A Message from the Head of School

I am writing to update you on arrangements for Chemistry programmes for the next academic year and the extent to which you will need to be on campus for your studies. Although we all would like to return to campus as soon as possible, COVID-19 measures will continue to affect teaching delivery across different degree programmes. The health and safety of students and staff is our highest priority. The university has given academic departments leeway to structure their programmes according to their capacities and vulnerabilities and there will be some variation in how modules are taught as a result.

The following represents our best effort to provide you with as much information as possible about the upcoming academic year. The information may be subject to change. We have tried to structure our programmes so that any on-campus attendance is limited to around a week for Chemistry practicals for second and third year students. The School will put in place measures to support atrisk and international undergraduate students.

We recognise that the provisional and contingent nature of the next academic year is unsettling and a challenge for your planning purposes. Although this is an uncertain time, you can rest assured that staff in the School of Chemistry are doing their best to ensure that you continue to receive an excellent education and to support you in these challenging times.

Please contact the year coordinator of your degree programme if you have further queries and they will do their best to assist you. For general queries, please contact the School of Chemistry Office at chemistry@ucc.ie

Yours sincerely,
Dr Humphrey Moynihan,
Head, School of Chemistry

Chemistry Modules

• Undergraduate Chemistry (CM-coded) modules will be taught mostly online, including practicals.
• The School will attempt to provide in-lab experience for 2nd and 3rd year BSc Chemistry, CPC, CFS and Chemical Physics students, dependent on capacity and the extent to which COVID is under control. The in-lab sessions will be structured to run over no more than one week for any one student. Scheduling of these labs will commence at the start of the academic year and the labs would commence mid-Semester 1 and carry on into Semester 2. Allowance will be made for individual circumstances when scheduling.
• For all other year groups, CM modules will be fully online.
• Final year projects in the 4th year will be desk-based but will aim to ensure a genuine, openended research project.
• Note that the web timetable may state specific times and room bookings for many classes but in these cases there will be no in-person lectures.

Non-Chemistry Modules

The following table summarises the information for non-Chemistry modules for each year group. For further information, contact the Year Coordinator of the year group or the Module Coordinator for the specific non-CM module.

A separate announcement will be issued shortly for students in the BSc Chemical Physics programme which is jointly-administered by the School of Chemistry and the Department of Physics.

* as provided to the School of Chemistry by the School/Dept hosting the module, may be subject to change. Only information on Semester 1 (S1) non-CM modules was available at the time of writing.