If you like the idea of developing new food products, testing anti-ageing serums, teaching, setting up businesses or studying the effects of pollution on marine life, then a career in science and mathematics may appeal to you.
You need to be logical, analytical, good at solving problems and accurate in your approach to work.
The science and mathematics career area includes the wide range of careers in maths and the biological, chemical and physical sciences. It also includes materials science and food science and technology.
If you think you may also be interested in other areas of technology you may want to look at the career areas for Engineering, Computing and ICT and Health and Medicine (including Medical Technology).
To see the routes to getting into each of these sectors, take a look at our Career Pathway.
Science and mathematics play a part in a wide range of industries, so you could find yourself working for retail companies to local government or research and development firms.
Job prospects in this career area still look promising, especially for highly qualified scientists and technicians, as the use of new technologies and products continues to grow.
In 2020, the average salaries for science graduates in full time paid employment in the UK varied across the science subjects. Maths graduates who undertook significant further study earned an average of £22,071 to 30,013 a year, and Physics graduates with an additional qualification (at Masters degree level) earned an average of £28,153 a year.
In the academic year 2019/20, the percentage of science and maths graduates in full time employment after 15 months of graduating was: Biology 43%; Chemistry 51.3%; Physical and geographical sciences 50.5%; Physics 46.7%; and Mathematics 56%.
Of those, Chemistry graduates were more likely to find work as science professionals (30.4%), while Maths graduates found work primarily in business, HR and finance roles.
While science and mathematics graduates seem to have slightly lower employment rates across the overall subject spectrum, they are much more likely to take up further study or training, compared to other graduates: Biology 20.3%; Chemistry 22%; Physical and geographical sciences 15%; Physics 24.1%; and Mathematics 13.5%.
In Scotland, the life sciences and biotech sector aims to continue to grow biotechnology related turnover to £8 billion by 2025.
The University of Strathclyde is home to one of the UK’s biggest chemical engineering schools. The department is internationally renowned for its excellence in research. The department features state-of-the-art facilities including a new Advanced Materials Lab.
Recently a £40 million project BioHub was announced, to make Aberdeen the centre for life sciences research, commercialisation and growth in Scotland.
If you are interested in science careers you might want to visit some of the following websites for information and inspiration:
Courtesy of DYW Skills Academy
