PhD Civil Engineering Practice-led

A flexible route that allows qualified architects or engineering professionals to study for a PhD while working part-time.

Our current research areas include:

• architectural management
• BIM and collaborative technologies
• building conservation and upgrading
• climate change, sustainable development and environmental modelling
• design for building resilience
• design management and strategies
• digital design
• environmental impact of design and construction
• healthcare design
• low carbon and low energy building design
• the use of radical, low-carbon building materials and technologies

Study can reflect a companys or individuals interests and expertise and, ideally, will encompass both. The University also offers the potential for collaborative research in computing, psychology, management and other disciplines.

Research content

Join a cohort of like-minded mid-career professionals carrying out applied research, and incorporating practice at the forefront of their disciplines.

As well as the chance to complete a course of doctoral study while maintaining your principal employment, you will gain:

• the internationally recognised title of ‘Dr, emblematic of excellence in research standards and the generation of new knowledge
• demonstrable status as an expert in your field
• a PhD, increasingly seen as a passport into the upper echelons of senior management
• the opportunity to develop a career specialisation with commercial value

Intended for qualified practitioners in relevant fields, this course is for committed mid-career professionals who can draw on their work and experience in practice as part of studying for a PhD. Designed to be part-time, it allows you to continue earning while completing a consolidated programme. You'll register for six years, part-time but can submit within four years if you meet the requirements. The course presumes 500 hours a year of intensive and focused doctoral study. You can request to extend or suspend your registration for up to a year if your circumstances change.