The global market for medical devices exceeded US $335 billion in 2021 with a growing demand for products and technological solutions to help combat problems associated with an ageing population, global pandemic and rise in the number of patients suffering chronic health conditions.

Our industry-focused MSc builds on our internationally-leading reputation for medical engineering and longstanding expertise in medical devices. Taking you to the next level of design competence, it will equip you with essential product design skills and the confidence to approach design problems as a professional engineering designer throughout the product development life cycle.

In the highly-regulated MedTech development industry, accuracy and safety sit at the heart of good engineering design – failure can cause serious harm to users and damage commercial prospects. Developing your understanding of the concepts that underpin medical device design, you will focus on the approval process from the beginnings of product ideation and initial concepts right through to testing and release to market.

You will learn to navigate complex industry standards and regulations with ease, while developing practical skills in the highly regulated environment of Medical devices design and development. You will also build a strong foundation in fundamental engineering concepts, such as fluid mechanics, design, materials and mathematical modelling.

You will be taught by staff with real world experience of developing and commercialising medical products, none more so than Course Director Professor Peter Ogrodnik, a world-leading expert in medical device design with over 20 years’ research experience and author of the core text in this area. Sold across Europe and the United States, his technological innovations have improved the treatment of fractures and spinal injuries for thousands of patients.

Based in the Guy Hilton Research Centre, you will have access to specialist Computer Aided Design (CAD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software a fully-equipped validation and verification laboratory and the local trauma hospital.

Excellent industry links provide opportunities to work on ‘live’ projects briefs and you will be encouraged to apply for an internship to gain valuable practical industrial experience. Previously, our students have helped determine seasonal trends for allergies in domestic environments, conducted sustainability assessments for a novel packaging material, and improved waste efficiency of a local sheet metal company.

Because the course develops your creative engineering design skills whilst maintaining the rigour of a highly regulated design environment, you will be able to transfer the skills and knowledge you develop into a range of industries. You could move into more general engineering design or associated careers, in intellectual property protection, as a patent lawyer, for example.

Your career

The prevalence of chronic health conditions, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, has led to a rise in patients requiring diagnostic and surgical intervention and the medical devices to support this, fuelling the demand for medical engineers and designers.

This course aims to prepare you for roles in the design, application or regulation of medical devices within specialist design consultancies or medical device companies.

Positions may include:

Academic

Biomedical engineer

Design support officer

Development engineer

Manufacturing specialist

Mechanical engineer

Medical design engineer

Product developer

Product design engineer

Research associate

Research scientist

Sales representative (medical technology)

Scientist

Senior Scientist (R&D)

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