Hello and welcome to the Department of Biosciences. Our Department is a community that includes academic  staff, experimental officers, professional support staff, teaching technicians, postdoctoral scientists, and also you, our postgraduate and undergraduate students. What we share is a passion for biosciences education and research. You are at the start of your University journey and will begin at the ‘education’ end of the spectrum. However, we are not merely teaching with you as a passive recipient of knowledge; we train you to think and understand the natural world. We will, almost immediately, start to equip you with the skills to perform research in biosciences. By the time you graduate, you will have seen the cutting edge of contemporary biosciences. The skills you develop are not only applicable to the biosciences; you can take these skills into employment in any sector as we are training you as active thinkers and the leaders of tomorrow. Your course is a challenge that I hope you will embrace because we are living in a golden age for biosciences research. Good luck! Professor Martin Cann, Head of Department