ethical review and to prepare a research ethics and governance application.

Research Project

Year: 3

Status: C

This module provides an opportunity to undertake an in-depth research project in the field of Personalised Medicine.

Standard entry conditions

We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course, you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.

Entry Requirements

Students will be considered for entry to this Masters course on an individual basis.

The basic entry requirements are outlined below:

Applicants must:

(a) have gained

• a second-class honours degree or better with significant bioscience (or biostatistics) such as nursing, biomedical sciences, biology, pharmacy from a university of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, or from a recognised national awarding body, or from an institution of another country which has been recognised as being of an equivalent standard;
• an equivalent standard (normally 50%) in a Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate, Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma or an approved alternative qualification;

and

(b) provide evidence of competence in written and spoken English (GCSE grade C or equivalent).

In exceptional circumstances, as an alternative to (a) (i) or (a) (ii) and/or (b), where an individual has substantial and significant experiential learning, a portfolio of written evidence demonstrating the meeting of graduate qualities (including subject-specific outcomes, as determined by the Course Committee) may be considered as an alternative entrance route. Evidence used to demonstrate graduate qualities may not be used for exemption against modules within the programme.

English Language Requirements

The minimum requirement for this course is Academic IELTS 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement for Tier 4 visa purposes.

Ulster recognises a number of other English language tests and comparable IELTS equivalent scores.

Careers & opportunities

Career options

This course provides an academically challenging science education for those who wish to follow a career within the area of Personalised Medicine. Graduates may also choose to proceed to higher postgraduate degree programmes; including PhD. You may also undertake this online programme for your continued professional development within your individual area of employment and this may be for career enhancement.

Your future career will improve the quality of life of patients through better healthcare, and smarter technologies to treat and manage diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, cancer or immune disease.

Professional Recognition

Accreditations reflect the excellence of our teaching, research, and knowledge exchange and ensure our programmes realise the highest expectations. By studying at Ulster University you’ll gain insight and be at the forefront of current industry practices, while our many accredited degree programmes open doors to the world’s top professional organisations, making you more attractive to future employers and giving you a competitive edge in the job market.

Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS)

Accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS).

Fees and funding

10% Alumni Discount

Are you a graduate of Ulster University? Did you know you could be eligible for a 10% fees discount.

Tuition Fee Loans Available

Students domiciled in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and UK students can apply to Student Finance NI for a Tuition Fee loan of up to £6,500 (subject to eligibility).

2026/27 Fees

Postgraduate fees are subject to annual review, 2026/27 fees will be announced in due course.

See our tuition fees page for the current fees for 2025/26 entry.

Additional mandatory costs

It is important to remember that costs associated with accommodation, travel (including car parking charges) and normal living will need to be covered in addition to tuition fees.

Where a course has additional mandatory expenses (in addition to tuition fees) we make every effort to highlight them above. We aim to provide students with the learning materials needed to support their studies. Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. Computer suites and free Wi-Fi are also available on each of the campuses.

There are additional fees for graduation ceremonies, examination resits, and library fines.

Students choosing a period of paid work placement or study abroad as a part of their course should be aware that there may be additional travel and living costs, as well as tuition fees.