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Urban Sustainability and Resilience MRes + EngD

This programme provides students with the opportunity to tackle a challenging research problem identified by industry as critical to our urban environment. The taught element of the programme focuses on engineering systems developing technologies and methodologies that will both increase the resilience and support the sustainability of our urban systems and infrastructure.

Key Information

Modes and duration

  • Full-time: 4 years
  • Part-time: 5/6 years

Programme start date

September 2016

Tuition Fees (2016/17)

UK/EU:
£4,770 (FT) N/A (PT)
Overseas:
£22,180 (FT) N/A (PT)

Application dates

All applicants
Close: 31 July 2016
Fees note: All fees quoted are for new students only for 2016 entry. Fees for subsequent years are subject to increase by approximately 3-5%.

Entry Requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university in a subject appropriate to the chosen field, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

English Language Requirements

If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency.

The English language level for this programme is: Standard

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

International students

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below.

Select your country:

Research areas

The EngD programme has two key themes: sustainability and resilience. We focus on reducing impact of our cities on ecological systems (air, water, food chains) whilst improving the quality of daily lives and coping with the problems of populations growth and changing demographics such as an ageing society. We are concerned with the engineering systems and developing technologies that will increase the resilience of our urban systems (education, health, transport, financial, governance) and the infrastructure that supports them (roads, communications networks, buildings) to shocks arising from natural, economic and technological disasters.

Degree structure

Students undertake the MRes in Urban Sustainability and REsilience in year one. During this year, students undertake four taught modules (2 x 15 credits compulsory research transferable skills modules: Advanced Research Practice and Interdisciplinary Thinking in Urban Sustainability and Resilience) and 30 credits of graduate level technical modules from across UCL. In years two to four, students take an additional 60 credits of graduate level taught modules including Resilience, a sustainability module (15 credits), a project management module (15 credits) and one technical module from across UCL.

MRes research project: students work on a project defined by industry (120 credits)

Students submit a 15,000-20,000 word report based on the MRes research project and produce a presentation (120 credits); progression to EngD: students produce a report of 10,000-words; EngD thesis: students produce a thesis of a maximum of 100,000 words.

Funding

Scholarships relevant to this department are displayed (where available) below. For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarship

Value:
Fees, maintenance and travel (Duration of programme)
Eligibility:
Overseas students
Criteria:
Based on academic merit

More scholarships are listed on the Scholarships and Funding website

Careers

An attractive qualification to further your career, the EngD will prepare you with commercial awareness and a holistic understanding of the industrial landscape. With these skills and knowledge, you can expect to enter the job market at a senior level within a research and development group. As an EngD Research Engineer, you will bridge the gap between the academic and commercial world.

Top career destinations for this degree

  • Research Associate, UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis
  • Disaster Risk Reduction Consultant, Self-employed
  • Research Fellow, Civil, Environment & Geomatic Engineering
  • Policy Adviser in 'Heat Strategy and Policy' Team, Department of Energy and Climate Change

Employability

The collaborative nature of the engineering doctorates offered within the Centre for Urban Sustainability and Resilience (USAR) means that students gain first-hand experience of working with industry, giving our alumni a distinct advantage as they enter their professional lives. The centre has well-established partnerships with global engineering companies such as Arup, Atkins, Laing O’Rourke and Willis, and strong links with NGOs and government agencies such as London Underground and Transport for London. Through its industrial Advisory Committee, the centre ensures the training its research engineers receive addresses what industry demands of its future employees.

Networking

USAR hosts a biennial international conference, which gives our students the opportunity to interact and develop links with leading thinkers in the field of urban sustainability and resilience. Our students are actively encouraged to present papers at international conferences, publish journal articles and to participate in opportunities beyond the centre, for example by undertaking a secondment with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and to exploit the experiences and connections that these activities present. USAR also hosts an annual research showcase attended by industry and academics at which our research engineers present their work and are questioned by their peers.

Why study this degree at UCL?

Student / staff ratios › 95 staff including 43 postdocs › 200 taught students › 170 research students

Department: Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering

Degree reviews

Alumni review

"Many academics I spoke to at conferences helped me to understand the multifaceted issues faced when setting up my enterprise. They asked the right questions and helped me find solutions."

Steffie Broer

Urban Sustainability and Resilience EngD ()
Director, Bright Green Futures Ltd
Student review

"I applied for graduate study at UCL because of its great reputation, and because it had recently invested in developing a new department in biodiversity research. This seemed a great opportunity to be part of this new department in its infancy."

Alison Fairbrass

Urban Sustainability and Resilience EngD
Student review

"I find the fact that we may be able to retain infrastructure, rather than needing to knock it down and rebuild, inspiring and interesting. During the programme, access to industry and gaining an insight into how industry works without having to fully engage with it has been useful in helping to understand whether it is a future career choice I would like to make. "

Felicity Davies

Urban Sustinability and Resilience EngD

Application and next steps

Applications

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

Application deadlines

All applicants
31 July 2016
The start dates for students undertaking the four-year EngD programme in Urban Sustainability and Resilience is September.

For more information see our Applications page.

Apply now

Contact Information

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