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3rd Year onwards
At the end of their second year our Engineers make an informed choice about their future specialism into Civil, Electronic, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. For BEng students this will be the final year of their degree and they will complete a Technical dissertation project alongside their subject-specific taught modules. Our MEng students have additional course options in their fourth and final year and it is in this year that they complete their Research and Development dissertation project.
Dissertation projects
Our final year students complete an individual Research and Development or Technical project, which for many is the highlight of their degree.
The projects allow the students to work in our vibrant research environment alongside academic members of staff and their research groups. They are given access to state-of-the-art equipment and resources that are highly sought after by industry, such as: wind tunnels, high performance computing and our microfabrication cleanroom, amongst others. Each student will meet with their academic supervisor on, at least, a weekly basis to discuss progress and results. Students choose their project from a list based on the research interests of the academics within the Department and our industrial partners.
The Department of Engineering has a rich and diverse set of ongoing research activities, which are leveraged to create an impactful and worthwhile experience through the research and development projects. Many of these research activities are interdisciplinary and push the boundaries of knowledge to gain new insights into global problems.
Recent final year research and development projects have included:
- Control of an air to air refuelling drogue
- Simulation and characterisation of a microflow sensor
- The aerodynamics of Nascar drafting
- Inkjet printing of electronic components
- Drag reduction for wind turbine blade testing
- Shrinkage and swelling of clay soils
- Butterfly aerodynamics
- Flow dynamics in the heart
- Design and construction of a miniature thermoacoustic engine
Student research projects result in journal paper publications
We are particularly proud of our project students who successfully publish research articles using their project outcome in peer review journals.
My favourite part of the course has been my final year project. Having the opportunity to research in an area of engineering that you find interesting at your own pace is incredibly rewarding, especially when you produce a paper at the end summarising the hard work over the previous six months.