Civil and Water Engineering (MSc)

How will I be taught?

A wide range of teaching styles will be used to deliver the diverse material forming the curriculum of the programme. You will attend lectures and participate in examples classes. You must complete 120 credits in Stage 1 in order to progress to the dissertation, for which you will be allocated a supervisor from among the teaching staff.  Dissertation topics are normally chosen from a range of project titles proposed by academic staff, usually in areas of current research interest, although you will be encouraged to put forward your own project ideas.

How will I be assessed?

Assessment is conducted via coursework and examinations.

You will be required to undertake an individual research project in a specialist area of Water Engineering, leading to the preparation of a dissertation. Project work is undertaken under the direct supervision of a member of staff in one of the three participating departments.

How will I be supported?

You will receive supervision from experts in their field during your project and dissertation, and will have access to the research facilities of the School.

Feedback

You will receive written feedback for written coursework assignments and oral feedback for assessed presentations. 

What skills will I practise and develop?

You will practise and develop the following skills: 

Knowledge and understanding

• Understand the multidisciplinary nature of hydro-environment engineering and the need for the integration of knowledge from a range of engineering disciplines in the management of hydro-environment engineering challenges.
• Describe the techniques used to characterise the hydrodynamics of free surface flows, including species and particle transport.
• Describe and model the principal geochemical processes affecting contaminant mobility in the ground and their role in impacting the quality of groundwater and surface waters.
• Describe surface water biota and biological processes, and the effects of contaminants on the ecology of surface waters.
• Describe the modelling of river systems and the interpretation, using IT, of the results.
• Understand the basis of the finite element and finite difference methods and apply the methods to 2D water problems.
• Demonstrate knowledge which is at the forefront of a range of disciplines selected from: geological, geoenvironmental, flooding, environmental law, environmental and highway engineering and the management of engineering.

        Intellectual skills

• Use knowledge and scientific, evidence-based, methods in the assessment and solution of hydro-environment engineering challenges, often on the basis of limited and possibly contradictory information.
• Deal with complex water engineering issues both systematically and creatively.
• Critically review the background to a hydro-environment engineering problem and to formulate a programme of works to address the issue.
• Systematically undertake a significant research project in hydro-environment engineering which includes originality in the application of knowledge and the exercise of critical engineering judgement.
• Show originality in tackling both familiar and unfamiliar problems.
• Collect, evaluate, synthesise and interpret qualitative and quantitative data in a variety of ways, and identify means to gain new data where needed.
• Conceive, plan, execute, and communicate the results of an extended in-depth piece of individual project work.
• Sustain a critical argument, both in writing and through presentations.

        Practical skills

• Use appropriate mathematical and experimental methods for the modelling and analysis of hydro-environment engineering problems.

        Transferable skills

• Manipulate, present and report data in a variety of ways.
• Manage resources and time.
• communicate ideas, principles and theories effectively by oral, written, and physical or practical means.