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Chemical Engineering MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

£6,035

£3,015

Overseas tuition fees (2024/25)

£31,100

£15,550

Duration

3 calendar years

5 calendar years

Programme starts

Research degrees may start at any time of the year, but typically start in September.

Applications accepted

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A UK Master’s degree in a relevant discipline with Merit or above; or an MEng degree from a UK university with an upper second-class or above; or an overseas qualification of equivalent standard.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 1

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

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

If you are intending to apply for a time-limited visa to complete your UCL studies (e.g., Student visa, Skilled worker visa, PBS dependant visa etc.) you may be required to obtain ATAS clearance. This will be confirmed to you if you obtain an offer of a place. Please note that ATAS processing times can take up to six months, so we recommend you consider these timelines when submitting your application to UCL.

Equivalent qualifications

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. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

Research is a core activity in the department, and it covers a broad range of scales from the molecular to the complex systems level. Our work is organised in five research groups: Catalysis & Reaction Engineering, Electrochemical Engineering, Molecular & Engineering Thermodynamics, Multiphase Systems and Product & Process Systems Engineering, addressing challenges in three research areas: Energy & CO2, Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing and Health & Environment.

Who this course is for

Our MPhil/PhD programme appeals to students from a wide spectrum of disciplines including, health, energy, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, bioengineering and more who wish to develop cutting-edge solutions to grand challenges.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

Our PhD programme involves a wide range of challenging and innovative engineering problems in tandem with the opportunity to be supervised and mentored by world-leading academics. Many of our PhD students are involved in industry-led projects acquiring a diverse set of analytical, business and problem-solving skills.

We offer exceptionally well-equipped research laboratories across our campuses in Bloomsbury and UCL East in Stratford, fully backed up by technical services. World-class computing facilities are also available for those involved in computational studies.

Graduates from our PhD programme have an outstanding track-record of securing competitive positions in industry, academia, consulting, finance as well as founding their own successful start-up companies.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

Chemical engineering offers great potential for bringing quantitative understanding to the service of the chemical industry. Chemical industry alone is one of the UK's largest manufacturing industries and number one exporter. The skills achieved by our students not only make them employable in the major chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, food and energy industries, but are also transferable to other sectors including environmental technology, biotechnology and even management and finance. Our graduates have been employed in major industries such as GSK, Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Shell, Amec, Tate & Lyle Sugar, as well as continuing successfully in academia.

Employability

Recent graduates have secured positions in a wide range of industries, from engineering to finance. Examples of organisations include: Shell UK Exploration and Production, AMEC, Petrofac, Sun Chemicals, M W Kellogg, Procter and Gamble, Barclays Bank, UBS and HSBC. Many of our graduates who chose an academic career pathway hold academic posts in world-leading universities.

Networking

Extensive networking opportunities are provided through our weekly international departmental seminar series where eminent and worldwide experts from academia and industry talk about their research and development and new cutting-edge applications. The department has strong links with the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the Royal Academy of Engineering as well as other learned societies via the breadth of research undertaken in the department. In addition, career development seminars are embedded in the teaching curriculum and provide the students with an opportunity to learn more about the process and network with their peers as well as invited guests.

Teaching and learning

Apart from your primary supervisor you will be assigned a secondary one who you will meet regularly. As part of your degree you will participate in training courses from the UCL doctoral school, attend departmental seminars and related activities in the department.

Students of the programme are initially registered for the MPhil degree with the expectation to pass the upgrade viva and transfer to PhD within the first 18 months from their initial enrolment. For the successful upgrade from MPhil to PhD candidates are required to prepare a written report and pass an oral examination focusing on their preliminary findings and future plans.

For the award of a PhD, candidates will be examined on their final research thesis and have a viva with two independent examiners.

Research students’ attendance is not formally monitored; however, it is expected that their research time mirrors that of staff engagement as closely as possible. It is therefore recommended that full-time research equates roughly to 36.5 hours per week; this should be pro-rata to whatever part-time-equivalent has been agreed, but not normally less than 50% the full-time-equivalent (FTE). If a student has external funding, they should also ensure they meet the Terms & Conditions of their funder in this regard.

Research areas and structure

Catalysis & Reaction Engineering
Electrochemical Engineering
Molecular & Engineering Thermodynamics
Multiphase Systems
Product & Process Systems Engineering

Within these areas, research expertise includes:

Catalysis, photo catalysis and electro catalysis
Cement chemistry and processing
CFD modelling of multiphase flows
Computational catalysis
Data mining and visualisation
Electrochemical engineering
Fracture mechanics
Fuel cells and batteries
Functional materials
Kinetic modelling
Micro reaction technology
Molten salts
Particle technology (crystallisation and fluidisation)
System modelling and optimisation
Statistical modelling
Thermodynamic modelling
Two phase flow
X-ray, micro PIV

Research environment

Through our research, we aim to create pioneering breakthroughs in science and technology and seek solutions to Grand Challenges (such as energy, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, materials, sustainable manufacturing, health and environment), based on significant advances in fundamental knowledge. To this end, we collaborate widely with other departments in UCL Engineering, Chemistry and beyond, as well as various academic and industrial research groups.

In the latest Research Evaluation Framework (REF 2021), 97% of our submissions rated as either “world leading” (4*) or “internationally excellent” in the Engineering Unit of Assessment at UCL.

The UCL Department of Chemical Engineering has access to a range of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment used for multidisciplinary research, including within our:

Bio-Energy Technology Research Laboratory
Materials and Catalysis Laboratory (MCL)
Multiphase Labs
Fluidization and Advanced Imaging Laboratory
Solar Energy & Advanced Materials (SEAM) Labs
Crystallisation and Nanoparticle Labs
Adaptive and Responsive Nanomaterials Labs
Centre for Correlative X-ray Microscopy
Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering Labs

Details about these labs and their equipment are available on our chemical engineering research website.

The length of registration for the research degree programme is 3 years for full-time and 5 years for part-time.

Within three months of joining the programme, you are expected to agree with your supervisor the basic structure of your research project, an appropriate research methodology and a realistic plan of work. You will produce and submit a detailed outline of your proposed research to your supervisor for their comments and feedback.

In your second year you will be expected to upgrade from an MPhil to a PhD. To successfully upgrade to a PhD, you are required to prepare a written report and pass an oral examination focusing on their preliminary findings and future plans.

Upon successful completion of your approved period of registration you may register as a completing research student (CRS) while you write up your thesis.

The length of registration for the research degree programme is 3 years for full-time and 5 years for part-time.

Upon successful completion of your approved period of registration you may register as a completing research student (CRS) while you write up your thesis.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2024/25)	£6,035	£3,015
Tuition fees (2024/25)	£31,100	£15,550

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

The programme may be subject to an Additional Fee Element (AFE). The AFE (also known as a bench fees) is levied to cover the additional costs related to consumables, equipment, materials, attending conferences etc. As each PhD project is unique in nature, the AFE is calculated on a student by student basis and is determined by the academic supervisor. The AFE is banded into four fixed amounts: £1,000, £2,500, £5,000, £10,000 with one further band for variable sums over £10,000.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs.

Funding your studies

The department receives Research Council awards for outstanding research students. Information concerning current studentships available can be found on the chemical engineering departmental website.There are a number of funding opportunities throughout the year. For instance, we offer the H. Walter Stern Scholarship. There are UCL Research Scholarships (GRS and ORS) available each year. There is also the Dean's Prize, which supports overseas fee-paying students who have won a competitive scholarship to cover their stipend, by waiving the international fees.

Eligible students may apply for a UCL EPSRC DTP award, such as the DTP Open Doctoral Studentships Competition or the Interdisciplinary DTP scheme.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

: CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarship

Value: Fees, maintenance and travel (Duration of programme)

Criteria Based on academic merit

Eligibility: EU, Overseas

UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship (ROS)

Deadline: 12 January 2024

Value: UK rate fees, a maintenance stipend, conference costs and professional development package (3 years)

Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need

Eligibility: UK

Next steps

Deadlines and start dates are usually dictated by funding arrangements so check with the department or academic unit to see if you need to consider these in your application preparation. In most cases you should identify and contact potential supervisors before making your application. For more information see our How to apply page.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.