MPhil Mathematical Biology

Our MPhil Mathematical Biology uses novel mathematical and computational techniques to solve problems in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. At Essex, we have supervised projects in the areas of animal movement and behaviour, population dynamics, plankton ecology, fisheries and natural resource management, and bioinformatics techniques. You are invited to contact our department to discuss other potential research areas in this field.

Our staff are strongly committed to research and teaching. They have published several well-regarded textbooks and are world leaders in their individual specialisms, with their papers appearing in learned journals such as American Naturalist, Ecology, Journal of Mathematical Biology, Journal of Theoretical Biology, and Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Our Department of Mathematical Sciences is genuinely innovative, and student focused. Our research groups are working on a broad range of collaborative areas tackling real-world issues. Here are a few examples:

• Our data scientists carefully consider how not to lie, and how not to get lied to with data. Interpreting data correctly is especially important because much of our data science research is applied directly or indirectly to social policies, including health, care, and education.
• We do practical research with financial data (for example, assessing the risk of collapse of the UK’s banking system) as well as theoretical research in financial instruments such as insurance policies or asset portfolios.
• We also research how physical processes develop in time and space. Applications of this range from modelling epilepsy to modelling electronic cables.
• Our optimisation experts work out how to do the same job with less resource, or how to do more with the same resource.
• Our pure maths group are currently working on two new funded projects entitled ‘Machine learning for recognising tangled 3D objects’ and ‘Searching for gems in the landscape of cyclically presented groups’.

We also do research into mathematical education and use exciting technologies such as electroencephalography or eye tracking to measure exactly what a learner is feeling. Our research aims to encourage the implementation of ‘the four Cs’ of modern education, which are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

Your future

Studying a research degree in mathematics gives you the opportunity to develop new skills and enhance your CV. It can also be the next step towards a PhD and an academic career.

Our graduates have joined organisations like the Met Office, the Ministry of Defence, and companies based in the City of London. There is a high demand for those with a numerate background in all sectors of the economy, so our graduates are sought after in the UK and abroad.

You will need a good honours degree and a Masters degree in a relevant subject. A well-developed research proposal is also essential.