Overview

Honours in Biomedical and Health Sciences provides you with opportunities to engage in significant research and work closely with international recognised leaders in their field of research as you pursue your own novel research, which can prepare you for graduate research and employment and improve your chance to enter into other graduate courses.

Graduate pathways from MDHS Honours

Once you've completed your Honours degree, you can go on to begin a graduate degree and work towards a professional qualification such as medicine. Or you could join our graduate research community and contribute to our world-changing research. Almost half of our graduates choose to continue their graduate studies with The University of Melbourne.

The table below illustrates the 2023 - 2025 graduate pathways.

What do our students do after graduating?

• Graduate research studies e.g., Doctor of Philosophy - Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
• Graduate courses in health professional e.g., Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Physiotherapy, Doctor of Optometry , Master of Psychology*
• A research career in biomedical and health sciences
• Careers in pharmaceutical, agricultural, medical materials and engineering industries, hospitals, government, research commercialization, public health, consultancy, medical education

*Master of Psychology is a pathway ONLY for Psychology specialisation

Employment prospects

The Honours year will also help you develop a variety of transferable and career readiness skills that go beyond those learnt earlier in your undergraduate studies to enhance your employment prospects.

• Time- and project-management skills
• Negotiation and communication skills
• Advanced problem-solving
• Critical reasoning
• Professionalism

In particular, if you are interested in becoming a professional scientist then it is a general expectation that you will have undertaken the additional year. The greater exposure to the research process, additional knowledge and wider experiences of Honours graduates are all attractive to employers.

Testimonial

Helen Tower, Validation Specialist at Seqirus - A CSL Company

My Honours year brought science to life in the most vibrant and exciting way. I completed my Honours thesis in breast cancer research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where I learnt a plethora of skills in scientific research, problem-solving and collaboration. Ultimately, Honours provided me with the building blocks to become a competent scientist. The skills I learnt during Honours were also incredibly transferrable and provided me with a valuable entry-point into the biotechnology industry. Following my Honours year, I continued to pursue my passion for science through the CSL Graduate Program career pathway. I now work in vaccine manufacturing at Seqirus, a subset of CSL that specialises in vaccines, and love that I get to apply my scientific skills at work every day to achieve positive outcomes for public health.