The Master’s programme in Physics gives you the opportunity to acquire wider and deeper knowledge and abilities within one or several subareas in physics. You are free to choose courses according to your own interests and ambitions, but we also offer three special profiles: Computational Physics, Advanced Materials and Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. The study atmosphere is international and you can choose to study part of the programme in another country.
Each term comprises two study periods and you will usually take two parallel courses for each study period. You are free to choose courses according to your own interests. Many courses include laboratory exercises or computer based projects. For every course you get three examination opportunities per year, the first directly after the course finishes.
The programme ends with an exam project comprising a minimum of 30 ECTS. You will work independently with your project supervised by one of our scientists. You can do your project in one of the research fields of the Department of Physics.
We have research in Condensed Matter Physics, Organic Electronics, Nanophysics, Photonics, Optical/Laser Physics, Biological Physics, Plasma Physics, Flame Dynamics, General Relativity, Statistical Physics, Quantum Physics, Computational Physics, Complex Networks, Space Physics and Physics Education.
You can also implement your project outside of the department, for example in a company or in another university, in Sweden or abroad.
Aleksandra Foltynowicz, professor of physics at Umeå University, has always been interested in technology, physics, and mathematics. Today, she works on developing new optical measurement methods to study molecules in the gas phase.
The Department of Physics at Umeå University provides high quality education and research, and we have received funding for several promising young scientists. The study atmosphere is international and students also have the opportunity to complete part of their studies abroad.
The programme gives a good foundation for PhD studies and research in higher academic institutions as well as in the industry. As the programme is flexible it can easily be adapted to the labour market and physicists often work as engineers in various physics-related fields. In general, studies in physics give you good training in analytical thinking and problem solving in combination with high competence in mathematical model building and computer usage. These skills make physicists useful also in other fields of the labour market, for example in the insurance, finance and economy sectors.
