Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre (ECRC) strives to take a comprehensive approach to cancer research, combining both laboratory-based research and clinical approaches.
Overall the centre studies the genetic and biological basis of cancer and disease pathology, and devises and test new forms of therapy arising from our basic, translational and clinical research programs.
Our ultimate aim is to carry out high quality research into effective cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, as well as the symptoms associated with cancer.
ECRC is part of the Edinburgh Medical School's Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences at the Western General Hospital. This centre, as part of a unit of Hospital-Based Clinical Subjects, was rated 5* in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise.
We have 18 academic staff, 40 research staff, 35 support staff and 22 students.
Robots have the potential to revolutionise society and the economy, working for us, beside us, and interacting with us. This EPSRC-sponsored programme will produce graduates with the technical skills and industry awareness to create an innovation pipeline from academic research to global markets.
The robotics and autonomous systems area has been highlighted by the UK Government in 2013 as one of the eight Great Technologies that underpin the UK's Industrial Strategy for jobs and growth. Key application areas include manufacturing, assistive and medical robots, offshore energy, environmental monitoring, search and rescue, defence, and support for the ageing population.
The University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University are jointly offering this innovative four-year PhD training programme, which combines a strong general grounding in current theory, methods and applications with flexibility for individualised study and a specialised PhD project.
Robotics and autonomous systems are increasingly studied beyond the range of classical engineering. Today robots represent one of the main areas of application of computer science and provide challenges for mathematics and natural science.
It is impossible to imagine transportation, warehousing, safety systems, space and marine exploration, prosthetics, and many other areas of industry, technology and science without robots. Robots are used in theoretical biology and the neurosciences as a model of behaviour.
Areas of interest specific to the center include: movement control, planning, decision making, bio- and neurorobotics, human-robot interaction, healthcare applications, robot soccer, neuroprosthetics, underwater robotics, bipedal walking, service robots, robotic co-workers, computer vision, speech processing, computer animation realistic simulations, and machine learning.
Many more topics can be found be exploring the Centre’s web pages, particularly the personal web pages of the Centre supervisors:
Our four-year PhD programme combines Masters level coursework and project work with independent PhD-level research.
In the first year, you will undertake four or five masters level courses, spread throughout robotics, machine learning, computational neuroscience, computer architectures, statistics, optimization, sensorics, dynamics, mechanics, image processing, signal processing, modelling, animation, artificial intelligence, and related areas. You will also undertake a significant introductory research project. (Students with previous masters-level work in these areas may request to take less courses and a larger project.)
At the end of the first year, successful students will be awarded an MSc by Research by the University of Edinburgh. From this basis, the subsequent three years will be spent developing and pursuing a PhD research project, under the close supervision of your primary and secondary supervisors. The PhD will be awarded jointly by the University of Edinburgh and the Heriot-Watt University.
You will have opportunities for three to six month internships with leading companies in your area, and to participate in our industrial engagement programme, exchanging ideas and challenges with our sponsor companies.
Throughout your studies, you will participate in our regular programmes of seminars, short talks and brainstorming sessions, and benefit from our pastoral mentoring schemes.
Our user partners in industry include companies working in offshore energy, environmental monitoring, defence, assisted living, transport, advanced manufacturing and education. They will provide the real world context for research, as well as opportunities for reciprocal secondments, internships and involvement in our industrial engagement programme.
The School of Informatics holds a Silver Athena SWAN award, in recognition of our commitment to advance the representation of women in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. The School is deploying a range of strategies to help female staff and students of all stages in their careers and we seek regular feedback from our research community on our performance.
You will have access to the outstanding facilities in the Edinburgh Robotarium, a national facility for research into robot interaction, supporting the research of more than 50 world-leading investigators from 17 cross-disciplinary research groups.
Research groups at the Edinburgh Robotarium include humanoid movement control, underwater, land and airborne autonomous vehicles, human robot interaction, bio- and neuro-robotics, and planning and decision making in multirobot scenarios.
In addition, our research groups contain a diverse range of compute clusters for compute and data-intensive work, including a large cluster hosted by the Edinburgh Compute and Data Facility.
Our aim is to produce innovation-ready graduates who are skilled in the principles of technical and commercial disruption and who understand how finance and organisation realise new products in start-up, SME and corporate situations.
We intend for our graduates to become leaders in the globally emerging market for autonomous and robotic systems that reduce risk, reduce cost, increase profit and protect the environment. This vision is shared by our industrial supporters, whose support for our internship programme indicates their strong desire to find highly qualified new employees.
Our component research groups already have excellent track-records in post-graduation destinations, including the research labs of industry-leading companies, and post-doctoral research positions in top tier universities.
As a multidimensional phenomenon, it is essential that pain is managed through planned multidisciplinary initiatives and inputs that aim to ease patient suffering and improve quality of life. Through a solid, theoretical understanding of the biological, psychological and social concepts that drive, develop and maintain pain, students will explore the multifaceted nature of pain and its effects. Students will gain an advanced understanding of the specialist area of pain management and will develop the core skills and knowledge required of an advanced pain practitioner.
Each course of the programme is divided into a set of themed sections in which material is presented in a blend of short online lectures, practical case studies, directed readings, podcasts and webinars. This is supplemented by discussion boards that provide directed assessment tasks while input from expert guest lecturers and tutors offer students opportunity for collaborative critical discourse and debate of current issues.
This part-time, fully online programme attracts an international and multi-professional student cohort and offers a unique opportunity to have direct contact with others working in pain management across the world. Within this context, students will gain the knowledge, understanding and evaluative skills to provide advanced clinical care so as to improve outcomes for people living in pain.
This programme is affiliated with the University's Global Health Academy.
By studying at the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, students will join a rich tradition of education – one of the oldest institutions in the UK - but also one of the most progressive and dynamic.
The University of Edinburgh has a growing portfolio of established and highly regarded online distance learning postgraduate programmes, with thousands of students currently taking advantage of this mode of education. As a postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh, you will become part of a supportive online community, able to take advantage of the University’s strong academic tradition, while studying together students and tutors from across the world.
The University of Edinburgh offers a number of outcome awards from its suite of pain management programmes. For those wishing to complete a short option, there are continuing professional development (CME/CPD) courses and for others, who may wish to pursue a longer programme option, there are University awards of Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) and Master of Science (MSc) – all delivered online using methods that are fully supported by the University’s award-winning online learning environments.
The key differences between the University awards are the number of credits needed to achieve each award:
Postgraduate Certificate - Level 1 (60 credits)
The Postgraduate Certificate level courses allow students to gain a solid, theoretical understanding of the biological, psychological and social concepts that drive, develop and maintain pain.
Through six core courses covering, assessment and measurement of pain, mechanisms of pain, and the pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of pain, students will explore pain's multifaceted and dynamic nature. In the final core course, students will examine selected conditions seen in clinical practice.
Postgraduate Diploma - Level 2 (60 credits)
(not all Level 2 courses will be offered every year) On successful completion of the Postgraduate Certificate courses, the 60 credits at Postgraduate Diploma level allow students to select courses that focus on areas of pain management that are congruent with students' career goals and clinical or personal interests.
Through a number of course options, including, but not limited to, courses in cancer pain, medical pain, acute pain, neuropathic pain and pain in ageing populations, students will gain an advanced understanding of key areas in pain management. At this level, students may opt to begin to take courses in the areas of either headache management or veterinary medicine to gain a named PGDip or MSc award.
Master of Science - Level 3 (60 credits)
On the successful completion of 120 credits, students are able to proceed to the Master of Science level of the programme. There are a number of options at this level:
Degree Awards with a Headache or Veterinary Designation?
We also offer Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) and Master of Science (MSc) awards in the focussed clinical areas of headache management and veterinary medicine.
Alongside the core pain programme content, students have the option to take a number of courses in specific clinical areas to gain the award of PGDip/MSc Clinical Management of Pain (Headache) or PGDip/MSc Clinical Management of Pain (Veterinary). To gain a named award (i.e. a Headache or Veterinary designation), students must complete at least one third of the credits of the award in the focussed area.
Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD)
Postgraduate Professional Development is aimed at working professionals who want to advance their knowledge through a postgraduate-level course, without the time - or financial - commitment of a full Masters degree, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate. We offer short, focussed, academic credit-bearing courses that provide education on key subjects in pain management.
You may take a maximum of 50 credits worth of courses through our Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) scheme. These credits are recognised in their own right as postgraduate-level credit, or may be put towards gaining a higher award, such as a Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or MSc at the University of Edinburgh or another academic institution.
By combining academic excellence with the University of Edinburgh’s world-class reputation, graduates from our suite of programme are well placed to continue and advance their clinical careers within the NHS or other health services, pursue advanced academic study, or work in industry. Equally, graduates can expect to be academically confident and may choose to pursue academic careers in related fields.
The International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering (IMFSE) is a two-year educational programme in the Erasmus+ framework.
This masters programme is jointly offered by the following three full partner universities:
Additionally, there are three associated partners where students can perform thesis research:
Classes in Edinburgh focus on fire dynamics, fire safety engineering and structural design for fire. Classes in Ghent have a more general fire safety engineering focus. Classes in Lund emphasise enclosure fire dynamics, risk analysis and human behaviour.
Our Building Research Establishment (BRE) Centre for Fire Safety Engineering hosts bespoke equipment to support groundbreaking research and teaching, with combined thermal and mechanical loading and use of the latest image analysis techniques.
IMFSE is very pleased to involved seven industrial partners as official sponsors. With their annual financial contributions, it has been made possible to create the IMFSE Sponsorship Consortium, which awards IMFSE students with full or partial scholarships. The current sponsors are:
The programme consists of four semesters each worth 30 ECTS credits. Changing study location after each semester lets you benefit from the expertise of each university.
Semester 1
Students choose to study at either Ghent or Edinburgh.
Ghent University:
And 9 ECTS credits from the following elective courses (subject to approval by the faculty):
The University of Edinburgh:
Semester 2
Lund University:
Semester 3
Students choose to study at either Ghent or Edinburgh.
Ghent University:
The University of Edinburgh:
Semester 4
The masters thesis can be completed at one of the three full partners universities, or at one of the three associated partners. The thesis work is supervised by at least one of the full partner universities.
We aim to train the next generation of leaders in this field; there is currently great demand for fire safety engineering graduates worldwide and graduates have gained relevant employment or enhanced career opportunities.
A fire safety engineer fulfils a broad range of duties, in various ways related to fire. This can range from designing fire protection for a space station, to protecting treasures such as the US Constitution, to safely securing the occupants of a high-rise building from fire hazards.
Fire safety engineers are in great demand by corporations, educational institutions, consulting firms, and government bodies around the world. You may find career opportunities in the following industries:
An ideal environment for the study of theatre, Edinburgh brings the performing arts alive through its many theatres, performing companies and, of course, the famous Edinburgh International Festival and the accompanying Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
This programme draws on this inspiration, as well as the research and practical expertise of our exceptional body of staff, which ranges across a broad sweep of cultures and historical periods.
You will be introduced to dramatic and theoretical material from different periods and cultures, and explore the differing conceptions of the roles and perceived dangers of dramatic representation and performance in those cultural contexts.
Supporting your studies will be the resources of our newly created Centre for Film, Performance and Media Arts, as well as professional placement opportunities with local companies and theatres.
You will take three compulsory courses, as well as one option course and two research skills courses. You will then work towards an individually researched dissertation.
Compulsory courses:
Option courses may include:
Work placement/internship opportunities
You will have the opportunity to take internships with theatre institutions across the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and to work with performing artists-in-residence, who will offer workshops in each semester. You will also be encouraged to attend theatre productions in Edinburgh.
During this programme, you may identify a topic which you would like to progress to a research degree, and potentially a career in academia. Alternatively, the skills you gain and the networks you develop during any professional placement you undertake will equip you to enter the thriving world of the arts as a practitioner or administrator.
You will also gain many highly transferable skills in communication, project management and research that will benefit you in any career you choose.
This new three year part-time Masters programme, taught entirely online, is jointly offered by the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and leads to the degree of Master of Science (MSc). It has been developed in partnership with NHS Education for Scotland (NES).
Aimed primarily at optometrists seeking formal postgraduate training in community-based clinical care, this programme is also highly relevant for medical and surgical trainees entering specialty training in ophthalmology.
This degree is aligned with the curricula of both the FRCSEd and FRCOphth examinations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, making it very attractive to domestic and international students.
This programme is aimed at supporting optometrists seeking formal postgraduate training in community-based clinical care and also medical and surgical trainees entering specialty training ophthalmology.
This programme gives trainees first-rate preparation for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCSEd) and Fellowship of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (FRCOphth) examinations or equivalent, with additional emphasis on acquired knowledge and its application.
The third-year MSc research project also serves as an opportunity to develop an academic career.
The programme is taught entirely online. Students are supported by synchronous and asynchronous discussion with e-tutors - all leading clinicians in their field - and have access to a large learning resource, including subscriptions to key online books and journals. Students will be expected to lead e-seminars and e-journal clubs.
Our online learning technology is fully interactive, award-winning and enables you to communicate with our highly qualified teaching staff from the comfort of your own home or workplace.
Our online students not only have access to Edinburgh’s excellent resources, but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.
The programme is headed up by Professor Baljean Dhillon.
Delivered through an online learning environment, this programme runs on a semester basis over three years and involves approximately 10-15 hours of study each week in a flexible, modular manner. All modules are compulsory and are taught and assessed using a clinical problem-based approach and involve participation in discussion boards and reflective portfolios.
Students accumulate credits by completing a series of modules leading to a Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Master of Science degree. The minimum time for completion of the full Masters programme is three years, and the maximum time for completion is six years.
At the certificate and diploma levels, students must attend an end-of-year examination, held in Edinburgh for UK-based students or with a pre-approved partner institution for international students.
Year 1: Certificate
Year 2: Diploma
Year 3: Masters
The final year involves a supervised masters research project, which will be undertaken in an approved topic that reflects your subspecialty interest and will require the submission of a written project report.
This programme is designed for:
The award of MSc will highlight the student’s commitment to continuing professional development in their chosen career and will ensure a competitive edge when applying for clinical positions. The MSc will also help prepare them for an academic or research career.
The MSc is also relevant to GPs and trainee GPs with a special Interest in ophthalmology, family medicine physicians, orthoptists, ophthalmic nurses and other eye healthcare professionals seeking to advance their understanding of primary care ophthalmology and its interface with secondary care.
Within a rapidly changing domestic and international environment, the work of stage managers is becoming more complex and technically challenging. The entertainment and live events industries are growing rapidly and the need for skilled stage managers has never been greater. The evolving range and scope of where, and how, live entertainment is delivered leads to often difficult and sometimes contradictory demands and challenges for the stage management team. This leads to a situation where there is a need for graduates with more holistic and integrated perspectives regarding the management of entertainment and live events and the artistic, economic, social and environmental conditions in which they function. This course has been developed in response to this need, and is rooted in a belief that effective stage managers need training that is both practical and critically reflective. It will develop your knowledge of the contemporary issues affecting the management of entertainment and live events while equipping you with the practical skills that are essential for developing a career in the field.
The course is run in partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School, which specialises in postgraduate vocational training and combines a well established industry focus with successful graduate employment. It combines the best aspects of the vocational, practical and academic models.
This MA is designed as a conversion degree and we welcome applicants from non-arts related subjects. It is suitable for both graduates who wish to add a vocational stage management emphasis to their first degree, and those with equivalent professional qualifications or experience. It is likely to be of interest to those who studied the arts and humanities at undergraduate level, or those with significant workplace experience who would like to gain a formal qualification.
Teaching comprises a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, case studies, simulation exercises, and projects. You will undertake professional practice working with QMU shows and events as well as engaging with the wider industry. Your performance on the course will be assessed by essays, reports, reflective blog, portfolio, presentations and a dissertation or project (MA only). Normally, there are around six to eight students undertaking the course each year.
Each module will require you to attend classes and carry out independent work. Most modules consist of five or six hours of class time each day during the teaching periods of the semester. Where possible, all teaching takes place over three days per week.
Our partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School ensures an active industry focus to the course with key professional practitioners delivering master classes and practical workshops. Our location in the festival city also allows for strong practical links between the course and the many arts, festival and cultural organisations based in and around Edinburgh, across Scotland and the UK.
15 credits: Core Technical Skills for Theatre Production/ Managing Productions: Theory & Practice/ Advanced Technical Skills for Theatre Production/ Managing People & Projects 30 credits: Professional Practice 1 (15 + 15)/ Professional Practice 2 (15 + 15)
If studying for an MA, you will also complete a dissertation or project (60 credits).
You will be qualified for a broad range of stage management positions within a wide spectrum of live entertainment and live events industries. Many career opportunities are open to you. Previous graduates (Edinburgh Stage Management School) have gone on to work in theatres, performing arts organisations, festivals, corporate events and ceremonies. In addition, many now tour within the UK, Europe and internationally. Potential careers might include producing, fundraising, marketing, programming, or audience development, as well as many other roles across the cultural industries and all professions requiring skills in effective management.
Jointly delivered by Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (ESALA) and the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure & Society at Heriot-Watt University, this programme builds upon the expertise and knowledge developed in both institutions.
The MSc in Urban Strategies & Design is taught by academic researchers with international research experience, links and interests, in a range of urban areas. This wealth of knowledge and the use of contemporary pedagogies is integrated into the programme’s delivery.
The programme encourages the adoption of a comprehensive approach towards the delivery of socially sustainable urban transformation, from local-specific to global-regional interventions. You will study the wide and diverse range of social, economic and political processes that influence the development of the contemporary urban environment. The course also seeks to enable you to acquire the tools and skills to propose urban projects of diverse scales and specificities.
Students on the programme come from a range of multidisciplinary backgrounds and work collaboratively to understand how urban design approaches respond to contemporary urban transformations. This analysis is framed not only from a Western perspective but acknowledges that urban transformations in the urban north are increasing interlinked with activities in the urban south. Course pedagogy involves traditional lectures, seminars, excursions and other relevant group activities.
The city of Edinburgh offers a unique laboratory for exploration of current urban design issues. The city’s renaissance to ‘Geddesian’ planning history, and more contemporary international planning pedagogy and consultancy links to urban institutions and bodies, particularly in the global south, provides a good platform from which to support student-led, location-based dissertations.
The programme seeks to address the gap between architecturally driven urban design and higher-level, spatial planning-driven, urban design;, bringing together a range of approaches relevant to urban design that are currently being developed within different professional and disciplinary practices, ranging from engineering to human geography.
You will study four compulsory courses at Heriot-Watt University in semester one, then study one compulsory course and one option course at the University of Edinburgh in semester two.
Should you wish to write an Africa or Latin America focused dissertation, you will choose African Cities or Latin American Cities options within the USD programme. Otherwise you can select any option course being offered at Edinburgh University which fits with your second semester timetable.
Once all coursework is completed, you will go on to write your USD dissertation, over a ten-week period, on an urban theme topic of your choice. Defined dissertation support will be provided, and submission formats discussed.
An MSc in Urban Strategies & Design enables you consider career opportunities from local to international contexts in a range of disciplines: architecture, planning, landscape architecture, urban planning strategies and development planning. These career opportunities exist in the formal, (public and private) voluntary, and international development sector. There are also opportunities to proceed to further academic research at masters or doctoral level.
The programme disseminates imaging knowledge, skills and understanding, in order to enable effective and efficient use of imaging, clinically, in research and in industry.
Our flexible, intermittent, part-time, online distance learning (OLDL) programme aims to:
Access world class teaching at the University of Edinburgh, while maintaining your local professional & personal commitments where you live, thereby keeping down costs by not being resident in Edinburgh.
Our online students not only have access to Edinburgh’s excellent resources, but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.
You may choose to study to Certificate, Diploma or Masters level.
Find out more about the compulsory and optional courses in this degree programme. We publish the latest available information for this programme. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year.
You may take up to 30 credits per semester, 60 credits per year.
Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) is aimed at working professionals who want to advance their knowledge through a postgraduate-level course(s), without the time or financial commitment of a full Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.
You may take a maximum of 50 credits worth of courses over two years through our PPD scheme. We offer online credit-bearing courses which run for 11 weeks at a time. These lead to a University of Edinburgh postgraduate award of academic credit. Alternatively, after one year of taking courses you can choose to transfer your credits and continue on to studying towards a higher award on a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme.
Although PPD courses have various start dates throughout a year you may only start a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme in the month of September. Any time spent studying PPD will be deducted from the amount of time you will have left to complete a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme.
Please note that individual elective courses will only run if there is a minimum of 4 students taking the course.
This programme is an ideal programme to help you in your neuroimaging research-based career, giving you advanced and well recognised expertise in the field.
This online programme is jointly offered by the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. It covers the UK Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum.
This programme gives you first-rate preparation for the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examination, with additional emphasis on acquired knowledge and its application.
The third-year MSc research project also serves as an opportunity to develop an academic career in surgery.
This programme is affiliated with the University's Global Health Academy.
Our online learning technology is fully interactive, award-winning and enables you to communicate with our highly qualified teaching staff from the comfort of your own home or workplace.
Our online students not only have access to Edinburgh’s excellent resources, but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.
Delivered through an online learning environment, students accumulate credits through a series of modules leading to a certificate, diploma or masters qualification.
At the certificate and diploma levels, students must attend an end-of-year examination, held in Edinburgh for UK-based students or with a pre-approved partner institution for international students.
Year 1: certificate
Year 2: diploma
Year 3: masters
The final year involves a masters research project in which you will plan, execute and develop a research paper, potentially involving clinical or laboratory research.
This programme is designed to let you study towards your MRCS in a flexible way.
Sustainability, Earth and Atmospheric Science Masters Degrees - School of Earth and Environment
