Master of Research (MRes) in Telecommunications
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Welcome to The Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
The Department supports a large and active postgraduate community. The
MRes in Telecommunication is a research masters aimed at high calibre
candidates wising to pursue a research career in industry or academia.
This prestigous programme has a significant research content as well as
taught course modules strongly linked to industrial requirements.
Graduates of this course are highly regarded in the Telecommunications
industry and a significant number also carry on to complete a Ph.D.
There is exceptionally strong industry demand for engineers with this
research skills base and a clear shortage of supply.
The programme description below outlines the philosophy and general structure of the programme.
The Research Masters Programme
The Master of Research degree (MRes) in Telecommunications is a one year research degree dealing with areas of technology and systems related to telecommunications. The major focus for the MRes degree is a research project, augmented by appropriate specialist technical courses and supported by a programme of transferable and personal skills development operated jointly by the department and the UCL Graduate School.
In order to guarantee the timeliness of the specialist course material presented, a management panel and advisory committee has been formed. This has members drawn from the senior staff of many of the major telecommunications industries such as BT, GPT, Lucent, Logica, One-to-one, Nortel and Fujitsu as well as leading academics and civil servants from around the world.
Each of the modules is 'owned' by an academic working in the subject area covered by the module as well as by an industrialist with first-hand knowledge of the specific areas of key importance today. The modules are reviewed every year by these two people to maintain the relevance and quality of the material delivered.
Transferable and personal skills covers such topics as communications, team working, decision making and management. These skills are being seen as of increasing importance by employers as an essential element of the overall training of research and development specialists. The 'T&P' skills element draws on the UCL Interdisciplinary Personal and Professional Skills in Research Practice (PPSRP) programme. This provides generic and transferable skills training for UCL postgraduate researchers (both MRes and PhD) students. In addition to the central provision some specialist transferable skills specific to the needs of the telecommunications Industry are taught within the department. This element of the MRes serves to foster and develop business awareness and relevant skills capabilities in graduate researchers that can be applied very widely during their subsequent careers. The main elements of the 'Transferable and Personal Skills' training programme can be briefly summarised as follows:
Each IGDP module has an academic manager and an industrial monitor who comments on the evolution of the detailed syllabus, with industrial presenters augmenting and complementing the academic contributions. Details of these course modules are listed below.
Optional courses
Students are assessed in three optional courses, selecting these either from the Integrated Graduate Development Programme 'Telecommunications for Industry' or from the MSc in Technologies for Broadband Communications (TBC) . In discussion with their research supervisor MRes students may attend additional options, e.g. appropriate to their research topic.
The 'specialist' telecommunications elements drawn from the Integrated Graduate Development Scheme 'Telecommunications for Industry', with each module being of 30 lecture hours (or equivalent), are indicated below.
More information on the above courses including the current schedules can be found at http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/IGDP
Alternatively, some options may be selected from our MSc TBC course subject to timetabling constraints and agreement with your project supervisor. These course are currently being updated but are expected to include for example:
The modules lists above are for guidance only and are subject to change as the course maintains relevance to the needs of the telecommunications industry.
Integration of the Training and Research Elements
MRes participants interact strongly with one-another during the taught elements - particularly the 'transferable and personal skills' components - as well as with practicing researchers in industry through participation in the IGDP 'Telecommunications for Industry' taught course modules. They are required to put the 'T&P' elements into practice in their research projects and this provides the vehicle for several of the assessed elements of these components. In addition, MRes in Telecommunications students all participate in two events we hold at UCL each year intended specifically to provide young developing researchers with the opportunity to present their research work. These are:
Poster Presentation Session, Lecture and Dinner: The MRes in Telecommunications participants together with other research students in this general area at UCL produce a Poster on their research for an 'Open Afternoon' for industry, followed by a prestige lecture and reception/dinner. This provides an opportunity for interaction between industrial participants and MRes researchers. The poster session provides experience in preparing and presenting research in this format and MRes participants are formally assessed as part of the 'T&P' element of the programme.
London Communications Research Symposium: A two-day Symposium at which young researchers at UCL and elsewhere present their work and a number of senior researchers from Industry provide invited presentations. Each MRes, prepares a paper for publication and presentation. The paper is subjected to review and feedback and further assistance/guidance is provided with presentation techniques in the 'transferable and personal skills' elements of the MRes programme. This helps to develop the presentation skills of the MRes participants and to integrate the taught and research elements.
Studentships
A limited number of MRes scholarships are usually available for UK/EU or overseas students to study at UCL. See the Entrance Scholarships web page
for details of these scholarships and general information. These
scholarships are however highly competitive and all applicants should
indicate what alternative sources of funding they will have available
on their application form. Applications based
entirely on the expectation of obtaining a UCL scholarship are unlikely
to be successful except in the case of exceptional candidates.
Qualifications needed
The minimum qualification needed to enter the MRes programme is an
upper second class honours degree (2.i) from a UK university or an
equivalent class of degree from an overseas university. The degree may
be in any relevant subject, e.g. electronic engineering, communication
engineering, computer science, physics. A partial list of acceptable
overseas qualifications is available here
Applicants from overseas, who have not previously studied or worked in the UK, are required to satisfy UCL's English Language requirement.
Application form
Information on applications procedures including a downloadable application form are available by clicking on the link below:
Applicants should read the information on the above site before completing the form. It is important that you give some thought to the page on which you make a personal statement. The MRes Programme Director uses this information, in addition to the other sections of the application, to make a judgement as to whether you are an appropriate candidate for the MRes programme and as an aid to formulating an appropriate research project.
Suitably qualified or soon to be suitably qualified applicants will be given an opportunity to visit the department for a meeting with the Programme Director and the Postgraduate Advisor. We do not expect overseas applicants to attend such a meeting.
Last update: March 2004
Disclaimer: This information is provided for
general guidance only; the detailed content and scheduling of the
programme may vary according to changing demands.