This is a helpful preparatory exercise for the PhD degree. The MPhil degree may also be obtained by a 1-2 year course which includes coursework and a dissertation. Students with exceptionally good first class degrees may attract special funding. The School will also normally have available a number of its own research scholarships as an alternative means of funding or for underwriting research council studentships. One of these is specifically reserved for a well-qualified overseas student.
Partial scholarships are also some times avaialable.
The pure mathematics research group is active in various aspects of group theory and its connections with topology, logic combinatorics and geometry. Research students usually choose an area of particular interest to a member of the group, and also participate in the wider mathematical life of the group. As for individual research and supervisory interests, Professor John Wilson works on both finite and infinite group theory. His field includes profinite groups, which link with number theory and analysis, soluble groups which have connections with representation theory, and the simple classical groups which have strong geometrical connections. Professor Geoff Robinson works in the modular representation theory of finite groups, which has relevance both to arithmetical properties of group rings and to local structure of the groups themselves.