Chemical Engineering MPhil/PhD
London, Bloomsbury
This is the programme information for 2025 entry
Unlock your potential to bring essential understanding and innovative technological solutions to the challenges of the future, with a research degree in chemical engineering. Join a community which collaborates widely with academic and industrial research groups globally.
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
Duration
Programme starts
Applications accepted
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis but should be submitted at least three months prior to your preferred start date.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.
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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.
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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
The MPhil/PhD programme at UCL Engineering will evolve you into a specialist in cutting-edge areas of chemical engineering.
Research is a core activity at UCL Chemical Engineering, covering a broad range of scales from the molecular to the complex systems level.
Collaborating with world-leading researchers, you'll develop research skills and establish a niche profile as a future leader in areas such as next-generation process and product manufacturing, energy and sustainability, materials and future health systems.
Your chosen specialism will be supported by one of our research groups:
- Catalysis & Reaction Engineering
- Electrochemical Engineering
- Molecular & Engineering Thermodynamics
- Multiphase Systems and Product & Process Systems Engineering.
You'll work with one or more of these groups to address challenges in the areas of Energy and CO2; Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing; and Health and Environment.
Who this course is for
This MPhil/PhD programme is ideal for you if you have a background in health, energy, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, bioengineering and more, and you have a keen interest in developing cutting-edge solutions to grand challenges.
What this course will give you
This programme offers you the following benefits and opportunities:
- Get a PhD from a top-ranked university. UCL is consistently ranked among the best universities globally (ranked 9th in the latest QS World University Rankings 2025), providing you with a prestigious qualification that is highly regarded by employers worldwide.
- Study at UCL Chemical Engineering, ranked 20th in the world (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024). You'll be part of a connected research community, collaborating with colleagues at UCL and across a global network of academic institutions.
- Get involved in a wide range of challenging and innovative engineering problems, with the supervision and mentorship of world-leading academics.
- Take advantage of industry-led projects acquiring a diverse set of analytical, business and problem-solving skills.
- Leverage our research partnerships in the Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering, UCL CoMPLEX and the UCL Materials Chemistry Centre.
- Enjoy well-equipped research laboratories across our campuses in Bloomsbury and UCL East in Stratford, fully backed up by technical services. We also boast world-class computing facilities, for those engaged in computational studies.
- Set yourself up for competitive positions in industry, academia, consulting, and finance, or in academic research.
The foundation of your career
Recent graduates have secured positions in a wide range of industries, from sustainable 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 now hold academic posts in world-leading universities.
Employability
Chemical engineering offers great potential for bringing quantitative understanding to the service of the chemical industry. The 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.
Networking
You will have regular opportunities to connect, collaborate and build professional contacts as part of your degree.
- 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.
- 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.
- You can attend events provided by and get helpful advice from the UCL Careers team.
Teaching and learning
Apart from your primary supervisor, you will be assigned a secondary supervisor who you will also 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 2 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 recommended that full-time research equates roughly to 35-40 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
UCL Chemical Engineers create pioneering breakthroughs in science and technology, harnessing research to solve real-world problems in energy and environment, sustainable materials and manufacturing, and health. Research in our Department falls primarily into the following domain areas:
- Catalysis and Reaction Engineering: for example, heterogenous catalysis; electrocatalysis; photocatalysis; multiscale computational catalysis; reactor catalysis; process intensification; advanced thermochemical technologies.
- Electrochemical Engineering: including batteries; fuel cells; hydrogen production; supercapacitators.
- Molecular and Engineering Thermodynamics: molecular modelling and simulation; nanoscale materials engineering; nature-inspired chemical engineering; separation processes.
- Multiphase Systems: intensification of multiphase processes; interfacial and thermodynamic properties of liquid-liquid mixtures; development of innovative experimental techniques; advanced x-ray imaging; fluidisation; crystallisation and nanoparticle synthesis; CO2 mitigation; rheology and fluid dynamics.
- Nature-inspired Chemical Engineering: scalable manufacturing and process intensification; energy and environmental technology; materials engineering; applications in built environment and design; biomedical and healthcare engineering.
- Product and Process Systems Engineering: optimisation of sustainable product and process design; machine learning and model-based design of experiments; supply chain planning and sustainable development; multiscale modelling and simulation; energy systems engineering; systems medicine.
Visit UCL Chemical Engineering’s research website for more.
Research environment
Our research aims to create pioneering breakthroughs in science and technology and seek solutions to Grand Challenges, based on significant advances in fundamental knowledge. The Challenges we are tackling include energy, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, materials, sustainable manufacturing, health and environment.
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.
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The length of registration for the research degree programme is 3 years for full time.
Within 3 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.
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The length of registration for the research degree programme is 5 years for part time.
Within 3 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.
Accessibility
Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.
Fees and funding
Fees for this course
Fee description | Full-time | Part-time |
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Tuition fees (2025/26) | £6,215 | £3,105 |
Tuition fees (2025/26) | £33,000 | £16,500 |
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 4 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 visit our estimated cost of essential expenditure on the accommodation and living costs webpages.
UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.
Funding your studies
Information concerning current studentships and funding opportunities available can be found on the department’s current vacancies webpage, as well as on the bursaries and scholarships page.
There are also funding opportunities throughout the year. For instance, we offer the H. Walter Stern Scholarship. The Research Excellence Scholarship is also available each year, as well as 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.
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CSC-UCL Joint Research Scholarship
Value: Fees, maintenance and travel (Duration of programme)Criteria Based on academic meritEligibility: EU, OverseasUCL Research Opportunity Scholarship (ROS)
Deadline: 10 January 2025Value: UK rate fees, a maintenance stipend, conference costs and professional development package (3 years)Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial needEligibility: 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.
Choose your programme
Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.
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