The Department aims to provide the best scientific training for each postgraduate student. Accordingly the Department provides a series of postgraduate lectures, often on industrial themes, as well as lectures on methods such as NMR, X-ray crystallography etc. At the end of the first year all postgraduate students are required to submit a written report which is scrutinised by two examiners. The candidate is given an oral examination on this report. Emphasis is also placed on communication skills, literacy, data handling and computational methods.
Formal instruction is given to the student on safety and report writing.
In addition to the above, students are encouraged to develop their teaching skills by means of limited participation in undergraduate teaching, particularly laboratory demonstrating. The University of Edinburgh.