Find out more about our research at the Brunel Design School

Brunel Design School

Engineering Design PhD

PhD topics

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Find a supervisor

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Start date

October

Mode of study

3 years full-time

6 years part-time

Fees

2024/5

International £23,615

UK £4,786

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Entry requirements

2:1

View further details on Entry requirements
Postgraduate eventsFunded studentshipsHow to applySubject area: Brunel Design School
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Research profile

Our Engineering Design PhD programme uniquely integrates engineering and design within a research-intensive university that emphasises both impact and technical applications.

You'll thrive in a multidisciplinary environment with access to a dedicated technical experiment centre, a graduate school, and strong industry connections.

Opportunities abound for hands-on experience through teaching assistance, along with the chance to earn teaching qualifications, further enhancing your academic and professional development.

Research environment

Our research environment at Brunel Design School thrives within a research-intensive UK university, fostering innovation at one of the largest engineering and design colleges. With a dynamic research centre, five specialised research groups, and a vibrant, multicultural PhD community, we encourage collaboration, diversity, and excellence in cutting-edge academic and industry-driven research.

Postgraduate researchers with appropriate training can access general engineering and design labs, providing valuable hands-on experience. Specialised labs are also available upon request, offering access to advanced equipment and resources for specific research needs. This flexible access supports a wide range of experimental work, fostering innovation and technical expertise.

Many of our graduates work in industry or universities as professionals. You'll thrive in a multidisciplinary environment with access to a dedicated technical experiment centre, a graduate school, and strong industry connections. Opportunities abound for hands-on experience through teaching assistance, along with the chance to earn teaching qualifications, further enhancing your academic and professional development.

Some ideas for your area of research:

  • AI and machine Learning
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Creative computing
  • Data technologies, communications and networks
  • Computer communications and networks
  • Smart automation, environments and systems
  • Smart health
  • Smart wearable technology
  • Smart manufacturing
  • Sustainable and equitable systems
  • Innovative materials

Research impact

Our research drives significant impact through government and industry-sponsored projects, alongside independent PhD work. It has influenced policy change, advanced industry practices, and transformed user behaviour. Additionally, our work contributes to business success by fostering innovation, enhancing efficiency, and providing solutions that address real-world challenges across various sectors.

Research community

Our staff members at Brunel Design School bring diverse expertise spanning engineering design, electronics engineering, human factors, multimedia, computer science, physics, and more. This breadth of knowledge enables strong support for cross-disciplinary research, fostering innovation at the intersection of various fields and promoting groundbreaking solutions to complex engineering challenges across multiple domains.

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Find a supervisor

Our researchers create knowledge and advance understanding, and equip versatile doctoral researchers with the confidence to apply what they have learnt for the benefit of society. Find out more about working with the Supervisory Team.

You are welcome to approach your potential supervisor directly to discuss your research interests. Search for expert supervisors for your chosen field of research.

PhD topics

While we welcome applications from student with a clear direction for their research, we are providing you with some ideas for your chosen field of research:

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Research journey

This course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in January. Or this course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in October. Or this course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in April.

Find out about what progress might look like at each stage of study here: Research degree progress structure.

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Research support

Research support

Excellent research support and training

The Graduate School provides a range of personal, professional and career development opportunities. This includes workshops, online training, coaching and events, to enable you to enhance your professional profile, refine your skills, and plan your next career steps as part of the Researcher Development Programme. The researcher development programme (RDP) offers workshops and seminars in a range of areas including progression, research management, research dissemination, and careers and personal development. You will also be offered a number of online, self-study courses on BBL, including Research Integrity, Research Skills Toolkit, Research Methods in Literature Review and Principles of Research Methods.

Library services

Brunel's Library is open 24 hours a day, has 400,000 books and 250,000 ebooks, and an annual budget of almost £2m. Subject information Specialists train students in the latest technology, digital literacy, and digital dissemination of scholarly outputs. As well as the physical resources available in the Library, we also provide access to a wealth of electronic resources. These include databases, journals and e-books. Access to these resources has been bought by the Library through subscription and is limited to current staff and students.

Dedicated research support staff provide guidance and training on open access, research data management, copyright and other research integrity issues.

Find out more: Brunel Library

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Careers and your future

You will receive tailored careers support during your PhD and for up to three years after you complete your research at Brunel. We encourage you to actively engage in career planning and managing your personal development right from the start of your research, even (or perhaps especially) if you don't yet have a career path in mind. Our careers provision includes online information and advice, one-to-one consultations and a range of events and workshops. The Professional Development Centre runs a varied programme of careers events throughout the academic year. These include industry insight sessions, recruitment fairs, employer pop-ups and skills workshops.

In addition, where available, you may be able to undertake some paid work as we recognise that teaching and learning support duties represent an important professional and career development opportunity.

Find out more.

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UK entry requirements

The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1). 

An interview will be required as part of the admissions process and will be conducted by at least two academic staff members remotely via MS Teams, Zoom, or face to face.

Applicants will be required to submit a personal statement and a research statement.
Please contact your proposed supervisor, where possible, to receive feedback and guidance on your research statement before submitting it. Learn how to prepare a research statement here.   

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EU and International entry requirements

English language requirements

  • IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
  • Pearson: 59 (59 in all subscores)
  • BrunELT: 63% (min 58% in all areas)
  • TOEFL: 90 (min 20 in all) 

You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our English Language Requirements page.

Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our Brunel Language Centre.

Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.

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Fees and funding

2024/5 entry

International

£23,615 full-time

£11,805 part-time

UK

£4,786 full-time

£2,393 part-time

Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase.

Some courses incur additional course related costs. You can also check our on-campus accommodation costs for more information on living expenses.

Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. Recently the UK Government made available the Doctoral Student Loans of up to £25,000 for UK and EU students and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%.

Scholarships and bursaries

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