Biotechnology is relevant in many aspects of our lives. For example, it plays a key role in developing products and technologies to combat disease, reducing our environmental footprint, helping to feed the global population and making industrial processes safer, cleaner and more efficient. Biotechnological approaches have become even more important with the increased emphasis on sustainability and the resultant interest in replacing unsustainable chemical processes and/or commodities with biologically-mediated or -derived ones. You will learn about the development, design and operation of such microbial biotechnologies and develop an understanding of the microbial growth kinetics and bioprocessing involved. We will also examine the ways in which the productivity, efficiency and yield of bioprocesses are optimised. The various stages in the development of microbially-mediated biotechnologies, from bioprospecting for useful microorganisms, to the research and development phase and industrial-scale application, will be explored. Important aspects such as entrepreneurship, regulation, ethics, sustainability and quality control may also be considered. This module will provide you with an opportunity to apply your theoretical knowledge to an industrially applicable microbiological example in order to develop a key set of integrated skills, including teamwork and problem-solving, which are highly relevant for the workplace.