University of Tasmania, Australia

How can I study and work in neuroscience?

Most jobs in neuroscience related fields require a tertiary qualification, such as a bachelor's degree (typically three years' full-time coursework). After a bachelor's degree, you can do a year of honours, which is a short, focused research topic involving study and lab work, resulting in a summary of your studies called a thesis. Honours is a solid foundation in the basics of research, and can be an entry to careers in lab work, postgrad medicine degrees, or more advanced research degrees (usually a PhD).

A PhD is usually the required qualification to work as a neuroscience researcher (in a research institute, university, or private industry like pharmaceutical companies), or as an academic doing teaching and research in a university. A PhD is similar to honours except you pursue a larger project of your own devising, under the supervision of a more experienced researcher. During a PhD you become part of the neuroscience research community, presenting your work at conferences in Australia and around the world, and in technical journal articles. At the end of the research programme you submit another thesis, describing the project, how you went about it, what you found and what the implications of your findings are.

After a PhD most graduates take short-term post-doctoral fellowships, in which PhD graduates are hired to supervise short research projects for 2-3 years. Most graduates would do two or three of these postdocs, often in different countries, in order to experience a wide range of projects and techniques. This phase of the career usually leads to the graduate applying for his or her own funding, to pursue a large research question of value to science and the community.

All of these stages in a neuroscience career are available at UTAS, by means of undergraduate coursework or research projects through the Menzies Research Institute.

Undergraduate neuroscience degrees

Bachelor degrees

• Bachelor of Medical Research (BMedRes)
• Bachelor of Biotechnology (BBiotech)
• Bachelor of Psychology (BPsych)
• The UTAS medicine degree also includes neuroscience components oriented toward clinical practice.

Honours

For medical / science degrees, an additional one-year research project is required for honours; biomedical honours projects are conducted through the Menzies Research Institute. An honours degree is required for entry to Masters or PhD programmes.

• Bachelor of Medical Research with Honours (BMedRes(Hons))
• Bachelor of Biotechnology with Honours (BBiotech(Hons))
• Bachelor of Psychology with Honours (BPsych(Hons))

PhD

For a research or academic career, the next step after honours is to undertake a PhD - a specific research programme of 3-5 years duration, negotiated with one or more supervisors. Biomedical projects are conducted through the Menzies Research Institute. More information about honours and PhD is available.