BSc (Honours) Mathematics
Four years full-time (including one year work placement) or three years full-time
UCAS code • G100
Location • City Campus
Subject area • Mathematics
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Dr Neil Challis talks about our Mathematics courses and the types of qualities we look for in a student.
View profiles of students on this course
Read about our mathematics teaching team.
Our Digital Design Centre can print medium to large format high quality outputs on a range of different media. The laboratories have software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications. Find out more.
One of the most valuable resources available for you to access is our highly experienced technical support team. Find out how they can help support your development.
At a glance
Study mathematics and its application in the workplace on a course that was rated as excellent in a recent National Student Survey (NSS). Build on its first-class teaching and facilities provision with an optional year in industry with employers such as Airbus, Covance, Experian and the Department of Health, earning up to £22,000.
Key points
• Students consistently rate our maths provision highly in the NSS.
• Be part of a student-led Mathematics Society.
• Learn the practical application of mathematics, specialising in areas that reflect your career aims.
What is mathematics?
General consensus is that no definition of mathematics exists! According to www.mathscareers.org.uk 'Mathematics is more of a way of thinking, or a set of tools, than a specific learned skill. However, a mathematician's logical, problem-solving and numerical skills are highly sought after in many different areas of employment.'
This course
Study mathematics and its practical application on a course that comes highly recommended by its students.
You learn how to understand the context of problems and develop the mathematics to represent and solve them in • environmental • medical • industrial • commercial • physical contexts. Using technology to apply mathematical techniques, you develop your analysis and interpretation skills to provide solutions and conclusions to problems.
In the first year, you develop a range of mathematical, IT and practical skills such as communication, teamworking and problem solving, which you use throughout the course and after graduating.
You choose an optional module in each year relating to mathematics, or options including programming, astronomy or a foreign language.
Build on the specialisms you’ve developed with an optional paid work placement in year three. Typical salaries range from £12,000 to £22,000. This is your chance to apply your academic knowledge in the work environment and, in the process, improve your career prospects. It can even lead to the offer of a permanent job with your placement employer.
We have a strong focus on teaching and learning development and student support. The mathematics teaching team have developed in-house their own specialist software to help you with your learning.
We conduct research into how to improve teaching and have national and international recognition for our academic expertise in this area. We believe that a strong, supportive learning community based on excellent staff-student relations is vital in helping you achieve your potential, and the high scores we consistently receive in the National Student Survey indicate that our students agree (rated excellent in 2011 National Student Survey).
Key areas of study
The course follows three related themes in mathematics
• mathematical and numerical approaches to modelling and problem solving
• analytical approaches exploring topics in greater depth – an essential basis for developing mathematical ideas
• statistical and stochastic methods
We run a maths arcade consisting of social sessions run with staff and students playing strategy and logic games, learning the analysis and tactics of games.
Related courses
You apply for this course through UCAS.
2013/14 academic year
For 2013 entry, membership of a professional body is included in the course fee.
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees and funding see www.shu.ac.uk/study/ug/fees-and-funding
2013/14 academic year
Typically £10,680 a year
2014/15 academic year
Typically £11,250 a year
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees, scholarships and bursaries see www.shu.ac.uk/international/fees
• case studies • group, self and peer assessment • presentations • examinations • project work • coursework
Find out about work placements and how we can support your placement experience.
Optional year-long work placements are normally gained by competitive interview and are not a guaranteed part of a course.
This course is approved by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. It meets the educational requirements of chartered mathematician status, if followed by further training and work experience equivalent to a masters degree.
Key Information Set 
Careers and employment (2:02)
Neil discusses the range of diverse career options some of our graduates complete following their degree.
Placement years (1:48)
Neil talks about the benefits of a placement year.
Course support (1:25)
Neil talks about the support offered to students on this course.
Student qualities (1:59)
Neil describes the qualities we look for in our BSc (Honours) Mathematics students
Vicci Williamson
BSc Mathematics, 2009 graduate
'The obvious benefit for studying mathematics is the employment potential you know that you will achieve providing you are successful. There are so many prospects for people with mathematics, and so if you want a promising future then this is definitely something to bear in mind.
'My experience of the course and teaching has been greater than I had thought. The teaching staff are so supportive, they're always there to help. If you have any queries, all you need to do is e-mail them and they respond quickly. Most of them are quite relaxed, which makes working with them more enjoyable.
'The course itself has been different from what I had expected. The modules are more modern than I had thought. We are currently making our own web page, which is something I would never have thought I would be doing.
'The main thing I am learning from the course is how computer programs can be used in many areas of maths. We spend a lot of time on Excel, and I am surprised at the amount of things which can be done on it. There is also a lot for me to learn on the history of mathematics, which is one of my chosen options.'
Profiles
Vicci Williamson
BSc Mathematics, 2009 graduate
Liz Erett
First year tutor
Liz gained her masters degree from Cambridge University in 1980 specialising in pure maths and then did a PGCE at Sheffield University. She taught at South East Derbyshire College and Castle College in Sheffield as well as offering private tuition.
She started working at Sheffield Hallam after her private tuition students studying engineering here recommended her to provide maths help. She now works as a first year tutor and still provides maths help as well as teaching pure maths and mathematical skills.
In 2005 she had 16 months working as a volunteer in Zambia, in a secondary school in the middle of the bush, teaching Maths and Biology and swimming and making bread and cycling and running and anything else anyone wanted to learn. Then she went to New Zealand for eight months travelling and working voluntarily on organic farms through WWOOF.
She is a keen cyclist and leads rides for the Bolsover Wheelers club and also does rock climbing, fell running, hill walking and sea kayaking and specialises in getting very muddy! She leads an annual 20 mile walk to survey the mountain hare population on the Derwent Moors for the Sorby Natural History Society. She is very concerned with issues concerning the environment and the developing world. She is an astrologer.
She got married to Cliff in April 2010 and together they have spent the last two summers exploring various parts of Indonesia and Borneo on bikes and finding out why nobody else goes cycling there!
Her surname used to be Thompson and still is in lots of places round the university despite her continuing attempts to change it!
Jeff Waldock
Principal lecturer in mathematics
Jeff joined Sheffield Hallam in 1987. Previously he spent six years employed as a research associate in ionospheric physics at Leicester University. This followed a first degree, a PGCE in Mathematics, and a PhD in Physics - in the area of solar-terrestrial physics, particularly in connection with auroral plasma processes, and led to 20 published papers.
Jeff developed a keen interested in teaching and learning practice, and in the appropriate application of technology in higher education. With the expansion of the internet in the 1990s, the opportunity to develop web-based tools to support these activities became realistic. He continued to create more and varied web tools for this purpose, including a mathematics website, our custom e-Portfolio system, and numerous other similar tools aimed at improving student engagement, support and fostering an online mathematics community. Jeff has also been keen to develop custom desktop applications that support key areas of our curriculum.
Jeff has been a faculty learning, teaching and assessment teaching fellow (2005-8), and is currently the faculty employability teaching fellow, funded via the University's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, in embedding, enhancing and integrating employability. He is interested in all aspects of skills developments, but particularly in encouraging mathematics students to acquire better communication skills, and is a member of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Maths, Stats and Operational Research Subject Centre skills development team.
For many years Jeff has had an interest in photography, and with the widespread adoption of digital cameras has been able to combine this with his interests in mathematics and computing. He developed a tool to decompose a digital image into its pixel values and place them in to a spreadsheet. This allows students to use existing spreadsheet skills, implementing mathematical algorithms to carry out a variety of existing visual effects. Through this activity they are able to bring a degree of artistic skills and creativity into their mathematical studies.
Mike Robinson
Second year tutor
Mike originally studied engineering at Cambridge, specialising in fluids. He then worked as an irrigation engineer in Bangladesh, before returning to study for a PhD in maths at Leeds. After gaining a post doctorate at Leeds, he joined the maths department at Sheffield Hallam in 2000.
Although still interested in mathematical modelling – for example the use of cellular automata to model epidemic spread – his research interests are now are in undergraduate mathematics education. Along with Mike Thomlinson and Neil Challis, he recently completed work on the higher education strand of the More Maths Grads project, looking at student and staff experiences of undergraduate mathematics in four diverse universities, and is now leading a project looking to improve feedback on maths courses across the country. Mike is currently working to embed the findings from the More Maths Grads project into his own teaching. He is also year tutor for the second year mathematicians.
Stuart Johns
Faculty head of undergraduate operations
Stuart has been working at Sheffield Hallam University since 1992. He studied mathematics at Sheffield University followed by an MSc in Operational Research at Birmingham University before completing a PhD in Production Scheduling at Liverpool University.
He currently has responsibility for all the undergraduate courses within the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences (ACES), with particular reference to student experience. He also teaches optional modules 'business mathematics' and 'graphs and networks' on the BSc Mathematics course.
His research interests are in the areas of vehicle routing and sports scheduling and he has also acted as a consultant on cricket fixtures lists for recreational cricket.
Stuart is very active within The Operational Research Society, as a Board member since 2007 and Chair of their Education and Research Committee since 2005.
Harry Gretton
Principal lecturer in mathematics
Harry Grettonstudied mathematics at the University of Sheffield, obtaining his PhD from there in 1970 in magnetohydrodynamics. He has taught mathematical sciences since then, both at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University and has been a consultant on many courses, both in mathematics and mathematical education with the Open University since it was conceived in 1970.
Harry has taught many different students on many varied mathematically-related courses. In recent years he has developed a particular interest in the impact of technology on the way mathematics is taught, practiced and assessed.
He is a consultant with Texas Instruments. He is an author of many papers, a co-author of a book on the teaching of mathematics to engineers and winner of several international prizes.
Harry is the general factotum of the mathematics department with main responsibilities for recruitment. He has also presented many papers on teaching mathematics with technology at conferences in the UK and abroad.
Dr Claire Cornock
Lecturer
Claire has recently completed a PhD at the University of York in Semigroup Theory, a branch of pure mathematics. Also having done an MSc in Applied Mathematics, she is interested in a range of mathematical topics.
Claire enjoys researching into teaching and learning pedagogy. She is particularly interested in projects that involve innovative teaching and assessment methods, as well as those that incorporate skills training into courses. In 2010 she received a Vice-Chancellor's teaching award for the excellent feedback she received from students, the care with which she approached her teaching, and the variety of roles she undertook within the department of mathematics at York whilst doing her PhD.
Dr Ros Porter
lecturer
Ros has just started at Sheffield Hallam having recently completed a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Stirling.
Her research interests so far have been in modelling, in particular the dynamics and potential control of a tick-borne disease in wildlife.
Steve Spells
Senior lecturer in mathematics
Steve obtained his PhD for work on spectroscopy and thermodynamics of amorphous polymers at the University of Manchester, following a first degree there.
He then spent 10 years as a research associate at the University of Bristol, studying polymer crystals with vibrational spectroscopy and scattering techniques. These research interests have since developed at Sheffield Hallam, where his research is mainly in spectroscopic methods of characterising polymer structures and structural change.
Steve has around 60 publications in this area and has edited a textbook on solid polymers and contributed book chapters, as well as acting as an examiner for research students in the UK and abroad.
Steve's teaching interests cover materials physics, sports science (particularly the development and testing of synthetic surfaces) and the teaching of mathematics in science and engineering courses.
Professor Neil Challis
Head of mathematics and statistics
Neil has been working at Sheffield Hallam since 1977 and is a Professor of Mathematics Teaching and Learning.
He studied mathematics at Bristol University, worked for some years as an industrial research mathematician and modeller for British Gas at the Engineering Research Station at Killingworth, then while lecturing obtained his PhD in computational fluid dynamics from the University of Sheffield in 1988.
His enthusiasm for modelling continues, but in recent years his interest has focussed on developing teaching and learning practice in mathematics in higher education. He has been particularly concerned with the impact of technology upon the ways we can help students to understand and use mathematical ideas. The use of such technology is thoroughly embedded in the BSc (Honours) Mathematics course at Sheffield Hallam, and Neil has written and spoken much about this issue at conferences and in various papers and books, occasionally winning prizes with his friend Harry.Neil is active in the world of mathematics nationally, being the Treasurer of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and also being closely involved with the Higher Education Academy. Recently he led the Higher Education Curriculum Theme of the £3.5M, HEFCE funded More Maths Grads project. The aim of this is suggested by its title, and aligns with Neil’s enthusiasm for engaging more people in mathematical thinking, both for its pleasure and beauty, and for its sheer usefulness.
Dr Sue Forder
Principal lecturer
Sue obtained her industrially-sponsored PhD in 'Mössbauer Spectroscopy of Borate glasses' at the University of Sheffield, having studied there for her first degree in physics and materials science. She continues to use Mössbauer spectroscopy to support research projects and consultancy, publishes papers and presents results at international conferences. Sue is a chartered physicist and chartered engineer.
Sue trained to teach and, after teaching physics in local schools, joined the staff of Sheffield City Polytechnic just before it became Sheffield Hallam University. Sue enjoys teaching physics and mathematics to engineering and maths students, as well as trainee teachers. She has a strong interest in developing learning, teaching and assessment (LTA) styles that support students' learning. Part of her principal lecturer responsibilities are as LTA lead in the department of engineering and mathematics. Sue is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
David Cooper
Senior lecturer
David received a DPhil from Oxford University for work on finite permutation groups. He then worked at the University of Sheffield on techniques for improving the efficiency of computer-based information systems, and in the computer industry on the development of interactive graphics systems. At the same time he worked as a part-time tutor at the Open University.
Since 1989 he has been a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. He teaches pure mathematics, and mathematics for computing students. His research interests have included 3D computer vision, pattern recognition, and formal methods of software development; he is currently working on a project concerned with the automatic generation of information on ground conditions from the descriptions of soil extracted from boreholes.
Profiles
Liz Erett
First year tutor
Jeff Waldock
Principal lecturer in mathematics
Mike Robinson
Second year tutor
Stuart Johns
Faculty head of undergraduate operations
Harry Gretton
Principal lecturer in mathematics
Dr Claire Cornock
Lecturer
Dr Ros Porter
lecturer
Steve Spells
Senior lecturer in mathematics
Professor Neil Challis
Head of mathematics and statistics
Dr Sue Forder
Principal lecturer
David Cooper
Senior lecturer
The Digital Design Centre
The Digital Design Centre comprises a suite of 6 IT laboratories (4 PC and 2 MAC) together with the Print Output room, an area for printing medium to large format high quality output on a range of different media. The laboratories have a wide range of software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications.
The Digital Design Centre runs a high quality computer printing facility and has the ability to print sizes between A4 and A0 and wide format banners. A3, A2, A1, A0 and Banner photo quality printing is available on a range of papers, as well as AutoCAD type plans ( B & W ) on standard paper.
Technical support team
While you will find excellent facilities throughout, the most valuable resource you will have at your disposal is access to our extremely dedicated, highly experienced technical staff.
All the staff are there to support you during your time in the workshops. The technical team with its professionally qualified staff and practicing professionals, has a wealth of knowledge and expertise across all areas of our provision and comprises engineers, designers, silversmiths and jewellers, fine artists, media arts specialists and IT experts.
The team are committed to using their diverse range of skills and knowledge to support practical aspects of your
course work, whether solving a simple software problem, producing a complex engineering project or creating design work for an international exhibition. There are currently 50 technical staff directly supporting the Technical Resource Centres and the research institutes of the faculty.
