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Semester 1, Semester 2, Spring
Course Overview
Take your academic journey further with an Honours degree.
The Bachelor of Science (Honours) is a prestigious one-year course designed for students who have demonstrated academic excellence and wish to deepen their understanding of a specific scientific discipline. Building upon the foundational knowledge gained during the three-year Bachelor of Science, this optional fourth year offers an immersive experience in advanced scientific study and independent research.
Students undertake a substantial research project under the guidance of expert academics, gaining firsthand experience in scientific inquiry, experimental design, and data analysis. The programme fosters critical thinking, creativity, and resilience, while equipping students with the skills required to tackle complex scientific problems.
Through a combination of coursework and research, students develop expertise in:
independent investigation and scientific methodology,
critical analysis and interpretation of data,
problem-solving and innovation,
designing and conducting experiments,
effective written and oral communication,
ethical research practices and professional conduct.
Graduates of the Honours programme are well-prepared for entry into competitive job markets, and are ideally positioned to pursue postgraduate study, including research degrees such as a Master of Philosophy or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The Honours year is not only a pathway to further academic achievement, but also a transformative experience that cultivates the skills and confidence needed to become a leader in the scientific community.
Whether you're aiming to boost your employability, develop specialised analytical skills, or pave the way to a PhD, an Honours degree offers a powerful platform to elevate your academic and professional future.
Postgraduate study
In addition to the above, if you successfully complete this course, you may be also be eligible to apply for a range of other postgraduate courses including Graduate Certificates and Graduate Diplomas and Masters by coursework and research. Specifically the Master of Chemistry and Economic Geology postgraduate courses.
Where You Can Study
Hobart
University of Tasmania, Churchill Ave, Hobart, TAS 7005
Student Information
Tuition Fee
Commonwealth Supported Place indicative annual fee: $9,272 AUD (2027)
Duration
Minimum 1 Year, up to a maximum of 3 years.
Intakes
Semester 1, Semester 2, Spring
Eligibility
Domestic students:
Bachelor of Science degree or equivalent with prerequisites in the specialisation of study. Admission is subject to appropriate supervision being available. Graduates from other universities with prerequisites acceptable to the College may be accepted as candidates for the Bachelor of Science with Honours degree.
International students:
Admission to Honours courses at the University of Tasmania require qualifications equivalent to an Australian bachelor degree. Applicants must achieve the required grade in their qualifying studies, meet any prerequisite subjects and the English language requirements to be eligible for an offer. Admission is conditional on research project and supervisor availability.
English Language Requirements
For students who do not meet the English Language Requirement through citizenship or prior studies in English in an approved country, evidence of an approved English language test completed within the last 2 years must be provided. See the English Language Requirements page for more information.
Course Specific Requirements
Bachelor of Science degree or equivalent with prerequisites in the specialisation of study. Admission is subject to appropriate supervision being available. Graduates from other universities with prerequisites acceptable to the College may be accepted as candidates for the Bachelor of Science with Honours degree.
Career & Study Pathways
As an Honours graduate, you will be highly competitive for professional careers in your area of specialisation. Depending on your area of research, you may find career opportunities in both the public and private sectors.
Whether your goal is to enhance your career prospects, develop specialised analytical expertise, or lay the groundwork for doctoral study, an Honours degree provides a dynamic and rewarding platform to advance both your academic and professional journey.
Careers include:
Quality & Recognition
Academic Regulator
TEQSA
Accreditation Status
AccreditedCourse Content
Honours Research A
This unit represents 25% of the work to satisfy the requirements of Bachelor of Science with Honours. Intending Honours students should first consult the Honours Coordinator and potential supervisors well before the end of the final year of their undergraduate…
Honours Research B
This unit represents 25% of the work to satisfy the requirements of Bachelor of Science with Honours. Intending Honours students should first consult the Honours Coordinator and potential supervisors well before the end of the final year of their undergraduate…
Honours Research C
This unit represents 25% of the work to satisfy the requirements of Bachelor of Science with Honours. Intending Honours students should first consult the Honours Coordinator and potential supervisors well before the end of the final year of their undergraduate…
Honours Research D
This unit represents 25% of the work to satisfy the requirements of Bachelor of Science with Honours. Intending Honours students should first consult the Honours Coordinator and potential supervisors well before the end of the final year of their undergraduate…
Honours
Administrative unit to be used for recording Honours grades and marks…
Advanced Topics in Earth Science
This unit is compulsary for Honours in Earth Sciences students who specialise in Earth Sciences, Economic Geology or Environmental Geosciences, and is optional for students specialising in Geophysics.This unit introduces students to specialist topics in earth sciences, including field mapping…
Advanced Topics in Economic Geology
This unit is compulsary for Honours in Earth Sciences students who specialise in Economic Geology and is optional for students specialising in Earth Sciences, Environmental Geology, or Geophysics.This unit introduces students to specialist topics in Economic Geology, including ore deposit…
Honours A
Honours enables students to develop independent, cost-effective research skills. This includes the ability to design, budget, manage, and implement research investigations; to record, collate, analyse and summarise data; and to effectively communicate key research outcomes to a high standard…
Honours B
Honours enables students to develop independent, cost-effective research skills. This includes the ability to design, budget, manage, and implement research investigations; to record, collate, analyse and summarise data; and to effectively communicate key research outcomes to a high standard both…
Honours C
Honours enables students to develop independent, cost-effective research skills. This includes the ability to design, budget, manage, and implement research investigations; to record, collate, analyse and summarise data; and to effectively communicate key research outcomes to a high standard both…
Honours D
Honours enables students to develop independent, cost-effective research skills. This includes the ability to design, budget, manage, and implement research investigations; to record, collate, analyse and summarise data; and to effectively communicate key research outcomes to a high standard both…
Honours Research: Project Foundations
This unit is the first of three Honours ‘research’ units related to your project. In this unit you will work with your supervisor and the Honours coordinator to formulate your research activities in a written plan. After this plan is…
Honours Research: Project Methods
This unit is the second of three Honours units related to your research project. In this unit you will continue to advance your research work with your supervisor. You will also participate in semi-regular seminars, workshops and presentations with your…
Honours Research: Project Communications
This is the final unit in the Honours program. In this unit you will work towards the final production of a substantive research work, typically a thesis or professional portfolio. Throughout the semester you will attend regular meetings and seminars…
Geographical Research Project
This flexible 12-week project unit offers honours students the opportunity to design and carry out a focused research task in any area of geographical, geospatial or planning inquiry. Students have the freedom to tailor the project to their interests and…
Probability Models
The unit equips students to proficiently analyse real-world systems with inherent uncertainties using contemporary probability models. Skills and knowledge gained will be applicable to a broad spectrum of scientific and industrial challenges. It deepens understanding through both theory and practice,…
Algebra and Real Analysis
This third year, first-semester unit continues the development of crucial mathematical ideas, in particular providing core knowledge in abstract algebra and real analysis. The focus is an appreciation of the unity of algebraic structures appearing across many areas of mathematics…
Group Theory and Functional Analysis
This third year, second-semester unit covers some of the fundamental abstract structures, processes and relationships that underpin all of mathematics. The first half of the unit focuses on the central role groups play in modern algebra together with their application…
Complex Analysis and Transform Theory
This unit gives an overview of some of the key ideas and concepts that underpin modern applied mathematics. There are three distinct elements that will be covered: (i) an introduction to complex analysis, in which we discuss the important theories…
Computational Techniques 3
Numerical methods are necessary in science and engineering, because most problems of practical interest are just too difficult to be solved in “closed form”. While many important problems, such as the motion of a mass on a spring etc., have…
Data Handling and Statistics 3
Data Handling and Statistics 3 is the third applied statistics units offered by the School of Natural Sciences (Mathematics). This unit is required in the Statistics and Decision Science major and it provides an extension of the concepts, methods and…
Partial Differential Equations, Applications and Methods 3
Partial differential equations (PDEs) are arise in many areas of applied mathematics; whenever a problem changes continuously in space and in time as, for example, in fluid flow or a description of the spread of a virus, PDEs are inevitably…
Modelling and Optimisation
This unit equips students with skills in modelling and optimising real world systems using discrete-state-space models and modern optimisation methods. These approaches are fundamental for analysing systems that evolve over time, particularly under uncertainty. Throughout the unit, you will develop…
Modern Statistical Modelling
Modern statistical modelling (KMA356) is a third year undergraduate unit offered by the School of Natural Sciences (Mathematics). The unit presents modern statistical methods for developing applied models and confronting them with real world data. You will be shown how simulation…
Dynamical Systems and Chaos
This is a physics and mathematics discipline elective unit. Recommended for students doing an Honours in Physics or Applied Mathematics. Suitable unit for graduate students in interdisciplinary applied science who lack theoretical background in dynamical systems. Offered only in odd…
Fluid Mechanics
This is a physics and mathematics discipline elective unit which is recommended for students doing an Honours in Physics or Applied Mathematics. The unit is suitable for graduate students in interdisciplinary applied science who lack theoretical background in fluid mechanics.…
External Hosted Studies 1
This unit enables students to undertake external studies offered by other universities where the subject matter is not provided locally. Students can choose to study one or two courses, with permission from a course coordinator, to gain credit towards their…
External Hosted Studies 2
This unit enables students to undertake external studies offered by other universities where the subject matter is not provided locally. Students can choose to study one or two courses, with permission from a course coordinator, to gain credit towards their…
Advanced Topics in Algebra
This Honours-level unit provides topics in algebra suitable for advanced undergraduate learning. Specifics may differ slightly from year to year based on staff availability and students’ interests. Topics will be typically chosen from: i) Matrix groups and Lie algebras; ii)…
Advanced Topics in Analysis
Mathematical analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with limits and related theories, such as differentiation, integration, measure, infinite series, and analytic functions. This unit offers studies in Advanced Analysis suitable for Honours level. Topics offered may vary from year…
Advanced Topics in Applied Mathematics
This will introduce honours level students to advanced topics in applied mathematics. The topics may vary from year to year depending on student interest and staff availability. Possible topics include: * Solution of systems of ordinary and partial differential equations…
Advanced Topics in Discrete Mathematics
Discrete mathematics is an important part of every mathematician's armoury: from simple counting, recurrence relations and more advanced combinatorics to graph theory and network analysis: anywhere there are discrete objects and structures, their enumeration and analysis is the domain of…
Advanced Topics in Mathematical Biology
“Mathematics Is Biology's Next Microscope, Only Better; Biology Is Mathematics' Next Physics, Only Better” - Joel E Cohen (2004) The topics covered in this unit may differ slightly from year to year based on staff availability and students’ interests. Topics…
Advanced Topics in Statistics and Operations Research
This Honours-level unit is available for students enrolled in Honours Mathematics, Statistics, or Physics, or by permission of the Unit Coordinator. Students will study modern topics in statistics and operations research. The unit will cover a range of models, examples…
Special Topics in Advanced Mathematics
This Honours-level unit is for special topics that are not covered in other units such as KMA453 - KMA458 or externally run units such as those provided by AMSI. It is offered only with sufficient student interest and subject to…
Statistical Analysis Using R
Statistics is the science of decision making and forms a key foundation of scientific research. This unit will present to postgraduate students, that are early in their research studies, a broad range of applied quantitative data analysis techniques. Students will…
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is a core skill that is desperately needed by practitioners in the life sciences, from health to pathology and epidemiology to fundamental biological research. It is a discipline that brings together tools from mathematics, statistics, and computer science, to…
Medical Research 1
This unit of study aims: (a) to provide training in research, in order to give students a competitive edge in their vocational career path; (b) to provide students with the opportunity to plan, execute, interpret and analyse purposeful experiments, appropriate…
Medical Research 2
This unit of study aims: (a) to provide training in research, in order to give students a competitive edge in their vocational career path; (b) to provide students with the opportunity to plan, execute, interpret and analyse purposeful experiments, appropriate…
Medical Research 3
This unit of study aims: (a) to provide training in research, in order to give students a competitive edge in their vocational career path; (b) to provide students with the opportunity to plan, execute, interpret and analyse purposeful experiments, appropriate…
Medical Research 4
This unit of study aims: (a) to provide training in research, in order to give students a competitive edge in their vocational career path; (b) to provide students with the opportunity to plan, execute, interpret and analyse purposeful experiments, appropriate…
Stellar and Planetary Physics
Stellar and Planetary Physics is an advanced unit in the Physics Major focusing on the production of energy in stars and the structure and energy balance of planets, including the Earth-Sun system and the physics of climate. Different sections of…
Galactic and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the investigation of the Universe. It enables us to study the behaviour of matter in extreme environments that cannot be replicated on Earth. In this unit you will study the solar system, stars, stellar evolution, collapsed objects such…
Statistical Physics and Solid State Physics
The objective of this course is to provide a thorough grounding in statistical physics and solid state physics. Statistical physics describes the structure of bulk matter - solids, liquids, gases, plasmas - in terms of very general assumptions about the…
Atomic and Nuclear Physics
Atomic and Nuclear Physics is an advanced unit in the physics major designed for students majoring in physics and explores the extension of foundational quantum mechanics to real-world systems, providing the foundational knowledge and practical skills required for solving problems in…
Experimental Astrophysics, Geodesy and Geophysics
This Honours level unit will be taught as part of the coursework component of the respective degree. Honours students have some degree of flexibility in choosing their units, and should consult with their project supervisor for the most appropriate choices.…
General Relativity
This is an elective coursework unit intended for physics and maths honours students. This unit in mathematical physics aims to provide an understanding of general relativity as a theory of gravity relating to the geometric properties of spacetime. We begin…
Advanced Astrophysics
This unit is an elective coursework unit aimed at students enrolled in honours in physics. The objective is to provide a thorough grounding in the theoretical underpinnings and modern observational understanding of advanced topics in astrophysics including plasma physics, exoplanets,…
Common Questions
Students can specialise in a range of areas including Astrophysics. For example, one student is completing her Bachelor of Science with Honours in Physics, specialising in Astrophysics, and conducting optical astronomy research using the University's Greenhill Observatory.
Honours students in Physics have access to the University of Tasmania's Greenhill Observatory, located north of Hobart, which houses 50cm and 1.3m optical telescopes used for observational research projects.
Yes, the Honours year involves completing a thesis based on original research. For instance, one student is studying the close contact binary star system OY Carinae, investigating fluctuations in the orbital timing of the two stars as a potential indicator of a third body in the system.
The University of Tasmania has a unique geographic advantage for southern sky observations. For example, the star system OY Carinae is located very close to the south celestial pole, making it easily observable from Tasmania but largely inaccessible from most of the northern hemisphere.
Yes, the Honours degree can serve as a pathway to PhD study. One Honours student in Physics plans to continue studying her thesis subject, OY Carinae, by making it the focus of a future PhD within the University of Tasmania's physics department.
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