Course description
MSc Forensic Engineering
The role of the forensic engineer is broad. It ranges from analysing manufacturing processes or components to prevent failure, improve quality, reduce costs or increase the life of machinery, to accident investigation where they will be concerned with finding the cause of an accident, who is responsible and what actions should be taken to avoid a similar occurrence.
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
Understanding Accidents
This module introduces and reviews the fundamental physical principles underlying the analysis of accidents involving vehicles of various kinds. As well as practising the common methods, there is an emphasis on critically appreciating their accuracy, validity and limitations. This underpins the Collision Analysis module by giving you an insight into the methods and assumptions inherent in software packages used for analysis.
Understanding Failures
This module investigates material behaviour and how failure of individual components under various conditions can lead to catastrophic failure. Failures can be a result of poor design, overloading, material defect, poor manufacturing or inappropriate operating systems. You will examine methods of analysis of failure, material types and operating procedures and investigate how the cause of failure can be traced, through case studies of previous failures.
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
You'll cover areas such as understanding accidents, understanding failures, fire and engineering investigation, and legal issues and evidence reporting.
Careers
Graduates may be involved in many types of investigative roles.
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.
