Nuclear MSc postgraduate courses at Birmingham

You will have received (or be about to receive) your final results at around this time, and may be considering what to do next. Nuclear power has been in the media quite a lot over the last year or two, including the popular “Chernobyl” series on TV and also developments in new reactor build (e.g. the new reactors that EDF are building at Hinkley Point), and there are several other exciting initiatives at present such as with Small Modular Reactors or “SMRs” from the likes of Rolls-Royce, as well as in Fusion research and also the upcoming growing need for Decommissioning. At Birmingham we offer two 1-year long postgraduate MSc courses related to nuclear power: the first being in the “Physics & Technology of Nuclear Reactors” (focused on the more technical aspects, nuclear engineering, reactor physics, and quite broad in coverage across nuclear power – including fusion), and the second being in “Nuclear Decommissioning & Waste Management” (focused much more on the final part of the fuel cycle which includes site clean-up, decommissioning, waste treatment and storage, etc – as well as more focus on managing nuclear projects). We take graduates from a wide range of degree subjects, such as the various engineering disciplines, physics, mathematics, metallurgy/materials science, chemistry, etc (for the NDAWM course this can also include Geology and Environmental Sciences).

We are still taking applications for the next academic year (starting around end of September 2021), and also still have some funding available to pay towards tuition fees for home students – typically home students with a 2.2 to a 1st degree (either Bachelors or undergraduate Masters) would qualify for coverage of their fees between about 35% to 100% (depending on final degree result). Although strictly those amounts are determined at, and by, interview. Those fees payments do not have to be repaid and come from industry companies who sponsor the course. In addition, there is a government postgraduate loan scheme that allows home students to loan up to ~£11,000 in a fairly similar way to undergraduate loans. One should double check one’s qualification/eligibility for this, but most home students who have obtained a Bachelors degree before doing the Masters can qualify for it.

The courses have deep elements both practically and theoretically, and combine this with strong industrial links and experience (culminating in a thesis which can be done in academia, but more often than not is based within industry). Typically, two thirds of our students have jobs lined up to walk into before even finishing the courses, and most of the remainder will have something within a few months of completing (on average around 85-90% of our students have gone on to careers in the industry or into related research). Some more information on the courses and their syllabi can be found at:

www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/physics/physics-technology-nuclear-reactors.aspx

www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/physics/nuclear-decommissioning.aspx

Or, if you have any further questions regarding the course(s), then I am happy to help and can be emailed at: p.i.norman@bham.ac.uk

Best wishes,

Paul Norman