PhD Engineering

Program Overview

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An Integrated PhD provides a route into research study if you do not have a Masters degree, or have very little research training. It enables you to spend your first year completing a Masters-level qualification, followed by a full-time PhD studied over 3-4 years. We also offer a ‘standard’ PhD in this subject which can be studied either full-time (3-4 years) or part-time (6-7 years). The first year on our Integrated PhD Engineering, enables you to acquire the essential knowledge, skills, competency, and critical awareness necessary for a rewarding career in the electronics industry. We prepare you for a career in analogue and digital circuit design, an area with a major skills shortage worldwide and particularly in the UK. The content of your first year is far-reaching and includes theory, practice, simulation and realisation underpinned by our 40 years of expertise in electronics and telecommunications. All of your acquired knowledge culminates in a project which sees the design, simulation, construction, testing and manufacture of a complex electronic system aimed at the industrial or consumer markets. In your second year you move into the PhD element of the course. Our research activity and supervision for this course is concentrated in the following principal research areas: audio and video networking, multimedia architectures and applications, data communications and networking, RF engineering, radio, radar and electromagnetics, propagation, video, image processing and computer vision. Our cross-disciplinary projects draw on the expertise of our electronic engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists and psychologists. Our research covers a range of topics, from semiconductor device physics, the theory of computation and the philosophy of computer science, computational intelligence and computer games, to artificial intelligence and robotics, with most of our research groups based around laboratories offering world-class facilities. Our impressive external research funding stands at multi-million pounds per year and we participate in a number of EU initiatives and undertake projects under contract to many outside bodies, including government and industrial organisations. Our School is a community of scholars leading the way in technological research and development. Today’s electronic engineers are creative people who are focused and committed, yet restless and experimental. We are home to many of the world’s top engineers, and our work is driven by creativity and imagination as well as technical excellence. Why we're great.

• Our research covers a range of topics, from materials science and semiconductor device physics, to the theory of computation and the philosophy of computer science, with most of our research groups based around laboratories offering world-class facilities.
• We are one of the largest and best resourced schools in the UK. Our work is supported by extensive networked computer facilities and software aids, together with a wide range of test and instrumentation equipment.
• Learn from experts who have contributed to major breakthroughs in the electronic engineering industry.

Our expert staff

We have been one of the leading electronic engineering departments in the country throughout our history, and in recent years, our prolific research staff have contributed to some major breakthroughs. We invented the world's first telephone-based system for deaf people to communicate with each other in 1981, with cameras and display devices that were able to work within the limited telephone bandwidth. Our academics have also invented a streamlined protocol system for worldwide high speed optical communications. Undertaking the PhD element of this course involves person-to-person interaction with your supervisor, who will guide you in developing your chosen research topic, refine your research skills, and advise you in capitalising on the technical knowledge you already have from your taught degree. Supervisors often keep in touch with their PhD graduates throughout their careers, and may work on scientific collaborations with them after they finish their doctorate.

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Specialist facilities

We are one of the largest and best resourced computer science and electronic engineering schools in the UK. Our work is supported by extensive networked computer facilities and software aids, together with a wide range of test and instrumentation equipment.

• We have six laboratories that are exclusively for computer science and electronic engineering students. Three are open 24/7, and you have free access to the labs except when there is a scheduled practical class in progress
• All computers are dual boot Windows 10 and Linux. Apple Mac Computers are dual boot MacOS and Windows 10
• Software includes Java, Prolog, C++, Perl, Mysql, Matlab, DB2, Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, and Project
• Students have access to CAD tools and simulators for chip design (Xilinx) and computer networks (OMNet++)
• We also have specialist facilities for research into areas including non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, intelligent environments, robotics, optoelectronics, video, RF and MW, printed circuit milling, and semiconductors

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Your future

Studying within our School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering provides both the recent graduate and the practising engineer with the opportunity to gain new skills or enhance existing ones. There are career opportunities for well-qualified electronics design engineers in the avionics, automotive, entertainment and consumer product markets, and within companies such as Siemens, Fujitsu, Sony, Toshiba, Nokia, Samsung, LG, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Sharp, Canon, Acer, Lenovo, Hitachi, Epson, Philips, Nikon, Pioneer, TCL, and JVC, all of whom are searching for competent designers. A number of careers are also available through local SMEs, geographically close to Essex, who account for a significant proportion of the workforce, both in the UK and on the continent. Our graduates have progressed to a variety of senior positions in industry and academia. Some of the companies and organisations where our former graduates are now employed include: Electronic Data Systems, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Bank of Mexico, Visa International, Hyperknowledge (Cambridge), Hellenic Air Force, ICSS (Beijing), United Microelectronic Corporation (Taiwan), Alcatel Submarine, BT Group, QinetiQ, Dolby Laboratories, Fujitsu, Royal Air Forces, and within our University and Imperial College, London. We also work with the University’s Careers Services to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities. Read more about computer science and electronic engineering career destinations here.

Program Outline

Course structure

Most of our taught courses combine compulsory and optional modules, giving you freedom to pursue your own interests. All of the modules listed below provide an example of what is on offer from the current academic year. Our Programme Specification provides further details of the course structure for the current academic year. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change. The research element of your degree doesn't have a taught structure, giving you the chance to investigate your chosen topic in real depth and reach a profound understanding. In communicating that understanding, through a thesis or other means, you have a rare opportunity to generate knowledge. A research degree allows you to develop new high-level skills, enhance your professional development and build new networks. It can open doors to many careers. We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, or in response to COVID-19, we’ll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

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Components

Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose. Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.

Status	What this means
Core	You must take the set module for this component and you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Core with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component but you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Compulsory	You must take the set module for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Compulsory with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Optional	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.

The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.

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Modules

Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits. In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available. Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code . For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:

HR	100	4	FY
The department or school the module will be taught by. In this example, the module would be taught by the Department of History.	The module number.	The UK academic level of the module. A standard undergraduate course will comprise of level 4, 5 and 6 modules - increasing as you progress through the course. A standard postgraduate taught course will comprise of level 7 modules. A postgraduate research degree is a level 8 qualification.	The term the module will be taught in. AU : Autumn term SP : Spring term SU : Summer term FY : Full year AP : Autumn and Spring terms PS: Spring and Summer terms AS: Autumn and Summer terms

Year 1 This module is for PhD students who are completing the research portions of their theses. View Computing and Electronic Systems - Research on our Module Directory What fascinates you? Apply your learning in computer science or engineering to solve a problem. Design, implement and evaluate a solution, producing a dissertation on your investigation and giving an oral presentation of your work. Test your knowledge, while gaining practical experience and building your project management skills. View MSc Project and Dissertation on our Module Directory This module provides a mathematical foundation for the study of communication systems and understanding their operation. It covers at depth the relevant mathematical concepts, such as Fourier transforms, theory of probability and stochastic processes and noise, as well as fundamentals of information theory and coding. The key feature of the module is that all relevant mathematical concepts are considered together with practical demonstration of their direct applications to the related area of electronic engineering and communication. In order to provide both good theoretical knowledge and strong applied skills, in addition to the lectures the module is supported by the problem solving classes. The module uses these theoretical tools to examine the operation of modern communication systems, such as analogue and digital signal processing and applications of information theory to data coding. The module also covers analysis of fundamental performance bounds, and identifies how close commercially important systems are to these bounds. View Theory of Signals and Communication Systems on our Module Directory The aim of this module is to provide an introduction to computer programming for students with little or no previous experience. The Python language is used in the Linux environment, and students are given a comprehensive introduction to both during the module. The emphasis is on developing the practical skills necessary to write effective programs, with examples taken principally from the realm of data processing and analysis. You will learn how to manipulate and analyse data, graph them and fit models to them. Teaching takes place in workshop-style sessions in a software laboratory, so you can try things out as soon as you learn about them. View Introduction to Programming in Python on our Module Directory Wish to design, program and evaluate embedded systems from software specification to hardware implementation? Study the techniques to develop software for embedded systems and robotics. Examine performance needs and the key issues in designing real-time software for embedded systems in real-world applications. Understand the main techniques of real-time programming. View Programming Embedded Systems on our Module Directory This module provides first-hand experience of the design simulation and production of complex electronic circuits. A word specification is provided for a consumer electronics device for which a prototype is designed using reference and first principles. The circuit is then simulated and tested in Multisim to verify operation. Once satisfactory, a hardware prototype is developed on a prototype medium e.g. breadboard and tested in real-world conditions. Then using PCB design software, a PCB is designed and populated to produce the final product. The module has a large emphasis on the practical with a lighter emphasis on the theoretical. View Electronic System Design and Integration on our Module Directory This module aims to prepare students for conducting an independent research project leading to a dissertation and to provide them with an appreciation of research and business skills related to their professional career. As a precursor to their project students, individually select an area of Computer Science, or Electronic Engineering, or Computational Finance and perform the necessary background research to define a topic and prepare a project proposal under the guidance of a supervisor. The module guides them by a) introducing common research methods b) creating an understanding of basic statistics for describing and making conclusions from data c) helping to write a strong proposal including learning how to perform literature search and evaluation and d) giving an in-depth view into the business enterprise, financial and management accounting and investment appraisal. View Professional Practice and Research Methodology on our Module Directory COMPONENT 07: OPTIOL Option from list (15 CREDITS) COMPONENT 08: OPTIOL Option(s) from list (30 CREDITS)

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Teaching

• Our taught modules provide a thorough and up-to-date knowledge of the theory, methods and applications of computer science
• Core components combined with optional modules, to enable you to gain either in-depth specialisation or a breadth of understanding
• Our postgraduates are encouraged to attend conferences and seminars, as well as engage with the wider research community

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Assessment

• Our first-year taught modules are assessed on the results of your written examinations, together with continual assessments of your practical work and coursework

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Dissertation

Within our School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, your PhD thesis is generally completed within three to four years and has a length of around 80,000 words. Your PhD is awarded after your successful defence of your thesis in an oral examination, in which you are interviewed about your research by two examiners, at least one of whom is from outside Essex.