What Can You Do With A Chemistry Degree?

Chemical engineers work across a number of sectors, including oil and gas, energy, water treatment, plastics, toiletries, pharmaceuticals and food and drink. Processes differ within each of these areas, but chemistry and chemical engineering roles are found throughout, and are directly involved in the design, development, creation and manufacturing process of chemical products and materials. Researchers are common within chemical engineering and are often tasked with creating and developing new chemical techniques, frequently combining other advanced and emerging scientific areas such as nanotechnology or biomedical engineering.

Chemical engineers ensure the efficiency and safety of chemical processes, adapt the chemical make-up of products to meet environmental or economic needs, scale up chemical processes for manufacturing purposes, and apply new technologies to improve existing processes. It’s worth bearing in mind that although those who study chemistry at undergraduate level are good candidates, many more engineering-related and specialized roles will be reserved for engineering graduates and postgraduates.

Healthcare careers for chemists are once again largely based in laboratories, although increasingly there is opportunity to work at the point of care, helping with patient investigation. Often called clinical biochemistry or healthcare science, your tasks will be to in order to aid in the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of disease and illness.

Although some roles will require clinical expertise (and a medical qualification), many scientific roles in healthcare simply require scientists to liaise with clinicians in order to interpret patients’ test results, acting as support in diagnosis and assessment. While chemists are unable to advise on medical treatment, their work is vital in ensuring results are accurate, root causes are found, reports are accurately kept, and research is applied.

If you pursue healthcare careers in chemistry, you’ll likely be working as part of a team comprised of fellow chemists, biochemists, biologists, clinicians and pathologists.

Closely related to the healthcare industry, the pharmaceutical sector is huge in its own right, offering a correspondingly large employment market. As demand for specialty and new drugs grows, pharmaceutical chemists are relied upon to design, develop, analyze, evaluate and regulate new and existing pharmaceuticals. These chemists, as well as holding technical expertise, also possess strong team, communication and management skills and understand areas such as mathematics and analytical thinking.

While synthetic pharmaceutical chemists (also known as medicinal chemists) focus on researching and developing new, cost-effective drugs for market, analytical pharmaceutical chemists focus more on the testing and chemical analysis of new drugs, ensuring each product is suitable for public consumption and in accord with governmental regulations. Toxicology is another fast-growing field for careers in chemistry, in which specialists are tasked with identifying chemical risks and damaging toxins in any chemical that is to be used for public consumption.

While a bachelor’s degree in chemistry will open many entry-level doors in this field, a master’s or even PhD in a related specialization may also stand you in good stead for particularly high-level research roles.

As well as careers for chemists as researchers in state-led initiatives, there are a growing number of government-funded careers in chemistry within areas such as law, policy, defense, public health and the environment.

Within law and policy, forensic careers are growing, particularly as the techniques used within forensic research continue to undergo rapid development. This is not all about collecting evidence; forensic experts may also be called upon to discuss findings in court, and chemical experts are needed to run analysis on existing policies in order to ensure they’re up to date with scientific developments. While advanced careers in law are out of reach with just a chemistry degree, many entry-level roles and specialized consultancy jobs may be available to chemistry graduates with a particular interest in law and/or policy.

If you decide to pursue scientific roles in public policy, there’s a chance you’ll get to conduct research that will help shape your country’s science policy, and national health and safety regulations.

Public-sector opportunities for chemistry graduates keen to focus on environmental issues include environmental consultancy, agriculture and chemical diagnostics. These roles all focus on the chemical state of the Earth’s environment and analysis of relevant data, (e.g. meteorological data or chemical analysis of soil, water and by-products). The aims of such work will vary, for example, identifying ways to improve crop yield, or providing reports on the effects of certain chemicals on the natural environment. This knowledge can then impact on future environmental policy and regulations.