Curious about studying Materials Science and Engineering MScat University of Leeds? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
MSc - Master of Science
Leeds, Main
Full Time
Sep 2026
1 Year
Materials science is at the forefront of providing innovative solutions for many global challenges — from creating new materials for energy generation to developing storage that helps reduce carbon emissions. Our Materials Science and Engineering MSc has been designed to meet the present needs and future challenges of advanced materials and manufacturing. Whether you’ve got a background in science, mathematics, technology or other engineering disciplines, studying this course will give you the specialist skills and knowledge you’ll need to pursue a career in this growing and fast-moving field. Taught by leading researchers in UK-leading facilities, you’ll study topics such as materials structures, processing-structure-property relationships, characterisation and failure analysis. Why study at Leeds: This Masters degree is accredited by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Our courses are shaped by our globally-renowned research. You’ll interact with academic staff who are members of the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials and the Bragg Centre for Materials Research, giving you the opportunity to develop professional relationships with researchers at the forefront of the industry. Tailor the course to specialise in your career interests through an extensive, individual research project in an area of your choice in which you’ll also build professional skills in project management, teamwork and decision making. Advance your knowledge surrounding the needs and challenges relevant to critical areas such as nanomaterials, bioengineering, energy, photonics, electronics and information technology, and sustainable development. Access UK-leading research equipment, specialist facilities for synthesising and characterising a wide range of materials and labs equipped with the latest technology. Use commercial and academic materials software together with access to high-performance computing facilities. Experience excellent practical and theoretical teaching delivered by a programme team with a wealth of expertise and experience across many relevant areas such as experimental materials science techniques. Enhance Your Academic and Subject-Specific LanguageAs part of your course, you will have access to the Professional and Academic Communication module that provides valuable insights into studying a postgraduate degree in the UK while helping you develop your academic and subject-specific vocabulary. Through a combination of in-person workshops and independent online study, you will explore the use of technology—such as translation tools and generative AI—to support effective communication. You will also build the language and literacy skills necessary to become a more confident and capable communicator throughout your studies. AccreditationThe Institute of Materials, Minerals and MiningAccreditation is the assurance that a university course meets the quality standards established by the profession for which it prepares its students. This degree is accredited by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) on behalf of the Engineering Council as meeting the requirements for Further Learning for registration as a Chartered Engineer. To hold accredited qualifications for CEng registration, candidates must also hold a CEng accredited Bachelors (Hons) undergraduate degree. Graduates from an accredited degree programme will have achieved part or all of the underpinning knowledge for later professional registration.
Build on the fundamental principles of materials science covered earlier in the course. You'll apply and extend this to understanding the design of conventional and advanced ceramics, polymers and composite materials for structural applications.
This module is designed to provide the skills and practical experience necessary to enable professional engineers to contribute to major industrial multi-disciplinary design team projects. A main objective is that, on completion of this module, they are able to generate and evaluate options and make decisions based on multiple criteria: technological, societal, logistical, economic, environmental, etc and to communicate their recommendations both orally and in the form of a written report. It is expected that new methods of analysis, either computational or experimental, would also be practiced during the second, more technical phase of the module.
The objectives of this module are to: provide students with a secure grounding in quantitative methodologies for materials and process selection and the opportunity to put these into practice in a selection and specification project; provide students with the knowledge and confidence to tackle a forensic engineering investigation and the opportunity to carry out such an investigation on a limited scale and against strict time constraints.
On completion of this module, students should be able to: describe a range of typical crystal structures adopted by materials and understand the factors which determine the adoption of these structures; use crystallographic terms and methods to describe crystal structures and to predict diffraction data and materials properties; describe and understand the stability of materials structures, including defects, in thermodynamic terms; understand the principles, applications and limitations of advanced materials characterisation techniques; practically employ a range of advanced materials characterisation techniques and analyse the data generated by these; conduct an individual materials characterisation project, including selection and application and possibly use of characterisation techniques.
Gain a very clear understanding of the technological, engineering and commercial challenges underpinning the use of materials in the production of advanced electronic devices.
This module provides an in-depth understanding of the principles of physical metallurgy and the application of the processing-microstructure-property relationships to the design of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys for engineering applications.
Build the knowledge and understanding of the principles and practice governing a variety of preparative techniques which may be employed for the production of nanoparticles, bulk nanocrystalline and nanocomposite materials.
The objectives of this module are to: understand the physical and chemical principles underlying phase transformations in materials; understand how phase transformations may be exploited to produce materials with specific microstructures to yield desired properties; understand how control over phase transformations may be exerted by an appropriate choice of processing route.
On completion of this module, students should have been given the opportunity to gain experience of planning, conducting and reporting a research project of the type they will undertake in an industry or academic environment.
The objectives of this module are to: apply a quantitative treatment to the properties of materials, and their origin; provide the scientific basis for the relationship between materials properties and their microstructure; give students the necessary background to understand the design of suitable microstructures to give desired properties across the full range of materials classes.
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