Forensic Chemistry with Foundation Year

Foundation Year
Our Foundation Year provides an excellent alternative route to Keele, providing a unique opportunity to better prepare for your chosen degree, and with guaranteed entry onto your undergraduate course once you successfully complete your Foundation Year. This extra year of study can improve your academic skills, expand your subject knowledge, give you a better understanding of higher education and, perhaps most importantly of all, build your confidence. On the Keele Foundation Year, you'll study on campus, joining our undergraduate community from the outset, with access to all the facilities and support that you'd get as an undergraduate student at Keele.

International Students
For International Students, Foundation Years are delivered through our dedicated on-campus provider, Keele University International College. Applications for International Foundation Years are also handled by KUIC; please do not apply via UCAS as the University will not be able to process your application and you may still be charged the UCAS application fee. To find out more and to apply for an International Foundation Year, visit https://kuic.keele.ac.uk/

Why choose this course?

• Top 10 in the UK for Forensic Science (Complete University Guide, 2025)

• Develop your practical and professional skills in our indoor and outdoor crime scene simulation facilities.

• Use a wide variety of industry-standard instrumentation in Keele's state-of-the-art Central Science Laboratories.

• Chemistry at Keele is Top 5 in the UK for student positivity* National Student Survey (NSS) 2024 (Broad-based universities) *based on overall student satisfaction, which is an average score across 27 questions asked in the NSS

• Gain a certification in expert witness training

Forensic Chemistry covers a breadth of topics and enables you to build practical, analytical, problem-solving and research skills, preparing you for exciting career opportunities.

Advancements in chemistry are driving modern forensic evidence analysis. In this programme you’ll develop skills vital for today’s chemists and deepen your understanding of chemistry’s core principles, from atomic bonding to techniques for measuring and observing chemical reactions.

You’ll explore the techniques used for the recovery and analysis in crime scene investigation (CSI) and discover how chemical analysis of evidence forms the backbone of forensic science. There's a focus on how modern analytical techniques can detect the compounds in forensic materials and how concepts from physical and inorganic chemistry can explain what we observe in chemical reactions.

You’ll enhance your CSI skills and knowledge in areas such as drug-related crime, pharmacology, forensic imaging, and blood spatter analysis, and you’ll gain confidence in communicating forensic findings to diverse audiences.

About Keele
Keele University was established in 1949 by the former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Founded to meet the needs of a changing world, Keele has always had a pioneering vision to be a different kind of university.

We excel in both teaching and research, with some of the most satisfied students in England, and research that is changing lives for the better at a regional, national and global level.

Our beautiful 600-acre campus is one of the biggest in Britain – but all the most important services and facilities are on your doorstep, with accommodation, teaching spaces, facilities including a medical centre, sports centre and pharmacy, and a range of shops, eateries and entertainment venues – including the Students’ Union – clustered around the centre.

For a list of indicative modules please visit the course page on the Keele University website.