Course description
MSc Fire and Major Incident Response
This course combines the established expertise of the University in the areas of engineering and forensic investigation. You'll benefit from links with practitioners and organisations working in the field. Members of staff include experts in handling crime scenes and related incidents. There are wide-ranging laboratory facilities to assist with the delivery of science and engineering fundamentals.
More information
Stage 1
Introduction and Professional Studies
This module is designed to introduce you to the issues related to studying beyond undergraduate level. It applies to students on taught postgraduate courses and those who are embarking on a programme of research. The module encompasses issues such as enrolment, health and safety, using Blackboard, report writing and referencing, ethics, plagiarism, time management and numerical techniques. You will also examine discipline specific areas pertinent to your pathway, which will offer you a particular grounding, skills base or understanding required at the early stage of your study. You will be introduced to personal development planning, by keeping a formal log book.
Principles of Crime Scene Science
The module uses a case scenario to introduce to the principles of crime scene science and provides you with an understanding of the methodologies associated with recovering physical evidence.
Legal Issues and Evidence Reporting
This module explores the legal and procedural contexts in which forensic science operates, providing you with opportunities to develop skills and knowledge relevant to the gathering, examination and presentation of evidence in a range of situations.
Stage 2
Fire Science
This module provides an understanding of the physical science associated with fires and explosions. You will examine the behaviour of materials, heat release rates and the factors influencing the growth and decay of fires. Explosion blast energy and characteristics are analysed. The module is predominantly a generic approach on the physics of the processes.
Forensic Chemistry
This module develops an understanding of chemistry-related evidence types, the methods of examination and the analytical techniques associated with them. It also examines the interpretation of chemical evidence within the context of the investigation of different types of crime.
Fire and Engineering Investigation
This module provides you with an understanding of the technology associated with passive and active fire protection methods. You will also study the behaviour of structures and materials when exposed to fire. Various examination and investigation methodologies are explored and the key factors associated with fire investigation identified.
Stage 3
Research Project
This is the culmination of the programme of studies. You will undertake a challenging problem related substantially to your discipline. The project is linked where possible to an industrial or external partner organisation, which may even host your work and substantially direct the activity. Where this is not possible, a real or simulated real problem may be chosen as subject for the work. It is, however, expected that even where the problem is simulated or hypothetical, it will be treated as if real. The project outcomes project should be at a publishable standard.
Course structure
Core areas of study focus on a wide range of techniques in fire investigation. Modules include Fire Science, Principles of Crime Scene Science, Fire and Engineering Investigation, and Legal Issues and Evidence Reporting.
Careers
Typically graduates go on to roles in fire investigation.
Industrial experience
On each master's degree you'll complete a project related to professional practice. This, along with the involvement of practitioners and academics in the delivery of these courses, ensures that they are relevant to the requirements of the criminal justice system.
Intermediate awards
Our master's degrees can lead to the award of a postgraduate certificate at Stage 1 (60 credits - 3 modules), a postgraduate diploma at Stage 2 (120 credits - 6 modules) or, on completion of a research project, the MSc.
Block release study
Our master's degrees are available on a block-release basis: you'll study for one week between 9.00am and 6.00pm with follow-up days in the next four weeks and accompanying assignment work.
