Erasmus Mundus master's degree in Bio and Pharmaceutical Materials Science (BIOPHAM)

Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB)

The Erasmus Mundus BIOPHAM master’s degree (master's degree website) is a two-year programme taught entirely in English. The aim of the programme is to meet international demand for qualified graduates with high-level theoretical and applied training in materials science, the physics and chemistry of materials and the application of these disciplines to pharmaceuticals. BIOPHAM was developed by a consortium of four renowned European universities, and it benefits from the involvement of an extensive international network of companies, large-scale facilities and associated universities.

General details

Duration and start date: 2 academic years, 120 ECTS credits
Timetable and delivery: Face-to-face
Language of instruction: English
Information on language use in the classroom and students’ language rights.
Location: Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering
Official degree: Recorded in the Ministry of Education's degree register

Admission

General requirements: Academic requirements for admission to master's degrees
Places: 25
Pre-enrolment: To enrol for an interuniversity master’s degree coordinated by a university other than the UPC, you must enrol through the coordinating university:
Université de Lille

Curriculum

First semester

Biofluids and Materials Interactions 3
Biopham Short Internship 5
Biophysical and Materials Science Characterisation 4
Complexity in Biological Systems 4
Computational Material Science 6
Disorder and Off Equilibrium Systems 6
Green Chemistry for Materials and Processes 6
Introduction to Optical Spectroscopy 6
Large Facilities: Synchrotron and Neutron Sources 5
Machine Learning with Neural Networks 4
Manufacturing of Polymers and Nanocomposites for Biomedical Application 3
Materials Science of Drugs 4
Mechanical Behavior of Materials 6
Molecular and Soft Condensed Matter 4
Polymer Science and Engineering 6
Quantum Physics of Matter 6
Rheology 6
Solid State Physics 1 6
Stochastic Methods for Optimization and Simulation 4
Surface Physics 3
Transport Phenomena in Materials 6

Third semester

Advanced Caracterisation I 3
Advanced Caracterisation II 3
Application of Vibrational Spectroscopy in Therapeutic Substance Studies 4
Atomic Scale Modeling 6
Computer Modeling 4
Drug Chemistry and Technology of Drug Forms 3
English/French Foreign Language 3
Fundamentals of Molecular Modeling 5
Health Entrepreneurship Program 9
Introduction to Drug Product Development and Pharmaceutical Technology 3
Introduction to Entrepreneurship 1
Language Course: Scientific English 4
Molecular Biophysics 5
Molecular Mobility in Amorphous Materials 3
Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy 5
Physical State Manipulation, Characterization and Formulation of Pharmaceuticals 6
Project Design Management 3
Protection of Intellectual Property, Health and Safety, Ergonomic 1
Scientific Writing 3
Selected Issues from Biomaterials Toxicology 2
Specialized Laboratory 2
Specialized Lecture: Dielectric Spectroscopy in the Study of Dynamics of Biological Systems 3
Subject in the Field of Humanities 3
Thermodynamics & Phase Transformation 3

Fourth semester

Master's Thesis 30
Master's Thesis 30
Master's Thesis 30
Master's Thesis 30

CompulsoryECTS
OptionalECTS
ProjectECTS

Professional opportunities

Professional opportunities

The BIOPHAM master’s degree will help address a severe shortage of human resources in the research-based pharmaceutical sector, which includes academic centres, large pharmaceutical companies, SMEs, spin-offs, start-ups, contract research organisations and drug manufacturers.

Competencies

Generic competencies

Generic competencies are the skills that graduates acquire regardless of the specific course or field of study. The generic competencies established by the UPC are capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability and social commitment, knowledge of a foreign language (preferably English), teamwork and proper use of information resources.

The BIOPHAM master's degree provide all students with various transversal skills such as competencies in entrepreneurship, project management, economic and strategic intelligence, marketing, bibliographical search and synthesis. Students also have opportunities to acquire other soft skills (intercultural communication, research experience and scientific communication, national language of their host universities) enabling them to easily adapt to their future international professional environment.

Quality accreditation

Check the degree’s main quality indicators in the University Studies in Catalonia portal of the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency. Find information on topics such as degree evaluation results, student satisfaction and graduate employment data.
Further information