Erin Donovan
"One of the things I enjoy the most about the course is the variety in the way we’re taught and assessed: we’ve had practical lab sessions and a clinical visit to a nuclear medicine department, alongside traditional classroom lectures."
Course
Medical Physics MScI am studying for the MSc Medical Physics part time over two years, while working full time for the NHS. I’m training to be a registered clinical scientist with a specialist focus in diagnostic radiology and radiation protection, and an accredited MSc in medical physics fulfils part of the requirements for the registration. I chose to study at Surrey because the part-time course is well designed to ensure that students can attend all lectures, which isn’t the case at all universities.
I was drawn to medical physics because it’s an opportunity to help keep patients and staff safe, and to work in a varied and ever-developing field. I knew I wanted to get involved in this area after my aunt was diagnosed with cancer and she received treatment from a multidisciplinary team, including radiotherapy physicists. I hadn’t realised that physicists could work in a hospital until then – so I decided to find out more about the career options available to me.
One of the things I enjoy the most about the course is the variety in the way we’re taught and assessed: we’ve had practical lab sessions and a clinical visit to a nuclear medicine department, alongside traditional classroom lectures. This has kept the course interesting, even when it’s been challenging to juggle work commitments alongside studying.
I live a long way from the University with a round trip of almost 200 miles, but the staff in the School of Mathematics and Physics have been very considerate about this, enabling me to have virtual meetings with my tutor. The course material is always accessible from off-campus and many of the lectures are recorded.
I’m now on track to become a registered clinical scientist and then plan to continue to develop my experience and theoretical knowledge of radiation protection through my clinical work.
Discover our courses in physics, including our MSc Medical Physics.
