Tag Archives: newcastle

Postgraduate Water Resources Engineering FAQs

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Roberto Villalobos Herrera, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Hydroinformatics, answers some frequently asked questions on postgraduate opportunities in Water Resources Engineering.

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Earlier this month Newcastle University held its Postgraduate Open Day, providing a meeting point between potential students, currents students and staff members. I supported the event as a current postgraduate student and several candidates came forward with questions regarding postgraduate opportunities offered by Newcastle University. As a current MSc student studying Hydroinformatics, here are my answers to some frequently asked questions.

  • Are students allowed to change modules of their course?

Yes, with conditions. You can change up to two of the modules in your course (representing 20 credits). This is usually done during the second semester as there are more specialty modules and not for the first semester where most modules are core to the syllabus. The conditions are that any change must be approved by the Degree Programme Director. There’s a range of modules available for you to ‘switch’ to, however scheduling limitations must be met.

  • How maths intensive is the course?

Students are expected to be competent in mathematics by the end of semester 1. There is a core module, Quantitative Methods for Engineering, which is oriented towards levelling the math skills of the class. Completing this module is simple if you have a strong background in Engineering, other technical undergraduates or A-Level Maths. If you come from a different background or haven’t used maths in a while you might need to work harder but the course is designed to give all students the mathematical tools they need to successfully complete the degree.

  • What do you mean by ‘core’ modules?

The four MSc programmes (Hydrology and Climate Change, Hydroinformatics, Flood Risk Management, and Hydrogeology and Water Management) share common core modules during semester 1. These are Quantitative Methods for Engineering, Hydrosystems Processes and Management, Hydrosystems Modelling, and Climate Change: Earth System, Future Scenarios and Threats.

  • What’s it like to live in Newcastle?

The environment here is great, the city centre is just the right size to walk anywhere in under 30 minutes, and the public transport links are top-notch. The people here are welcoming and friendly and there’s a great deal to do and see throughout the year. Nature-lovers will find the Pennines and other great places nearby, the coast is beautiful and the River Tyne majestic. Night-life in Newcastle is well famous and lives up to the hype but if you’re a bit more laid back there are great alternatives such as comedy clubs, live music bars, pubs, restaurants, theatres…

  • Is there plenty of study room in the Library?

Yes, it gets busy during exam season but there’s plenty of options for you to find a free computer or study desk, and their opening hours get extended to help cope with the extra demand. The University app is great for this because it tells you where computers are available and how busy the libraries are. CEG MSc students also have access to a resource room in Drummond building with computers and study space on top of the Isaac computer cluster in Cassie building.

My experience so far…

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Gaby Vicarey, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Geotechnical Engineering, writes about her experience so far as a postgraduate student at Newcastle University

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I believe that Newcastle itself is a very welcoming city, there are a lot of cultures here and recreational areas where people can get together and have a good time. The University is in the town centre making it very easy to just walk into town and do something, like going to the cinema or watching the football. This nice relaxed attitude spreads throughout the university as well. There are plenty of opportunities across the campus to spend time with people on your course or just any one in general. It is very easy to meet other students on your course as during induction week there is an ice breaker party and an orienteering session where students from all courses are mixed to complete several tasks as a team.

Personally, I have really enjoyed my time here as everyone on my course and related courses are all really pleasant and friendly. Although a large percentage of our time together is spent in the research room, we all still talk to each other and help if needed. When we finish coursework or an exam we meet up in town and have a few drinks to relax and get to know each other a bit better. It is nice to mingle every now and again outside of university.

It is a bit easier for people who live in student accommodation to mix together as they are closer, a lot of people on my course live in the same block. Whereas, myself and a few other students live in separate housing in other parts of Newcastle such as Chillingham Road, Heaton which is a popular student area as the rent prices are fair and there are a lot of shops and restaurants. Nevertheless, there isn’t much of a difference as it is easy to use the metro service which is cheap and well connected throughout the whole of Newcastle. For example from Chillingham road to the university on foot is approximately 30 minutes whereas getting the metro will only take 10 minutes tops. Getting a metro day saver only costs £2.80 and you can visit other areas in a certain zone for the day.

Combining all this together, it has been very easy moving from home to Newcastle. If I ever need any help or someone to talk to about university work or personal matters there is always a friend on my course or an adviser from the university to help me.

Third Year Civil Engineering Design

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Charlotte, a third year MEng Civil Engineering student writes about her work on the third year Design of Sustainable Engineering Systems module …

For the first three years of the civil engineering degrees we have one main design module, DSES (Design of Sustainable Engineering Systems) each year, which is designed to incorporate different elements from the other modules that we do.

The project we were given this year was based on the ‘Science Central’ site in Newcastle which, when completed, will be a mixed use development site that consists of business, university and residential buildings.

For our work in the first term we had two main deliverables:

  • A poster presentation – in our design teams we had to produce three A1 posters that showcased our development site and the work we had done to get to this point.
  • A 75 page desk study – talk in detail about our conceptual design for the site and all of our research.

DSES is one of my favourite modules each year because you get to see where all the information learnt in lectures will actually be applied in the ‘real world’.

For the first time in DSES we got to select our teams ourselves so we had to pick between working with our friends or working with people we know work hard and produce good work. Luckily for me I managed to get a team that contained both! We had to produce a masterplan of the site, a conceptual design for the flagship University building alongside waste management plans, geotechnical appraisals and transport assessments.

This sounds like a lot of work, and it was! We spent a lot of hours outside of university meeting and working as a group to produce the final outputs and we lost a couple of weekends to the cause. We weren’t thrown completely in the deep end with it however. As I said before these modules are designed to interlink with and support the rest of our learning, and we received lectures on the specific deliverables for each section from members of staff and people from ARUP (who have worked on the masterplan for the actual ‘Science Central’ development.

My personal favourite part of the module is the poster presentation – we had to design three posters that looked aesthetically pleasing but were also informative to industry and the public. I am a perfectionist, it is probably one of the best and worst traits about me. I need everything to be 100% in order and looking good, and although for posters this is important, it was also important to ensure the relevant information was actually on the posters. This is why it’s good to achieve a real mix of people in your group because everybody keeps everyone else on track. Also, on the day of the presentation everyone dresses smart in their best outfits and presents to the ‘clients’ and the public which is really fun because we get to see what all the other groups have produced and at the end of the day one team wins. (This year it was my team that won so I’m probably a bit biased towards liking the presentation!)

The most time consuming of this project was, as expected, the actual report. This is where the real detail came in. All of our research from the past 11 weeks of work had to be consolidated, referenced, written up and formatted into a fully coherent report. At the end of the day though we produced a really high quality body of work.

Even after all this work, DSES is still one of the best modules. Working in and depending on a group of people to help you get a good grade is hard but in the end the work is most definitely worth it and for want of a non-cheesy way to say this – you do become better friends with you team mates.