I want to be an Astrobiologist!

Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary subject. Astrobiologists come from every scientific discipline (and beyond) so you do not necessarily need to tailor any degree to astrobiology per se. You could focus on what you consider to be your interests and strengths and then apply those to astrobiology at higher level study or as a career. You could study almost any subject to then pursue a career in astrobiology - you could focus on what you consider to be your interests/strengths and then find a niche at PG level.

No! Astrobiologists come from all disciplines. ‘Are we alone?’ is a big question to ask and needs knowledge, skills and understanding from a wide range of disciplines – not only science and certainly not only biology. AstrobiologyOU also includes social scientists and governance experts as well as scientists. Find out more on this video about us 

We do not have an astrobiology qualification available at present, in fact these are pretty rare, but there are several places you could meet astrobiology within the OU’s Q64 BSc (Honours) Natural Sciences qualification (broad and astronomy/planetary sciences). 
 

  • S111 Questions in Science includes a topic called ‘Is there life on Mars?, and provides you with the fundamental building blocks for science study.
  • S283 Planetary science and the search for life also covers a lot of astrobiology, including the origins of biological molecules, and habitable environments beyond Earth.
  • You would also learn some of the tools used for the search for life in SXPS288 Remote experiments in physics and space
  • A good complement might be S284 Astronomy if you are on the astronomy/planetary sciences pathway.
  • If you are on the Q64 broad pathway, you could consider the following modules that do not include astrobiology but would give you some development in key areas relevant to astrobiology:
    • S286 (biodiversity: survival in a changing world )
    • S296 (cell and molecular biology)
    • S218 (Concepts in chemistry )
    • S226 (Environmental science )
    • S229 (Earth sciences)

Stage 3 modules will depend on what you choose at Stage 2, but you could consider S350 (Evaluating contemporary science), which contains a moons and asteroids topic that touches on astrobiology.

The OU’s MSc Space Science and Technology includes the module S818 Space Science that covers topics aligned to astrobiology, including investigating the Martian surface. You could also develop a project of your choosing with links to astrobiology within SXS841 Masters-level project.

If you are interested in research degree opportunities, please see our PhDs page .

You should also take a look at the Astrobiology Open Learn collection which includes some short course, articles and interactives that we have developed.