This programme will provide you with advanced chemical engineering and process technology skills for exciting and challenging careers in the chemical and process industries. This programme also prepares graduates for a PhD study.
If you’ve studied chemical engineering before, you’ll develop your knowledge in key areas such as reaction engineering, process modelling and simulation, pharmaceutical formulation, and fuel processing. If your degree is in chemistry or another related science or engineering discipline, you’ll build your knowledge and skills to convert to a specialisation in chemical engineering.
The course has been designed to provide a greater depth of knowledge in aspects of advanced chemical engineering and a range of up-to-date process technologies. These will enable you to design, operate and manage processes and associated manufacturing plants and to provide leadership in innovation, research and development, and technology transfer.
Specialist facilities
Your Research Project module gives you the chance to study in cutting-edge facilities where our researchers are pushing the boundaries of chemical engineering.
We have world-class facilities for carrying out research in manufacturing (including crystallisation), processing and characterising particulate systems for a wide range of technological materials, as well as facilities for nanotechnology and colloid science/technology.
We also have high performance computing facilities and state-of-the-art computer software, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD), for modelling and simulation of a wide range of processes. This will provide a strong background knowledge in industrial process and equipment design and optimisation.
This course is accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) under licence from the UK regulator, the Engineering Council. This adheres to the requirements of further learning for Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.
The path you take through this programme will depend on your background. If your degree is in Chemical Engineering, you’ll take a suite of compulsory modules on advanced topics such as recent advances in chemical engineering, reaction engineering, multi-scale modelling (including CFD), pharmaceutical formulation and fuel processing. If your degree is not in Chemical Engineering, you’ll build the knowledge you need to succeed in this area with modules such as Separation Processes, Reaction Engineering and Chemical Process Technology and Design.
You’ll then complement this with a choice of optional modules, allowing you to gain specialist knowledge in a topic that suits your career plans or personal interests. Different modules will be available to you depending on your background – for example, if your degree is in Chemical Engineering you could study Process Optimisation and Control, while if your degree is in another subject you might want to gain an understanding of energy management.
Every student undertakes a research project that runs throughout the year. You’ll focus on a topic of your choice that fits within one of the School’s research areas and produce an independent study, reflecting the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired. This will enable you to gain experience of planning, executing and reporting a research work of the type you will undertake in an industrial/academic environment.
Want to find out more about your modules?
Take a look at the Chemical Engineering module descriptions for more detail on what you will study.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
For more information on typical modules, read Chemical Engineering MSc in the course catalogue
We use a variety of teaching and learning methods including lectures, practicals, tutorials and seminars. Independent study is also an important element of the programme, as you develop your problem-solving and research skills as well as your subject knowledge.
You’ll be assessed using a range of techniques including problem sheets, technical reports, presentations, in-class tests, assignments and exams. Optional modules may also use alternative assessments.
The research project is one of the most satisfying elements of this course. It allows you to apply what you’ve learned to a piece of research focusing on a real-world problem, and it can be used to explore and develop your specific interests.
Recent projects by students in MSc Chemical Engineering have included:
A proportion of projects are formally linked to industry, and may include spending time at the collaborator’s site over the summer
Career prospects are excellent. There is a wide range of career opportunities in the chemical and allied industries in process engineering, process design and research and development as well as in finance and management.
Graduates have gone on to work in a variety of roles at companies like National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement, the National Centre of Science and Technology Evaluation, Invensys Operations Management, Worley Parsons, Hollister-Stier Laboratories, BOC, ASM Technologies and more.
This one-year programme at the University of Edinburgh will immerse you in the most current developments in chemical engineering, through a combination of taught modules, workshops, a research dissertation, and a number of supporting activities delivered by the key experts in the field.
The programme will develop from fundamental topics, including modern approaches to understanding properties of the systems on a molecular scale and advanced numerical methods, to the actual processes, with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency, to the summer dissertation projects where the acquired skills in various areas are put into practice, in application to actual chemical engineering problems.
The programme develops from compulsory courses, emphasizing modern computational techniques and research methods, to a range of options. It is complemented by a strong management and economics component.
Compulsory Courses
In addition to the compulsory courses you will take a range of optional courses, please review the "Degree Structure" portion the MSc website listed below to find further information on available courses and course descriptions:
On completion of the research dissertation, the students will be able to:
Our graduates enjoy diverse career opportunities in oil and gas, pharmaceutical, food and drink, consumer products, banking and consulting industries. Examples of the recent employers of our graduates include BP, P&G, Mondelēz International, Doosan Babcock, Atkins, Safetec, Xodus Group, Diageo, Wood Group, GSK, Gilead Sciences, ExxonMobil, Jacobs, Halliburton, Cavendish Nuclear to name a few. This wide range of potential employers means that our graduates are exceptionally well placed to find rewarding and lucrative careers. According to the Complete University Guide, the chemical engineering programme at the University of Edinburgh is ranked one of the top in the UK in terms of graduates prospects.
Find our more about career opportunities:
The MSc in Advanced Chemical Engineering may also lead to further studies in a PhD programme. With the 94% of our research activity rated as world leading or internationally excellent (according to the most recent Research Excellence Framework 2014), Edinburgh is the UK powerhouse in Engineering. As an MSc student at Edinburgh you will be immersed in a research intensive, multidisciplinary environment and you will have plenty of opportunities to interact with PhD, MSc students and staff from other programmes, institutes and schools.
Find out more about our research:
In just a brief duration of time - in a few minutes or even in a fraction of a second - a fire or an explosion can have catastrophic consequences in residential buildings or in industrial plant. In UK alone, hundreds get killed and tens of thousands are injured every year. Some single incidents cost millions of pounds, the total monetary cost of fire and explosions in the UK is estimated at £12 billion per year or approximately 1% of GDP.This course offers students from diverse academic backgrounds advanced training in the field of Fire and Explosion Engineering for those wishing to embark on a career, or further develop their career, in the industry. Particular emphasis is placed on fire and explosion protection systems within a legislative framework that is complex and fast-changing.Core modules will cover both foundation and advanced aspects of fire and explosion engineering, from the factors that influence flame spread to the latest research in explosion prediction. You’ll also gain a firm grounding in fire safety design and have the chance to design a fire protection system for a complex building.
Specialist facilities
Some of the modules on this programme are offered as short courses by the Faculty of Engineering’s Continuing Professional Development unit.
Find out more about our Fire Engineering short courses
This programme is also available to study part-time over 36 months.
You’ll study core modules that allow you to understand issues such as flame spread and steady burning, as well as developing your knowledge of fire protection designs for complex buildings. You’ll also review research around explosions, how they can be predicted and mitigated.
A major part of the MSc are two projects that will give you valuable experience and skills.
The first project involves the design of a protection system, so you’ll learn about the application of techniques such as sprinklers, pressurisation, smoke venting, automatic fire detectors, means of escape and emergency lighting systems.
The other is a lab or computational based project taking into account your own preferences. You can choose from the list of topics we offer each year, but most part-time students choose to put forward their own topic which may be related to the interests of the employer or sponsor. If you take this course part-time with the support of your employer, you can undertake your projects in the workplace.
Both projects are assessed on the basis of a written dissertation and an oral presentation.
If you choose to study part-time, you’ll need to visit Leeds six or seven times over three years. You’ll attend two presentation days and either four or five teaching weeks, depending on whether you choose the e-learning module Fire Risk Assessment and Management.
Course features include:
The taught modules are assessed by coursework and 'open book' tests; typically within a period of 6-10 weeks from start to finish.
Want to find out more about your modules?
Take a look at the Fire and Explosion module descriptions for more detail on what you will study.
Compulsory modules
Each taught module is delivered in an intensive one-week block, allowing full and part-time students to study alongside each other. These teaching weeks will allow you to benefit from the expertise of our own academics – informed by their groundbreaking research – as well as a range of visiting lecturers from industry to gain an understanding of fire and explosion engineering in theory and practice.
Taught modules are assessed by via coursework and ‘open book’ tests, typically within 6-10 weeks from start to finish.
Challenging career opportunities for fire and explosion professionals are available in just about every type of business, industry and government operation.
They include fire and explosion consultancies, fire safety planning offices of local authorities, civil engineering and architectural companies, chemical/pharmaceutical companies, the oil and gas industries, fire and explosion protection equipment manufacturers, government bodies and departments, specialist research and testing labs and insurance companies.
Links with industry
Throughout the course you will have the opportunity to meet potential employers at the week-long taught courses.
The Fire programme at Leeds is actively supported and sponsored by, amongst others, the following companies/organisations:
