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Infrastructure Systems MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Engage with industry stakeholders across the infrastructure sector to advance your career, on this one-year MSc at UCL. With a focus on digitalisation, complexity sciences, resilience principles, and the circular economy, you’ll gain the expertise to tackle the world’s infrastructure challenges and contribute to societal well-being.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
£18,400
£9,200
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
£36,500
£18,250
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2025
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 27 Jun 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 29 Aug 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in an appropriate subject such as Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Computing, Architecture, Mathematics. Applicants with degrees in alternative disciplines will be considered if they have studied technical modules or have a minimum of 1 years’ work experience in any infrastructure service (e.g. utility operator, transport planning).

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.

This programme is suitable for international students on a Student visa - study must be full-time, starting September.

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


From transport, energy, water, and data communications, infrastructure systems are integral to our daily lives. 

On the Infrastructure Systems MSc, you'll acquire a deep understanding of topics related to interdependent infrastructure systems – from governance and policy, sustainability, circular economy, and data communications to complexity science and digital technologies.

Our hands-on teaching focuses on resilience, sustainability, security, and infrastructure performance, and how these elements evolve over time. You'll also examine how innovations like the circular economy are driving significant changes across infrastructure sectors to meet the needs of industry, government, and consumers. 

You’ll learn all about the decisions infrastructure systems experts need to make from a societal, economic, and environmental standpoint. This “Bigger Picture” element will help you tackle infrastructure disruptions, balance demanding performance expectations, and address sustainability concerns while exploring the nexus of digital technology and industry transformations. 

There’s a big emphasis on transferable skills like stakeholder engagement, critical assessment, research-driven decision-making, investigations, systems thinking, and project management – which, when coupled with your technical expertise, will make you highly sought after for jobs in consultancies, construction firms, government and non-governmental bodies.

Who this course is for

This programme is ideal if you have a passion to make a difference in the infrastructure sector. 

It is suitable for graduates in engineering, physics, chemistry, computing, architecture, mathematics, or similar fields. Applicants with degrees in alternative disciplines will be considered if they have studied and succeeded in relevant technical modules or have a minimum of 1-year relevant work experience in infrastructure system services. 

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

This degree offers you the following opportunities and benefits:

  • A postgraduate degree 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. 
  • Work with expert academics and researchers in UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, who specialise in different disciplines, including engineering, urban resilience, policy, structures, infrastructure planning, transport, energy, and more. 
  • Join the Infrastructure Systems Institute (ISI), part of the UK Data Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI) and the UK Collaboratorium for Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC). As part of ISI, you’ll have access to seminars, conferences, and collaborate on papers and projects with various research and academic institutions.
  • Build strong collaborative research skills, working alongside experts from UCL and industrial partners to carry out various projects and receive input to refine designs. 
  • Take advantage of our research and industry links, including attending seminars and exhibitions by industry leaders taking place at UCL.
  • Study in the world's best city for university students (QS Best Student Cities 2024). UCL’s Bloomsbury campus is in the heart of a London district famous for its cultural and educational institutions.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme
Making an impact
UCL Portico building with welcome sign between columns.

Case study: What's in the air?

We're seeking solutions to the impact of construction work on London residents’ health and wellbeing

The foundation of your career

Our graduates excel in infrastructure-related roles across consultancies, construction firms, government and non-governmental bodies, for instance. Graduates from our department have gone on to work with employers such as ARUP, MACE, Network Rail, TfL, WaterAid, and more. 

There is a compelling need for more professionals planning, designing, managing and operating infrastructure assets to have a stronger understanding, appreciation and capability in the system of infrastructure as a whole. The title adequately reflects the aims are both timely and relevant. Particular areas of topical relevance are those on digitalisation, circular economy and resilience, nicely aligned with other modules on decision making and public policy and governance.

UCL Portico building with welcome sign between columns.

Professor Gordon Masterton

MSc Infrastructure Systems

Employability

Our programme offers a combination of theory, practice, and innovation that will give you the strong technical and contextual foundation you need to progress into an industrial or research-based career centred on infrastructure systems and engineering.  

Networking

You’ll have regular opportunities to connect, collaborate and build professional contacts as part of your Master’s.  

  • Engage with peers, industry experts and faculty members at guest lectures and special seminars.
  • Take part in collaborative group projects, field trips, site visits, case studies, and workshops within the department and with industry partners.
  • Access UCL Careers for a variety of resources and events to support your career development, including CV workshops and 1-2-1 guidance.

Teaching and learning

This MSc programme is delivered through a mix of seminars, lectures, laboratory work, projects and practicals, which frequently draw upon real-life industry case studies. 

You may expect to run computational analyses or field investigations as part of your dissertation projects, depending on their specific requirements.

Assessment is through examinations (short-answer and multiple-choice questions), presentations, essays, coursework, and your individual research project, which you will submit as a dissertation.

Full-time students can expect 12-16 hours of contact time per teaching week. The exact number of contact hours, composition, and assessment varies throughout the terms, and depends on the module choices of the student.

This is a full-time course, which means students should expect a working schedule of approximately 35-40 hours a week.

Modules

Students take 120 credits of taught modules and 60 credits of project-based modules.

Students take two compulsory modules:

  • Introduction to Complex Infrastructure Systems (15 credits, T1)
  • Infrastructure Group Project (30 credits, T1 andT2)

Students select two pathways from the following:

Data/digitalisation

  • Data driven decision making (15 credits, T1)
  • Digitalisation in infrastructure (15 credits, T2)

Resilience

  • Interdisciplinary thinking in urban sustainability and resilience (15 credits, T1)
  • Risk, reliability, and resilience (15 credits, T2)

Sustainability

  • Systems society and sustainability (15 credits, T1)
  • Engineering for circular economy (15 credits, T2)

Public Policy

  • Data driven decision making (15 credits, T1)
  • Transport policy, governance and economics (15 credits, T2)

Students must also select a third optional module in T2 which may include any of the above T2 modules or:

  • Building energy efficiency (15 credits, T2)

During T3 students take 60 credits of project-based dissertation modules. They must choose two from the three options below.

  • Business Case Project (30 credits)
  • PEARL (Person Environment Activity Research Laboratory) Project (30 credits)
  • Public Policy Project (30 Credits) 

Students take 120 credits of taught modules and 60 credits of project-based modules over 2 years.

Year 1:

Students take 1 compulsory module:

  • Introduction to Complex Infrastructure Systems (15 credits, T1)

Students select a pathway from the following:

Data/digitalisation

  • Data driven decision making (15 credits, T1)
  • Digitalisation in infrastructure (15 credits, T2)

Resilience

  • Interdisciplinary thinking in urban sustainability and resilience (15 credits, T1)
  • Risk, reliability, and resilience (15 credits, T2)

Sustainability

  • Systems society and sustainability (15 credits,T1)
  • Engineering for circular economy (15 credits, T2)

Public Policy

  • Data driven decision making (15 credits, T1)
  • Transport policy, governance and economics (15 credits, T2)

Students select a 15-credit Term 2 module from:

  • Building Energy Efficiency (CEGE0119, T2, 15 credits)
  • Another T2 module (which if selected cannot be chosen in Year 2)

During Term 3 students take 30 credits of project-based dissertation modules. They must choose 1 from the 3 options below.

  • Business Case Project (30 credits)
  • PEARL (Person Environment Activity Research Laboratory) Project (30 credits)
  • Public Policy Project (30 Credits) (only if they selected the public policy pathway in Year 1) 

Year 2:

Students take 1 compulsory module:

  • Infrastructure Group Project (30 credits, T1 andT2)

Students select 1 pathway from the following (which must be a different pathway from Year 1):

Data/digitalisation

  • Data driven decision making (15 credits, T1)
  • Digitalisation in infrastructure (15 credits, T2)

Resilience

  • Interdisciplinary thinking in urban sustainability and resilience (15 credits, T1)
  • Risk, reliability, and resilience (15 credits, T2)

Sustainability

  • Systems society and sustainability (15 credits,T1)
  • Engineering for circular economy (15 credits, T2)

Public Policy

  • Data driven decision making (15 credits, T1)
  • Transport policy, governance and economics (15 credits, T2)

During Term 3 students take 30 credits of project-based dissertation modules. They must choose 1 from the 3 options below and it cannot be the same as they chose in Year 1.

  • Business Case Project (30 credits)
  • PEARL (Person Environment Activity Research Laboratory) Project (30 credits)
  • Public Policy Project (30 Credits) 

Compulsory modules




Optional modules




Interdisciplinary Thinking in Urban Sustainability and Resilience






Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Infrastructure Systems.

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.

Where you'll study

UCL PEARL building pictured from outside on sunny day

The Department boasts award-winning next-generation research facilities across UCL’s estate. Over the past few years, we have developed new state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to versatile and ambitious research aimed at creating safer and more inclusive public spaces. CAVE (Controlled Active Ventilation Environment) and PEARL (Person Environment Activity Research Laboratory) are two innovative research spaces that provide a full-scale testing facility where researchers can simulate real-life environments. These facilities are in line with UCL's Sustainability Strategy, supporting our bold ambition to become a net-zero carbon institution by 2030. PEARL is UCL's first net-zero carbon building. The StrEnTHE (Structural & Environmental Testing at Here East) laboratory offers large-scale structural and environmental testing capabilities, including the UK's only integrated environmental-mechanical rig for testing masonry wall specimens and other large structural elements under various loading and environmental conditions.

Find out more

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26) £18,400 £9,200
Tuition fees (2025/26) £36,500 £18,250

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

For Full-time and Part-time offer holders a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

The programme may involve some additional costs, which can vary depending on the specific modules and activities chosen. Not all of these will apply to every student, but these could include expenses for course materials, participation in site visits, necessary equipment for certain settings, or other project-related needs.

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

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

UCL East London Scholarship

Deadline: 26 June 2025
Value: Tuition fees plus £16,000 stipend ()
Criteria Based on financial need
Eligibility: UK

Next steps

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.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application, we would like to learn:

  • why you want to study infrastructure systems at graduate level
  • why you want to study infrastructure systems at UCL
  • what particularly attracts you to this programme
  • how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this programme
  • where you would like to go professionally with your degree

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver. 

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.

Year of entry: 2025-2026

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

cege-pg-admissions@ucl.ac.uk

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