Master of Physics

at Heriot-Watt University - Edinburgh Campus United Kingdom

This is an advanced, specialist course in the rapidly expanding area of renewable energy engineering with a clear Mechanical Engineering focus. The course is aimed at students wishing to develop critical understanding of the significant changes afoot in the energy system due to the development and integration of wind, marine, biomass and solar technologies. The course will enable graduates to develop and implement creative solutions to the problems encountered in renewable energy capture, conversion, storage and management.

Students will gain the knowledge and skills to assess renewable energy resources, design appropriate renewable energy systems, evaluate the performance of these systems and assess the wider impacts of renewable energy development. The course provides introductory courses to fundamental energy science and current energy issues, while the project-led courses focus on the design of renewable energy systems. The course concludes with a research-led dissertation in the summer.

Renewable energy research focuses on six main areas:

• Photovoltaics and Solar Energy
• Wind and Marine Energy
• Renewable Energy Systems
• Minimising CO2 Emissions
• Biofuels
• Wind and Marine Energy

Since the 1990s Heriot-Watt University has had an internationally renowned research group in Mathematical Biology, Ecology and Medicine. This group includes Jonathan Sherratt, Andy White and Kevin Painter; all of whom are leading researchers in mathematical biology with strong international reputations.

Building on the strength of this research group we are excited to be launching a brand new MSc Programme in Mathematical Biology Ecology and Medicine. The programme includes high level and high quality courses that will provide a comprehensive training in mathematical modelling of problems in the life sciences, in mathematical techniques to study these models, and in the use of data to both inform and test the models.

During the summer you will do an extended project on a cutting-edge research topic that is aligned with our research interests. These include work on wound healing, pattern formation in developmental biology, epidemics, cancer, semi-arid ecosystems, and evolution. The programme will open up for you a wide range of career paths and possibilities for future study.

The Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree aims to develop students’ understanding of the area of Business Administration and Management and develop practical skills appropriate for careers in this area. Theory and practice are given equal emphasis to give a holistic understanding of the role of Business Administration as well as knowledge of and skills associated with business start-up, growth and innovation.

The course covers basic knowledge, combined with recent developments in research. It’s designed to help you develop your advanced mathematical and statistical skills – giving you an understanding of their application to the formulation and solution of real-world problems. In essence, this degree in mathematics combines specialist knowledge with key transferable skills.

Heriot-Watt University's Masters degree in Business Psychology is the most established of its kind in Europe. In this programme, the MSc's core modules are blended with the expertise of our respected academics from the field of Human Resource Management.

This specialist MSc blends Human Resource Management with Business Psychology, a discipline also known as Occupational Psychology and Organisational Psychology, which equips you with a depth of understanding around the psychological mechanisms that drive positive behaviours and performances in the workplace.

By viewing the workplace through a psychological perspective, and by developing analytical, critical thinking, and reflection skills, you will learn to recognize and improve seemingly intangible aspects of the workplace which, when appropriately managed, can directly improve performance, in areas such as:

• Job satisfaction
• Well-being
• Leadership
• Organisational commitment
• Organisational culture
• Performance and productivity

Business Psychology graduates often build extremely rewarding careers in Human Resource Management within a range of industries. This is why Heriot-Watt has created this specialist programme which blends our world-class teaching in Business Psychology with our expertise in Human Resource Management to create a specialist programme that develops a range of skills which are highly-desirable to employers.

Heriot-Watt Mechanical Engineering degrees are ranked 1st in Scotland and top 10 in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2020. An industrial panel are involved to ensure the course content reflects the changing needs of industry and that our graduates have the knowledge and practical skills required to successfully gain employment.

Student teaching benefits from our strong industrial links, in particular the involvement of the industrial panel in the assessment of 4th year design projects, providing a realistic client scenario.

Programme Structure:
The first two years of the degree provide a grounding in the core disciplines of mechanical engineering, which allows students to make an informed choice of the options in the following years. An individual project forms part of Year 4. Students can graduate at the end of year 4 with a BEng Mechanical Engineering, or progress to the MEng programme, if academic grades are suitable. The 5-year MEng degree is the standard route towards Chartered Engineering professional qualification.

Our masters degree in Interpreting is designed for those who have native/near-native command of English and one other language from:

• Chinese
• French
• German
• Spanish.

You will be taught by experts from the fields of interpreting practice, linguistics, research and education and given the chance to bring your skills to a professional standard through regular practice in our newly-refurbished interpreting booths, which are modelled on those used by the United Nations and the European Union.

This programme is designed for those who want to work as professional interpreters and has been thoughtfully designed to give you expertise to use in a range of contexts including:

• Conference interpreting
• Health-care interpreting
• Legal interpretingEuropean exchange
• Simultaneous interpreting
• Educational interpreting.

This practical interpreting programme provides around 15 hours of academic contact per week in our language labs including weekly multilingual mock-conferences in our interpreting labs.

Our BSc Computer Science degree focuses on constructing robust and usable systems. As well as looking at cutting edge tools and techniques, it’s designed to help you build the next generation of software tools that other system constructors will use. The course aims to give a well integrated balance of theoretical underpinnings and practical experience, strongly informed by the research expertise of our academic staff.

All Year 3 students take part in a year-long group project, where they co-operate in tackling a large, realistic problem. Year 4 students conduct a major, year-long, individual dissertation project.

You can take advantage of our international campuses by taking part in an Inter-Campus Transfer. This gives you the opportunity to study Computer Science at our Dubai campus for a semester or a year.

Our BEng (Hons) provides a broad-based education in electrical and electronic engineering. During the first three years students study topics from low current electronics to high power systems. In Year 4 you can choose from a set of specialist courses to complement your thesis topic selection.

Our teaching philosophy:
The philosophy behind all of our programmes is 'learning by doing'. Our programmes are designed to be practical and allow students to develop skills beyond traditional academic content.

Students work on both individual and group projects from the third year onwards, providing them with valuable hands-on experience. The projects challenge you to solve a real-life problem – such as the project in which our students helped design an electronic egg to monitor penguin incubation.

The MSc International Management and Business Communication programme concentrates on developing professional communication skills in business contexts, as well as an understanding of intercultural and international business issues.

While students on this programme are not required to work in any language other than English, the skills you develop can of course be applied in any professional communication context, regardless of language. There is a broad range of optional courses in professionally relevant subjects so that students can choose exactly which areas they would like to specialise in and can therefore tailor the programme to their interests and their professional needs.

If you would like to pursue study of another language in addition to English, you may prefer to take the MSc Translating for Business degree, which allows you to develop language, communication and translation skills specific to a business context in English plus your choice of one or two other languages from French, German and Spanish.