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Nuclear Engineering at Lancaster
Discover what studying Nuclear Engineering at Lancaster is like from our students and academics.
Practical hands-on courses including lab-based sessions and project work
Brand new state-of-the-art facilities
Get real-world experience with our placement years
Nuclear engineers design, build and operate equipment and processes that benefit humanity. Our Master's programme focuses on creativity and ingenuity to develop your design and implementation skills to an advanced level, and prepare you for your chosen career.
Nuclear applications cover a broad range of sectors from healthcare and cancer treatment through to power generation, national security and decommissioning activity. The industry is set to expand over the next ten years. With an estimated international spend of around £930 billion for building new reactors and £250 billion for decommissioning those coming offline, there is potential for the generation of 40,000 jobs in the UK nuclear sector alone.
Your degree will begin with a common first year, where you will be taught a series of modules that are taken by all first-year engineering students. We will introduce you to many of the key features of engineering, equipping you with a well-rounded understanding and skill set. Following the first year, you will have the opportunity to consider and plan your academic progression. At this stage, you may choose to begin your Nuclear Engineering study, or move onto any of our other specialist programmes.
Specialist modules in nuclear engineering begin in the second year, where you will also continue to develop your core skills as an engineer. This year you will study modules covering topics such as nuclear chemistry, nuclear engineering systems and nuclear safety. As our flexible programme begins to focus in on core aspects of nuclear engineering, you will develop practical skills, and test and analyse your design ideas in the laboratory or through computer simulation, using engineering IT tools.
On this programme, you may decide to spend a year in industry, gaining valuable experience and enhancing your employability. We have extensive links built through our leadership in research and have students undergoing placements with multinational corporate companies through to smaller specialist SMEs. Our degree programme is flexible as to when this occurs, but we would recommend the best opportunity is once you have gained a reasonable amount of engineering knowledge. Therefore, most appropriate time would be at the end of second or third year.
Your third year enables you to apply your skills in an individual project, during which you will learn to use professional software and develop your research and design skills further. You will also gain specialist knowledge, develop an interdisciplinary approach, and apply engineering principles to analyse key processes. This experience will allow you to grow and enhance your professional and discipline specific skills, and you will gain relevant real-world experience.
The MEng programme is accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer. The degree is also professionally accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).
All of your teaching is delivered by world-class academics and shaped by their outstanding research output. You will gain hands-on experience with access to cutting-edge facilities and an array of high-quality equipment in our state-of-the-art Engineering Building.
In the fourth year, you will be guided by our research excellence in nuclear instrumentation; nuclear decommissioning; and chemical processes; as well as our partnerships with Sellafield Ltd, Westinghouse Springfield Fuels Ltd and other specialist companies. You will undertake a group project that will allow you to experience a prolonged, live project that requires a multidisciplinary approach. Working in collaboration with an industry partner, or as part of one of our research activities, you will develop the ability to critically analyse and evaluate a project brief, gain experience in project management and learn to input your specialism into a wider context. This experience will be essential in preparing you for a graduate career.
Full or partial CEng eligibility
Nuclear engineering is a truly multi-disciplinary subject, going beyond just the provision of nuclear power for our electrical needs and expanding into sectors as diverse as medicine and space travel. From working in a nuclear power plant as a Nuclear Safety Engineer, to going into the automotive industry or medical and healthcare technology development, there are a wide range of career opportunities open to graduates from nuclear engineering courses – and some of our graduates even go on to further study and lead in their specialist field as academics. The ability to think creatively to solve problems, alongside your experience managing projects and applying practical and technical knowledge to novel scenarios will make you a desirable employee for careers that even sit outside of traditional engineering destinations. Graduates from our Engineering degrees are well-paid too, with a median starting salary of £27,250 (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2022).
Here are just some of the roles that our BEng and MEng Nuclear Engineering students have progressed into upon graduating:
Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with the relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.
A Level AAA
Required Subjects A level Mathematics and a Physical Science, for example, Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, Computer Science, Design & Technology or Further Mathematics.
GCSE Minimum of four GCSEs at grade B or 5 to include Mathematics at grade B or 6, and GCSE English Language at grade C or 4.
IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.
Interviews Applicants may be interviewed before being made an offer.
International Baccalaureate 36 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects including either:
Acceptable physical science subjects include Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Design Technology.
BTEC (Pre-2016 specifications): Distinction, Distinction, Distinction in an Engineering related subject to include Distinctions in Mathematics for Engineering Technicians and Further Mathematics for Engineering Technicians units.
BTEC (2016 specifications): Distinction, Distinction, Distinction in an Engineering related subject to include Distinctions in the following units – Unit 1 Engineering Principles, Unit 3 Engineering Product Design and Manufacture, Unit 6 Microcontroller Systems for Engineers, Unit 7 Calculus to Solve Engineering Problems. Unit 8 Further Engineering Mathematics is highly recommended.
We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualifications. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.
Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
This module encourages students to analyse real-world problems, and to use a logical design path and tools and techniques such as 2D and 3D CAD, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), and Form over Function to arrive at a design that meets the initial requirements. Often working in teams, students will learn about the full product lifecycle, from customer requirements to design process and to product recycling/disposal. As well as the practical aspects of design and innovation, the module covers other skills such as marketing, packaging, completing a statement of requirements, and the human brain.
The module is based on exploration and discovery and evaluated through coursework alone. It also incorporates the ‘IMechE Design Challenge’, a ‘design-make-test’ competition held annually between North West universities.
The module starts with the fundaments of Ohm’s law and introduces the main laws and theorems necessary to understand direct and alternating current flow in a circuit, including Kirchoff’s laws and different simplification theorems. Every student will be able to reduce a circuit to its simplest form and carry out basic voltage and current split calculations.
The module provides students with an understanding of the role and main functions of the key component blocks in many state of the art electronic systems. The theory will be supported with case study applications, where students will look at systems such as the electric guitar, computer mouse, electronic fuel injection and the telephone. Students will gain a basic understanding of the limitations and headline specifications of these items including sensors, signal conditioning, analogue-digital conversion, processors and actuators, and following the flow of information through a typical system.
Students will learn how to perform the basic calculations that underpin the subject, and confidently analyse and solve engineering problems and design solutions.
Applying mathematics to real world problems is a key skill for engineers. This module introduces students to a range of mathematic techniques that can be directly applied to engineering problems. Amongst the topics covered, students will learn about indices and logarithms, as well as complex numbers to enable them to precisely describe an electrical current or signal. They will also learn to manipulate square matrices to find inverses and determinants, and will manipulate vectors to find scalar and vector products.
The mathematical methods used here are put to use in engineering practicals and projects. For example, topics related to matrices are used in the second year robotics project for transforming coordinate systems.
Calculus is a flexible technique that can appear almost anywhere in engineering, from the smallest integrated circuit to the largest nuclear power plant, and this is reflected across the range of modules that calculus features in.
This module provides a broader understanding of functions, limits and series, and knowledge of the basic techniques of differentiation and integration. Students will come to understand the meaning of a derivative, both algebraically and graphically. They will also appreciate the meaning of an integral, and be able to integrate expressions directly by parts and by substitution. From this, students will apply integration to calculate physical quantities, including the arc length of a curve, the area and centroid of a plane region and the surface area, volume and centre of mass of a volume of revolution.
This module introduces students to a further range of mathematic techniques that can be directly applied to engineering problems including the application of matrices, for solving simultaneous linear equations. Students will learn about the application of the Laplace transform, a powerful technique used in electronics, control and vibration analysis which transforms differential equations to a linear function. They will also discover iterative methods that provide extra opportunities to find solutions to equations.
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to use a range of mathematical techniques which will be of use in future engineering and mathematics courses. Techniques include Fourier series, simultaneous linear equations, eigenvalues, Laplace transforms and partial derivatives.
Many of the fundamental equations of engineering are written in the form of differential equations and so, this module teaches students the skills necessary to work with these. Students will learn both analytical and numerical techniques, which are of particular relevance to future engineering modules that analyse fluid and heat flow and temperature distribution.
Students will learn to verify that a given function is a solution of a specified first-order or second-order differential equation. They will also, when given an initial-value problem featuring different types of differential equations, find their particular solutions. The equations that will be examined include separable first-order differential equations, linear first-order differential equations, and homogeneous and non-homogenous linear second-order differential equations with constant coefficients.
Introducing a range of key aspects of chemistry that is relevant to engineers, this module addresses atomic and molecular structure. It focuses on chemical reactions and bonding, as well as thermodynamics, acid, based and redox reactions, the kinetics of reactions, and nuclear chemistry. Lectures featured in this module are supported by weekly, small group tutorials that are designed to illustrate the practical applications of the concepts learnt in the lectures.
Students taking this module will develop an appreciation for the importance of electrons in a variety of chemical reactions, such as corrosion and polymerisation. Additionally, the module will enhance students’ ability to balance such chemical reactions, predict the results of key reactions and perform a variety of calculations relating to the determination of reaction rates.
A key feature of today’s cutting-edge electronic technology is the storage of information and its processing. This module uncovers the basic engineering principles behind these critical requirements such as Boolean algebra, truth tables, Karnaugh maps, logic gates and memory circuits. Students will gain both the knowledge and the vocabulary with which to understand digital electronic systems together with the background necessary to appreciate what is likely to be possible in the future.
The module also looks at how analogue electronic components can be combined to perform simple logic functions and how these logic blocks can be combined to perform memory tasks. Students will develop this concept towards the principle of a processor and will learn about simple programmable devices and how these relate to the range of programmable solutions that are currently available.
Sensing and extracting signals from the real-world is a fundamental requirement of virtually all electronic systems. This module provides students with the background knowledge and understanding of the ways in which signals are captured from sensors, then amplified, and then fed into a data acquisition system. It includes work on circuits and networks and introduces the op-amp, which is a fundamental building block of many analogue circuits. Students will also gain an understanding of basic sensor characteristics and of signals, including how they can be represented in the time and frequency domains and how they can be manipulated with filters.
Students have an opportunity to build and test the operation of op-amp and sensor circuits in a dedicated electronics lab during the module.
The global energy sector is continually evolving, particularly around the development of sustainable and renewable energy sources, and this module provides an understanding of this field along with conventional power generation and utilisation. Primarily, students will learn about the fundamental aspects of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and chemical and nuclear reactions which are essential for those who wish to specialise in these fields.
Students will gain an understanding of the ways in which energy is captured from renewable sources and produced from fossil fuel reserves, as well as a detailed understanding of wind turbine design. The module covers how hydroelectric schemes, tidal barrages and wave energy works and teaches students to make numerate comparisons of the energy available from these sources compared with thermal and nuclear power stations.
This wide-ranging module considers the engineering aspects of transport technology such as fuel consumption and how it may be reduced, types of engines and motors and electric drive systems for land transport. More specifically, students will look at the Otto cycle, aerodynamic drag, basic circuit theory, batteries and fuel cells. They will also learn how to calculate vehicle performance taking account of drag, mass, and propulsion characteristics. Energy flow diagrams for IC engines and electric and hybrid vehicles will be covered, as well as thermodynamic cycles for petrol and diesel engines and their major components.
There are four practical exercises associated with this module reflecting the wide scope of the content. They include evaluating the efficiency of an internal combustion engine, which requires a group to partially dismantle the engine and make measurements to determine its compression ratio and valve timings. The group will then reassemble it and perform calculations based on their measurements. Another exercise involves the economic assessment of a new light rail transport system in the North West.
Manufacturing is at the foundation of global prosperity and is a continually developing field. This module covers a wide range of manufacturing processes used in engineering from the well-established practices such as casting and moulding to modern, growing methods such as additive manufacturing. By the end of the module, students will have gained knowledge of a range of materials and ways of producing them as manufactured or part-manufactured components whilst estimating the cost of doing so.
The lectures are accompanied by hands on experience of machining, welding and material testing techniques in dedicated workshops. There will also be at least one industrial visit to see manufacturing processes in action (most recently Jaguar Land Rover).
The human skeleton, a suspension bridge and a car chassis are examples of structures that are designed to transmit forces from one place to another. To do this safely and efficiently it is important to adopt the right arrangement of load-bearing components and to use materials with appropriate strength and stiffness. In this module, students will learn about structural forms and beam theory and will develop their ability to analyse engineering problems by calculating internal stress of components in tension, compression and bending, and by applying the Euler buckling theory. As a result, students will gain an appreciation of designing simple engineering structures to achieve the required strength and stiffness for a wide range of manufactured products.
Practical sessions will be delivered in our labs and students will work in groups to design, build and test efficient steel box beams to withstand a set load. The exercise comprises application of the analysis techniques learnt in lectures, an element of creative design, sheet metal fabrication and testing, and a final written project report including analysis of the failed beam.
Focusing on the fundamental aspects of process engineering, this module aims to equip students with an understanding of basic processing terminology such as batch, semi-batch, continuous, purge and recycling. There will be a review of processes, along with flow diagrams, process variables and units, and students will become familiar with the mass balance of non-reactive systems, including general material balance of a single-unit operation and multiple-unit operations.
This module will allow students to assign process variables, units and economics; students will develop knowledge of industrial processes along with a working understanding of phase equilibrium thermodynamics to chemical processes. A range of vapour-liquid equilibria, covering the level rule, ideal solutions, Raoult’s Law, Henry’s Law, volatility and relative vitality, will be approached in detail on the module.
Control is about making engineering devices work efficiently and safely. This module gives students the ability to programme to a level where they are able to solve everyday engineering problems, such as controlling the movement of a robot arm. They will gain the ability to use functions, arrays and pointers, and will be able to manipulate strings, format the input/output and carry out basic mathematical calculations.
The fundamentals of structuring and writing a computer programme are included and students will gain experience at interfacing with practical engineering systems such as a motor. The module will be particularly relevant to students with an interest in robotics, computing and control.
This module considers a range of material in the wider business development area. Students are encouraged to think with creativity, entrepreneurial flair and innovation. Practical sessions allow students to demonstrate their progress on a weekly basis through idea generation, peer presentations, elevator pitches and formal presentations. The module is accompanied by a number of external industrial speakers who have been successful in their own business endeavours and are keen to pass on that knowledge.
Students will become familiar with a rich mixture of experiential learning opportunities, that develop a wide range of transferable skills in the context of engineering entrepreneurship. The module will focus on the development and use of business plans and marketing strategies. Students will prepare a business plan, discuss team dynamics and the requirements for entrepreneurial activity. Additionally, the appropriate terminology to use when developing business projects will be explored. Students will discuss relevant aspects of company finance, uncertainty in business ventures and techniques for analysing markets. They will also examine frameworks for marketing and structuring a business plan and will develop the ability to analyse potential markets and sources of funding.
Introducing nuclear, oil, gas and chemical plant decommissioning, this module addresses the decommissioning market and related organisations. The module provides an insight into the £63bn UK nuclear decommissioning market, and follows the typical decommissioning lifecycle process from initial characterisation through to the final survey. Furthermore, the module encourages students to consider the role of decommissioning in the wider energy and transport industries. Students will gain an awareness of environmental cleanup issues as well as safe disposal, recycling and reuse of materials. Students will develop knowledge of the legislative constraints imposed on industry, specifically in the context of an environmental agenda, and will gain experience in balancing aspirations relating to the technical, economic and legal aspects of design justification.
Among the topics explored on this module, students will look at facility characterisation along with the planning and costing of decommissioning projects, as well as considering radiation issues and health and safety. Additionally, the module will cover waste disposal law, in addition to land remediation, WEEE directive, producer responsibility consumer vs. citizen and Environmental credential vs. functionality perceptions. The module also aims to enhance students’ understanding of ethical implications of technology development.
Students will learn to design and plan a decommissioning campaign, and will be able
Whilst alternating topic focus, this module explores RF engineering and electromagnetic processes in general. Students will gain knowledge of RF engineering, the decibel scale, and will explore complex number review. Additionally, the module will cover AC circuit analysis, and will provide complex representation of waves and transmission lines, along with seminars in RF transmission of data and basic RF receiver architectures.
The electromagnetic portion of the module will cover Electrostatics, including electric charge, electric field, electric flux density and electrostatic potential. Students will develop knowledge of inverse square law of force, dielectric polarisation and permittivity, as well as capacitance, energy storage, parasitic capacitance and electric screening.
Students will develop the level of understanding necessary to describe the concepts of potential, charge, field and capacitance, and will learn to apply Ampere, Faraday and Coulomb law. Students will also gain an understanding of ferromagnetic materials, and will develop the necessary skillset to calculate the magnitude and direction of the electric field strength, as well as discussing Gauss theorem and the relationship of electric flux to electric charge. Finally, students will be able to carry out noise calculations for RF systems, calculate component values and transmission line dimensions to match impedances, and will gain knowledge in the application of Smith charts to analyse an RF circuit.
This module introduces students to numerate aspects of engineering. It is designed to provide students with a broad and flexible array of mathematical methods for the analysis of data and signals. It also intends to illustrate the essential role of computing in the application of these skills. Students will use calculus for the analysis of trigonometric, non-linear, polynomial and exponential functions, and will sketch multivariable functions with a relation to engineering on three-dimensional Cartesian axes.
Additionally, students will evaluate the significance of differential equations in the description of an engineering system and will apply methods such as Laplace, integration and substitution to find the solution of these equations. They will also develop the ability to analyse systems in both the time and frequency domain using Fourier and Laplace transformations. Students will learn to apply the spectrum of approximate methods that exist for finding the roots of equations, definite integrals and linear approximations.
The matrix representation of coefficients and their correspondence will be applied to arrays in software, including the use of manipulations such as the inverse matrix. Students will use the concept of least squares analysis in order to assess the consistency of data. Finally, they will develop the ability to use a software package such as Excel for multivariable analysis of a given function and to produce appropriate graphical outcomes.
Students will be introduced to a range of key concepts in engineering project management and will put some of these into practice by means of an interdisciplinary group project. This module aims to motivate students to produce and test a functional electro mechanical machine to meet a given specification for example, the development of a mobile robot which follows a line. Students will develop a range of skills including, the ability to describe a mechanical/electrical system at the block diagram level, identifying its power and signal flows and writing an overall performance or functional specification. They will also acquire the knowledge necessary to integrate the functional requirements with other needs such as maintainability, safety, manufacturability, environmental impact and regulatory compliance. The requirements for interface management including spatial, mass, environment, control, failure modes, and energy, will also be discussed.
Additionally, students will develop the skill set required to prepare an interface management plan for a complete project and interface specifications for the subsystems/components. They will discuss the project lifecycle including specification, design, manufacture, commissioning, maintenance, modification and disposal. Finally, students will apply the principles of validating the design of a complex system using analysis, sample testing, type testing, commissioning, system tests and acceptance.
This module is designed to enhance students’ understanding of system dynamics and feedback at the block diagram level, by providing tools for the analysis of linear single degree freedom systems. Students will gain the ability to use appropriate instrumentation for feedback and data-logging purposes. The module will enable students to interface devices such as memory, digital IO and analogue IO to a microprocessor or microcontroller. They will also discover how to access such devices from within a program using C and/or Assembler.
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to develop single degree freedom models for simple mechanical, electric and electromechanical systems. They will also be able to discuss the assumptions necessary to develop such linear models and have an awareness of nonlinear and chaotic systems. Additionally, students will develop the ability to analyse 1st and 2nd order models in both the time and frequency domain, including vibrations and asymptotic stability. They will write down the transfer function of a system from its differential equation and understand the significance of the poles/zeros.
Further skills available on the module include the ability to manipulate block diagrams of open and closed-loop systems and the design of proportional, integral, derivative, velocity and multi-term controllers. Finally, students will construct and use Bode diagrams, and will develop the knowledge required to analyse the function and physical operation of a range of common types of transducer, e.g. for the measurement of strain, force, temperature and acceleration.
The first section of this module explores nuclear engineering, and will focus on its historical aspects, such as Roentgen, the Curies, Otto Hahn, the Fermi pile, Heisenberg, Manhattan project, enrichment issues, Klaus Fuchs and the UK programme, along with the influence of accidents. Additionally, students will be given an introduction to radioactivity fundamentals and neutrons, specifically their properties and processes. Students will also discover reaction modes, cross-section, 1/v and related resonances designs, such as Captain Rickover, Pile 1 and 2 and Magnox among others, as well as examining shielding physics.
The second portion of the module will explore nuclear chemistry, with particular attention paid to electronic structure, for example orbitals, electron transitions and valency. Additionally, this section will look at bonding and structure: ionic and covalent bonding, dative covalent bonding, physical bonds, metal ligand interactions, oxidation and reduction. Students will learn about uranium and its compounds: actinide chemistry, oxides and fluorides of uranium.
Students will gain the level of understanding necessary to discuss fundamental nuclear engineering concepts and define keywords, as well as historical aspects that have influenced nuclear engineering. They will also be able to discuss fundamentals of radioactivity and describe the fission process, along with the concepts of criticality and control. They module will also enable students to compare a range of reactor designs with the generic nuclear reactor, and describe how uranium mined in the ground fits into generic chemistry concepts. Finally, students will be able to describe how different compounds of uranium enable it to be extracted, refined and separated.
This module will enhance students’ knowledge of heat transfer calculations and aims to outline where these are essential to engineering design. Students will develop an understanding of electric power systems, including the characteristics of the main types of electric machine. In addition, they will gain the ability to estimate steady-state heat transfer rates and will be able to size simple parallel and contra flow heat exchangers. They will also develop the level of understanding required to estimate temperature distributions within 1-D or rotationally symmetric systems in which there is steady heat flow, as well as correctly sizing cooling fins.
Students will set up appropriate boundary conditions for 3-D heat conduction problems that are to be solved numerically using a software package and will estimate the time it takes for a thermal system to reach a steady state. Finally, they will be able to perform calculations to predict the performance of a single-phase induction motor and will be able to analyse the starting, speed and torque control methods used on induction motors.
The aim of this module is to introduce students to the foundations of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), including finite difference and finite volume methods, numerical solution of partial differential equations and von Neumann stability analysis. The advanced use of CFD for solving complex fluid dynamics issues will be explored and is crucial to several engineering branches including turbomachinery, hydraulic, aeronautical, renewable energy, environmental and chemical engineering.
Knowledge of the fundamental theoretical elements of CFD provided in this module enables students to correctly set up and solve problems in the aforementioned areas using state of the art commercial CFD software. The lab based component of the module aims to provide students with advanced expertise using key components of the CFD software. These include grid generation systems, CFD solvers (including choice of key physical modelling and numerical control parameters), and solution post-processors (including flow visualisation systems).
This module addresses the physical behaviours of a wide range of engineering materials by considering underpinning scientific concepts affecting resistance to failure by yield, fast fracture, fatigue, creep and corrosion/environmental degradation. Through the examination of case study examples, the module will inspect the connection between materials selection, processing and environmental/service conditions. The influence these factors have upon the economic and safe use of materials, in a range of common engineering applications, will also be explored.
Students will develop the ability to describe the limitations of yield based failure criteria when determining the resistance to failure by crack initiation, growth and fast-fracture. They will apply Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) concepts to the modelling of engineering components. They will gain the level of knowledge necessary to explain how fatigue testing is carried out in the laboratory, this is done whilst applying the results from such testing, to the modelling of engineering components.
The module will enhance students’ ability to describe the underpinning mechanisms that cause creep in materials. They will be able to use creep models and creep data to carry out basic calculations to predict the performance of materials under elevated temperature conditions.
Additionally, students will gain the skill set required to explain the underlying factors that affect the environmental degradation of materials, in particular those applicable to industrially significant metallic alloys. Students will reinforce their understanding of why the structural integrity of materials in engineering design, is a function of the structure-property-environment relationship. Finally, they will be able to exercise informed materials selection in engineering design.
The module involves students completing an individual project. They are responsible for the research, management and the design/practical element of the project. They will be assigned a project title and project supervisor who will guide and advise throughout the project. The module aims to give students an in-depth knowledge of a specific, specialist area of their subject. They will learn professional software, design or experimental skills consistent with subject.
Students can choose a specific area of development from a vast range of possible outcomes, and they will work towards their personal goal. Students can gain knowledge and understanding of scientific principles and methodology necessary to underpin their education in their engineering discipline, to enable appreciation of its scientific and engineering context, and to support their understanding of historical, current, and future developments and technologies.
Alternatively, students may choose to develop the ability to apply quantitative methods and computer software relevant to their engineering discipline, in order to solve engineering problems. There will also be an opportunity for students to learn and apply quantitative methods and computer software relevant to their engineering discipline, in order to solve engineering problems. Students can also develop an understanding of customer and user needs and the importance of considerations such as aesthetics, along with workshop and laboratory skills.
This module provides an introduction to integrated circuit engineering and integrated circuits, including key methods for their design, fabrication and testing. In this regard, the module will examine the principles of very large scale integrated circuit engineering and the digital design process. Among a vast range of topics, this module will address CMOS circuit engineering, and will focus on MOSFET short channel effects, switch model, digital design metrics and the design of logic elements.
Additionally, students will become familiar with arithmetic building blocks, memory elements classification, array structure and timing issues.
Students will develop the ability to analyse simple performance metrics and will derive circuits to implement simple functions, and will learn how to use an industrial tool to model, analyse and construct digital circuits.
This module introduces nuclear instrumentation applications. It offers students a review of radiation detection modalities, data analysis and interpretation, and addresses the detection and measurement of energy, count level, energy spectra and dose. Students will develop knowledge of safety issues associated with nuclear instrumentation, along with an ability to develop an awareness of the common nuclear instrumentation systems they might encounter in industry, medicine and research. Additionally, students are presented the opportunity to design an entire radiation detection system dependent on the scenario.
Over the course of the module, students will develop an understanding of the principal radiation detection modalities in use throughout the world, and will be able to set up some of these systems. The module will also reinforce students’ understanding of the statistical issues associated with the use of these instrumentation systems and the interpretation of their data. They will gain an awareness of the compromise between energy resolution and detection efficiency, as well as considering the safety issues associated with the use of nuclear instrumentation. In addition, students will gain the necessary knowledge to design basic shielding by using both mathematical methods as well as simulation type methods such as Monte Carlo, and will learn how radiation relates to actual dose received.
Introducing the effect of radiation on human tissue, this module addresses external beam radiotherapy, with a focus on history, methods, devices and techniques. The module will also cover internal radiotherapeutic methods and will look at sources and techniques, in addition to radiology and related imaging methods. Students will discover the concept of radiobiological effects, and to review three main aspects of nuclear medicine: external beam radiotherapy, internal radiotherapy and radiology.
Students will develop an understanding of the difference between ‘radiotherapy’ and ‘radiology’, and will learn to identify an appropriate method for the treatment of a given medical condition, i.e. the association of proton therapy viz. cancer of the cornea, iodine treatment for the thyroid cancer. Additionally, the module will enhance students’ ability to explain the principal parts of key nuclear medical systems such as LINACs, source deployment facilities, PET scanners among others.
Students will also learn to identify specific isotopes and explain how their properties relate to their common uses such as Tc99m for use in PET, etc.
Introducing the concept of systems and systems design, this module addresses structured methods of functional decomposition, and provides insight into functional modelling and creative thinking tools.
Students will develop knowledge in the importance of a structured approach to system and product design, including the skills for eliciting, capturing and analysing customer requirements. The module will also introduce functional modelling methods for the analysis and synthesis of a set of requirements.
In addition, students will be able to demonstrate a theoretical understanding of a systemic approach to systems design. They will develop skills for eliciting, capturing and analysing customer requirements, and will gain a theoretical understanding of system design and how it relates to systems engineering and its principles through divergent and convergent thinking processes.
For MEng Mechanical Engineering students, this module is core for those choosing to follow either the Design Pathway or the Energy & Resources Pathway.
Students are provided with the opportunity to experience live projects over a significant period of time, working in multidisciplinary groups and in a team project environment. They will bring specialist knowledge from their own degree disciplines for the benefit of developing a multidisciplinary solution to the project being undertaken.
The group projects are typically developed in partnership with industry collaborators or, are based on research activity within the School of Engineering. This ensures that they are at the cutting edge of research and/or have an industrial focus.
Students will develop the ability to critically analyse and evaluate a project brief, providing input based on their individual degree specialisation such as nuclear, mechanical or mechatronics. Students will implement a project management system for documenting and tracking, the system will require the agreement of time-constrained deliverables that can be changed over time. They will also create a fully justified design brief for a product, process or service that is underpinned by specialist knowledge, and takes account of a critical engineering analysis of the topic under consideration.
Additionally, students will produce a working prototype, product or process that takes account of and incorporates subject specific knowledge and is consistent with the commercial drivers of industrial stakeholders. They will also demonstrate the ability to collect, store, analyse and recall large sets of data or results that can be interpreted by all members of the multidisciplinary group. Finally, an understanding of issues such as health and safety, risk, ethics, environment, National/European/International standards and other regulatory frameworks that are subject specific will be developed and must be adhered to.
This module aims to familiarise students with the issues involved in starting up and running a company in a technological area, and to introduce the concept of entrepreneur as a transformational leader. Work placements will allow students to develop an appreciation of engineering problems within an industrial context.
Students will participate in a company-based problem solving or a design project, and will improve their understanding of a particular technological problem depending on the nature of their company placement. Additionally, students will gain a theoretical basis of operations management, strategy and strategic development, accounting, customer value and marketing, as well as managing human resources. The module will enhance students’ ability to carry out basic financial analysis for example, to forecast the company's future performance, and will provide them with a theoretical basis and practical experience of problem solving and teamwork. Finally, students will gain a theoretical basis and some experience of the Human Resources aspects of business.
For MEng Mechanical Engineering students, this module is core for those choosing to follow either the Design Pathway, the Energy & Resources Pathway or the Materials and Manufacturing Pathway.
This module introduces students to the design and application of intelligent control systems, with a focus on modern algorithmic, computer aided design methods. Starting from the well known, proportional integral algorithm, essential concepts such as digital and optimal control are introduced using straight forward algebra and block diagrams. The module addresses the needs of students across the engineering discipline who would like to advance their knowledge of automatic control and optimisation, with practical worked examples from robotics, industrial process control and environmental systems, among other areas.
Students will gain an understanding of various hierarchical architectures of intelligent control and will be able to analyse and design discrete time models and digital control systems. Additionally, they will gain the necessary knowledge to design optimal model based control systems and identify mathematical models from engineering data. Students will also learn how to design and evaluate system performance for practical applications.
This module will introduce the fundamental concepts underpinning nuclear fusion and the engineering challenges associated with its implementation as a power source. It will explore the fundamental fusion reactions and discuss the different engineering approaches to extracting useful energy from them, with a focus on magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). You will be provided with a basic grounding in electromagnetism and superconductivity to enable discussion of these confinement concepts and associated technologies, including lasers, magnets and diagnostics. Aspects of this course also aim to explore the tritium fuel cycle and materials issues unique to fusion, i.e. radiation damage, and how these are being developed with a focus on maintaining overall public acceptability. By the end of the course, you will be able to identify and critically evaluate the different approaches to exploiting fusion for electricity generation, identify and describe major systems in Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) and Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) reactor, as well as justify the selection of materials for key reactor systems and components.
The module is taught in collaboration with the world-leading Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
This module introduces students to Master's level study. Students are provided with the initial skills and guidance to get started on their projects (individual for MSc and in teams for MEng) and they will be introduced to the Department's system for ordering components. MEng students will receive their team brief prior to meeting with their supervisor, during which they will gain a good understanding of the full scope of the project and will discuss approaches to the topic set. They will also organise themselves into suitable roles within their team, and will be able to use the Department's ordering system.
Students will be introduced to various aspects of team working such as methods, problems and pitfalls. They will also discover MATLAB and Simulink revision sessions, and will participate in information searching.
Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.
Our Undergraduate Tuition Fees for 2024/25 are:
UK | International |
---|---|
£9,250 | £28,675 |
It will be necessary for students to purchase clothing for use in laboratories which is approximately £30. The University pays for student membership of the Institute of Engineering and Technology where appropriate plus contributes to specialist software and workshop materials.
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities.
For students starting in 2022 and 2023, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2024 have not yet been set.
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. VISA or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
Details of our scholarships and bursaries for 2024-entry study are not yet available, but you can use our opportunities for 2023-entry applicants as guidance.
Check our current list of scholarships and bursaries.
Our autumn open days give you Lancaster University in a day. Visit campus and put yourself in the picture.
Undergraduate Open DaysJoin Meenal and Vlad as they take you on a tour of the Lancaster University campus. Discover the learning facilities, accommodation, sports facilities, welfare, cafes, bars, parkland and more.
Undergraduate Open DaysThe information on this site relates primarily to 2024/2025 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.