Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Entry requirements

A 2:1 honours degree or master's degree (or equivalent international qualification) in a related discipline.

If you can't find an advertised project that fits your interests and experiences, you can submit a research proposal to the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering to find a supervisor who will work with you on your project. You can view our list of academic staff on our School website or you can email us for guidance.

You will need to provide an up-to-date CV and a research proposal, which is a summary of their proposed area of research (approximately 500 words). The research proposal should include your research interests, initial thoughts on a topic, references to previous work, and the methodology and general approach you wish to take. See further information on preparing your proposal.

You should also indicate how the research would make an original contribution to knowledge. If you do not have a firm research proposal, it is still important to provide as much information as possible, including possible topic areas and intended sources of funding. You are strongly recommended to contact us before applying to discuss your topic, availability and funding.

Months of entry

January, April, July, October

Course content

One of four Royal Academy of Engineering designated Centres of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design, the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering is home to a thriving community of over 60 academic staff, 40 technical and clerical support staff and over 240 active researchers that include fellows, associates, assistants, engineers and doctoral students.

Research is one of the founding blocks of our mission to advance knowledge and transform lives. Committed to excellence and impact, we provide a supportive and stimulating environment where our academics and postgraduate researchers can excel, and develop knowledge and understanding to build the societies of the future.

We are a world-leading integrated centre for built environment research and education. Many of our research outputs are created for, and in partnership with, industrial collaborators to ensure demonstrable impacts on the built environment around the world. Together with our industry partners, our research activity encompasses a broad range of built environment research:

• civil infrastructure engineering
• intelligent transport
• digital transformation in construction
• water and waste management
• building energy and indoor environment

Our staff are renowned internationally for the quality of their teaching and research, which has influenced policy and practice around the world. The School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering has seen 100% of its research impact rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, underlining the wide-ranging positive impacts that our research has on the world (REF, 2021).

We have extensive state-of-the-art facilities, including the UKCRIC Laboratory of Modern Methods of Infrastructure Delivery and Maintenance and one of the fastest high performance computing facilities in the UK, to give you advanced skills and techniques to conduct leading research. These large-scale facilities are complemented by a suite of workshops and supported by a team of technicians trained in woodwork, plastics, metal-work, mechanical systems and electronics.

Our PhD students play a vital role in our world-leading research activities. Drawing on our excellent record in attracting research funds, currently standing at over £19 million, the focal point of the School is innovative, industry-relevant research. This continues to nurture and refresh our long history of working closely with industrial partners on novel collaborative research and informs our ongoing innovative teaching and extensive enterprise activities. This is further complemented by our outstanding record of doctoral supervision which has provided, on average, a PhD graduate from the School every two weeks.

Information for international students

Fees and funding

Please see our website for a list of research degree funding and scholarships.