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Postgraduate Study

The programme is designed to begin to equip students for engineering leadership positions, developing a high level of understanding and skills in photonic and electronic systems, in particular, the fundamentals of the field together with technology, systems and applications knowledge, and some research experience.

Accordingly, the programme aims to:

  • develop strong business awareness in MRes graduates and foster an understanding of the foundations of management theory and the connections between technology, management and entrepreneurship;
  • encourage an appreciation of applications drivers for photonic systems technologies and the business, road-mapping and cost analysis tools used to determine the adoption of new technological solutions;
  • expose the students to a range of technology areas and provide an experience of a variety of different research and development cultures;
  • encourage students to study across discipline boundaries, with the resultant enhancement of interdisciplinary understanding; and
  • equip the graduates of the programme with generic communications skills as well as research-specific training, which would put them in an excellent position to continue on to a doctoral research programme.

Learning Outcomes

The MRes course will equip its graduates with a wide range of skills and knowledge, fully equipping them for both further research and for industrial work in the area of photonic and electronic systems.

Graduates will have developed a thorough technical understanding of photonic and electronic systems, with a firm grip of the fundamentals in the broad areas of communications, biophotonics, displays, lighting and processing. All students will be equipped with the fundamental concepts in this area and will have the opportunity to specialise in chosen areas (taught courses may include computer vision, image processing, RF circuits, network software, optical transmission networks, biosensors etc). They will also be equipped with an understanding of business practice and commercial exploitation routes for ICT-based technologies.

They will have cultivated a range of transferable and specialist skills allowing them to engage with business, innovation and technology development. These include:

  • skills in the modelling, simulation and experimental evaluation of photonic systems;
  • critically evaluating and finding alternative solutions to technical problems;
  • carrying out surveys of existing technologies and research topics, and provide a detailed and critical overview of a technology or research area;
  • academic research skills developed through practical experience in mini-projects;
  • team-working and time-management; and
  • critical reasoning.

Continuing

Students wishing to apply for continuation to a PhD in the same research area (ie, photonic and electronic systems) would be expected to pass both the taught and research components of the MRes programme. Students wishing to apply for continuation to a PhD in a different research area in the Department of Engineering would normally be expected to attain an overall mark of 70 percent.


Open Days

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Days will be taking place in early November. These are great opportunities to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the Postgraduate Open Day page for more details.

See further the Postgraduate Admissions Events pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

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Key Information


11 months full-time

Study Mode : Research

Master of Research

Department of Engineering

Course - related enquiries

Application - related enquiries

Course on Department Website

Dates and deadlines:

Michaelmas 2025

Applications open
Sept. 4, 2024
Application deadline
May 16, 2025
Course Starts
Sept. 22, 2025

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Course Funding Deadline
Dec. 3, 2024
Gates Cambridge US round only
Oct. 16, 2024

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2025, Lent 2026 and Easter 2026.


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