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Medical Imaging MRes + MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2024 entry

If you require details of this year's programme, Medical Imaging MRes + MPhil/PhD (2025), click here

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

October 2024

February 2025

May 2025

Applications accepted

All applicants: 16 Oct 2023 – 28 Jun 2024

Applications closed

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or another closely related discipline, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Knowledge and expertise gained in the workplace may also be considered, where appropriate.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

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

In partnership with our NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Unit, PhD projects will be strongly multi-disciplinary, bridging the gap between engineering, clinical sciences and industry. Over 100 non-clinical and clinical scientists across UCL will partner to co-supervise a new type of individual, ready to transform healthcare and build the future UK industry in this area.

Who this course is for

As a multi-disciplinary subject at the interface of physics, engineering, life sciences and computer science, our postgraduate students have a diverse range of options upon graduation. Many choose to continue in academia through the subsequent award of a PhD studentship or a postdoctoral research post.

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

What this course will give you

The programme sits within i4health, a new centre for doctoral training focused on intelligent, integrated imaging in healthcare. The i4health centre aims to transform patient care through next-generation imaging tools and analysis. UCL's internationally leading positions in medical imaging and devices, data science and AI, robotics, and human-centred design, together with unique access to healthcare data and equipment, ideally place our centre to lead this transformation. UCL has significant activity in medical and biomedical imaging and several centres of excellence in their own right, and receives significant funding for its high-quality research. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council which funds the i4health centre among other centres for doctoral training. UCL currently holds over 40% of the EPSRC funding portfolio in medical imaging more than any other university.

Find out how your research could have an impact

Making an impact

UCL Portico building with welcome sign between columns.

Case study: A brighter future for the world's poorest children

The BRIGHT Project is providing the first ever brain imaging of infants in Africa.

The foundation of your career

Postgraduate study within the department offers the chance to develop important skills and acquire new knowledge through involvement with a team of scientists or engineers working in a world-leading research group. Graduates complete their study having gained new scientific or engineering skills applied to solving problems at the leading edge of human endeavour. Skills associated with project management, effective communication and teamwork are also refined in this high-quality working environment.

Thanks to this central role of UCL researchers in the MRI scientific community, I developed an excellent professional network early on, I had the opportunity of attending high-quality talks delivered by experts in my field several times per month, and I was exposed to the most recent innovations in my field.

Dr Emma Biondetti

Research Degree: Medical Imaging

Read more student testimonials

Employability

A common career route is employment in industry where newly-acquired skills are applied to science and engineering projects within multi-national medical device companies, or alternatively, within small-scale start-up enterprises. A substantial number of graduates also enter the NHS or private healthcare sector to work as a clinical scientist or engineer upon completion of further clinical training.

Networking

Supervision and mentorship are available from scientists and engineers who have collaborated nationally and internationally across clinical, industrial and academic sectors. This provides natural opportunities to work in collaboration with a variety of external partners and showcase output at international conferences, private industry events and clinical centres to audiences of potential employers. Moreover, the department holds close working relationships with a number of charitable, research council and international organisations, for example, in new projects involving radiotherapy and infant optical brain imaging in Africa.

Teaching and learning

The MRes programme will be delivered through a combination of formal lectures, seminars, laboratories, workshop sessions and independent or group project work.

The MRes year consists of compulsory units and transferable skills (135 credits) and further optional modules (45 credits). The MRes project is a compulsory element and often (but not necessarily) forms the basis for PhD research. Students will be provided with a list of available projects before enrolment which will be subject to a selection process.

Advanced electives are available to all students in years two and three (MPhil and PhD) and are designed to enhance learning and skills.

Students are registered for the MPhil degree from year two and transfer to PhD status.

The modules of this MRes Programme will be assessed by a series of methods including exams, coursework, group work, lab sessions and project work.

Each taught MRes module typically consists of around 30-40 lectures over a ten-week term (excluding reading week). During each week, including problem classes, you should therefore expect about 10 contact hours. This time is made up of formal learning and teaching events such as lectures and problem classes. You will need to spend your own time in addition to the timetabled hours reviewing the material and completing coursework. You should expect to be spending at least 40 hours per week on your studies as a full-time student. A pro-rata rate should be used as a guide for part-time students. Lectures are timetabled between 9am and 6pm apart from Wednesday afternoon when there are no lectures.

Research areas and structure

Our Methodological Research Portfolio is focussed around three major themes:

Imaging Technologies

Imaging Devices
Image Acquisition
Image Reconstruction

Image Computing

Image Analysis
Computational Modelling

Integrated systems

Actionable Analytic Systems
Interventional Systems

Our Enabling Technology Portfolio includes:

AI and Machine Learning
Data Science and Health Informatics
Robotics and Sensing
Human-Computer Interaction

Finally, the eight clinical research programmes in our Translational Portfolio are:

Research environment

Our vision is to train the translational imaging research leaders of the future, filling a critical gap identified in academia, pharmaceutical and medical devices industries, while delivering internationally competitive research. Our innovative training has a strong focus on new image acquisition technologies, novel data analysis methods and integration with computational modelling.

The MRes degree is a 1 year programme followed by the research degree is a 3 year programme (full-time or 5 year part-time) which offers an MPhil or PhD outcome.

You are required to register for the MPhil degree and then transfer to PhD after successful completion of an upgrade Viva (9 -18 months after initial registration).

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

Students are permitted to include an internship either via an interruption or in conjunction with their research - these opportunities are discussed with the supervisor and programme directors. Students are strongly encouraged to attend and present at conferences relating to their area of research.

The MRes degree is a 1 year programme followed by the research degree is a 3 year programme (full-time or 5 year part-time) which offers an MPhil or PhD outcome.

You are required to register for the MPhil degree and then transfer to PhD after successful completion of an upgrade Viva (9 -18 months after initial registration).

Upon successful completion of your approved period of registration you may register as a completing research student (CRS) whilst 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 Services 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

There are no additional costs associated with this programme.

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

Please visit the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent, Integrated, Imaging in Healthcare (i4Health) for current funding information. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/intelligent-imaging-healthcare/ For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

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

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.

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students.