Medical engineers are competent classical engineers who apply engineering principles to the development of medical treatments, applications or diagnostic technologies that can enhance and save lives. They work in fields with medical applications, such as clinical instrumentation and devices, bioengineering, clinical engineering, as well as engineering fields outside of medicine.

This accredited course provides the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience you need to become a work-ready medical engineer. You will choose from a range of authentic engineering problems and industry-focused scenarios, to work on both individually and with student engineers from other disciplines. Group work mirrors the relationships of an engineering team and will help you to build professional skills, such as teamwork and communication. Our dedicated labs and open access makerspaces provide a place for you to design, create and collaborate.

You will have the opportunity to engage with professionals from healthcare providers such as the Cardiff and Vale Orthopaedic Centre, and will benefit from links with companies like Biomet, Simpleware and Arthritis Research UK.

Accreditations

Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)Learning and assessment

Learning and assessment

Teaching is through lectures and tutorials, supplemented by practical laboratory and project-based work. There is a rich library of online learning material, tailored for each lesson in each module, including instructional/informational videos, study notes, guided exercise questions and some online quizzes.

All students must complete a 30-credit individual project in Year Three, for which they are allocated a supervisor from among the teaching staff.

There are opportunities for interactions with potential employers through careers fairs and guest lectures. Speakers from industry give regular lectures on their areas of expertise. These offer you the opportunity to hear experts speak on topics that are relevant to your degree and give you an insight into working in industry.

Career prospects

Graduate medical engineers benefit from employment opportunities in both the medical engineering and broader mechanical engineering sector.

Recent Cardiff graduates are now employed in medical engineering companies including Finsbury Orthopaedics, DePuy Synthes and Huntleigh Medical.

Medical engineers can also carve out a career in the healthcare sector. Cardiff graduates regularly earn positions in the highly competitive clinical engineer/scientist training scheme of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, while others have used their degree as a stepping stone to other vocations.