Energy Technologies

The world faces major challenges in meeting the current and future demand for sustainable and secure energy supply and use. The one-year MPhil programme in Energy Technologies is designed for graduates who want to help tackle these problems by developing practical engineering solutions, and who want to learn more about the fundamental science and the technologies involved in energy utilization, electricity generation, energy efficiency, and alternative energy.

Energy is a huge topic, of very significant current scientific, technological, environmental, political and financial interest. The complexity and rapid change associated with energy technologies necessitates engineers with a very good grasp of the fundamentals, with exposure and good understanding of all main energy sources and technologies, but also with specialization in a few areas. This is the prevailing philosophy behind this MPhil, fully consistent with the prevailing philosophy and structure of the University of Cambridge Engineering Department as a whole.

The educational target of the MPhil in Energy Technologies is to communicate the breadth of energy technologies and the underpinning science. The objectives of the course are:

1. To teach the fundamental sciences behind technologies involved in energy utilization, electricity generation, energy efficiency, and alternative energy.
2. To develop graduates with an overall view of energy engineering, while offering specialization in a selected area through a research project.
3. To prepare students for potential future PhD research.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be expected to have developed fundamental knowledge on primary and secondary energy sources, on energy transformation, and on energy utilisation technologies. They will also have developed proficiencies in project management, in research skills, in team work, and in advanced calculation methods concerning energy technologies.

Graduates from this MPhil will be excellent candidates for doctoral study (at Cambridge and elsewhere) and for employment in a wide variety of jobs (for example: in industrial Research and Development departments; in policy-making bodies; in the utilities industry; in the manufacturing sector; in energy equipment manufacturing).

Continuing

Students wishing to apply for continuation to the PhD would normally be expected to attain an overall mark of 70%.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that all courses will be offered every year due to the availability of teaching staff and capacity limitations. The list below is not exhaustive and some of the listed courses may not be offered.

A. Core Courses (Obligatory)

The aim of the core courses is to bring everybody up to the same level, to introduce key terminology and skills, and to communicate the theme of the MPhil.  We are trying to cover each main primary energy source separately.  Each course counts as one credit.

These courses are delivered in Michaelmas and Lent, with seminars running throughout the year. Assessment is by coursework, which may involve either 2 x 2000-word reports or one 4000-word report.

B. Electives

Each course = 1 credit = about 16 lectures

The student must select 5 or 7 courses, depending on whether a student takes the "long thesis" or the "short thesis" option respectively. The final selection of courses will need the approval of the Course Director to resolve timetabling conflicts and avoid repetition.

B.1  Courses in CUED

• Selected courses from the MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development and from the MPhil in Nuclear Energy, if capacity permits.

Potentially, some 3rd-year courses for students with no prior experience in a particular area may be used (for example, a civil engineer who has basic fluid mechanics and is interested in wind energy may be allowed to take a 3rd-year heat transfer and aerodynamics course).

B2. Courses from other Departments:

From the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (their MPhil in Advanced Chemical Engineering):

• Particle Technology*
• Catalysis*
• B2 Electrochemical Engineering

From the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy:

• NE.10: Micro and Nano-electrochemistry

From the BP Institute / Department of Mathematics:

• Fluids and Natural Resources

C. Research project

Projects will be offered at the beginning of the year; final selection to be made by middle of Michaelmas term for the "long thesis", and by middle of Lent for the "short thesis" option. Group projects (2-4 students) and projects suggested by students are possible.

* Not offered 2015-16.

D. Student Load

At Cambridge, the lectures are very intensive so the students are expected to show significant initiative and exercise very tight time management.

A student taking the "short thesis" option will have an average of 6 courses per term, (with a little more load in Michaelmas than in Lent). Typically, each course has 16 lectures, which means 2x6=12 lectures per week. A student taking the "long thesis" option will have a little more free time from courses, to be spent on the research project.

• Magistr (Master's Degree) at Pass level. Diploma Specialista (completed post-1991) with a minimum overall grade of good or 4/5 Bachelor's from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and other prestigious institutions with an overall grade of 4/5 Bologna Bachelor's from other institutions with an overall grade of 5/5, Excellent
• Diploma Specialista (completed post-1991) with a minimum overall grade of Excellent or 5/5 Bachelor's from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and other prestigious institutions with an overall grade of 5/5
• IELTS (Academic) 7.0
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