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Department of Chemistry

Frontier research, innovation, and education in the molecular sciences.

Study with us

Our courses in chemistry provide the opportunity for you to study the structure and reactivity of molecular systems as you explore new and impactful research.

You'll become a versatile chemist, ready to collaborate in various areas of science and technology.

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Research

Our research applies internationally leading expertise to find solutions to the key challenges faced by society.

A vibrant and collaborative research environment with themes and expertise spanning across many areas.  These include chemical and structural biology, atmospheric science, catalysis, materials, sustainable and green chemistry, molecular measurement technologies and digital chemistry.

Explore our research

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We recognise the importance of equal participation, progression and success for all.

The Department of Chemistry strives to provide a working, learning, social and living environment that will enable all our staff and students to contribute fully, to flourish and to excel.

We were the first department in the UK to receive the Athena Swan Gold award for our commitment to gender equality in higher education, making us the longest-held recipient of the Gold award on record.

Find out about our culture

We pride ourselves on being a department that achieves excellence in our research and our teaching, through outstanding people and great facilities. There is a strong sense of community among the staff and students, and we work hard to be inclusive and welcoming, ensuring that everyone can achieve their full potential.

Dr Derek Wann, Head of Department

We stand against bullying and discrimination. We’re dedicated to maintaining a safe, inclusive and respectful community, free from discrimination, bullying and harassment. It’s a core value of our Department, and key to the way we work and support each other.

in the Complete University Guide 2027.
with the majority of our research and impact rated as world leading - according to the Times Higher Education's ranking of the latest REF results (2021).
demonstrating our strong and longstanding commitment to gender equality.
in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026.

News

News

26 June 2026

How does a deadly bacteria trick the human body into letting its guard down? New research reveals that MenB meningitis wears a chemical disguise in the form of a modified polysaccharide that directly flips the "off switch" on our immune cells. Working as part of a collaborative team, Jon Agirre has contributed to map this stealth mechanism with high resolution atomic detail. The breakthrough unlocks a major clue in the fight against severe infections.

News

25 June 2026

By introducing a fully automated workflow to deliver highly repeatable hyperpolarisation, the Halse group has developed multi-step NMR experiments to overcome both the signal overlap and low sensitivity that occur when using compact, and relatively cheap, benchtop NMR spectrometers for mixture analysis.

News

24 June 2026

New analysis of the South African's Rising Star Cave fossils reveals striking genetic singularity: either a sex-specific burial site from a non-human species or an isolated population over hundreds of thousands of years.

News

22 June 2026

50 years ago, Guy and Eleanor Dodson arrived in York. The group they founded in 1976, now known as the York Structural Biology Laboratory (YSBL), has grown to be a major international centre for the development and application of structural biology. To mark this half century of excellence a conference was held on campus to celebrate past achievements and think about the future of structural biology at York.

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