Department of Engineering Science | University of Oxford
Engineering teaching and research takes place at Oxford in a unified Department of Engineering Science. Our academic staff are committed to a common engineering foundation as well as to advanced work in their own specialities, which include most branches of the subject. We have especially strong links with computing, materials science and medicine.
This broad view of engineering, based on a scientific approach to the fundamentals, is part of the tradition that started with our foundation in 1908 - one hundred years of educating great engineers, and researching at the cutting edge!
Our graduates go off to a huge variety of occupations - into designing cars, building roads and bridges, developing new electronic devices, manufacturing pharmaceuticals, into healthcare and aerospace, into further study for higher degrees and in many other directions.
Our Research
The Department of Engineering Science has an international reputation for its research in all the major branches of engineering, and in emerging areas such as biomedical engineering, energy and the environment. The major theme underlying our research portfolio is the application of cutting-edge science to generate new technology, using a mixture of theory and experiment.
Find out more in our Case Studies and Research pages.
Our Institutes
The Department has five Institutes which lead the way for research and collaboration in different areas of engineering, including biomedical, thermofluids and robotics - visit their websites to find out more.
MEng in Engineering Science
Undergraduates on the Engineering Science course at Oxford spend their first two years studying core topics which we believe are essential for all engineers to understand.
Having developed a solid grounding in these, for their final two years they choose to specialise in one of the six branches of Engineering Science: Biomedical, Chemical and Process, Civil and Offshore, Control, Electrical and Opto-electronic, Information, Solid Materials and Mechanics, or Thermofluids and Turbomachinery.
Postgraduate Study
The research degrees offered by the Department of Engineering Science are MSc(R), DEng and DPhil. The opportunities in the Department for postgraduate study and research include conventional disciplines of engineering such as chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical, as well as information engineering, applications of engineering to medicine, low-temperature engineering, and experimental plasma physics.
Making waves in the critical area of battery management
Spinout
Richard Lofthouse (Alumni Office) speaks to Founder and CEO Dr Christoph Birkl of Engineering Science spinout Brill Power about their work in the critical area of battery management
Oxford start-up sale is largest ever student-led company return on investment
Spin-out
Onfido, an innovative start-up created by students including Engineering Science alumnus Ruhul Amin, uses artificial intelligence to verify customer identities and has been sold to Entrust Corp. This purchase marks the highest value return on investment for a student-led start-up for the University of Oxford. The university proceeds will support and fund the creation of more companies and entrepreneurship programmes at Oxford.
A new era of Medicine - using AI to make a positive difference
Biomedical
Professor David Clifton leads the Computational Health Informatics (CHI) Lab within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford. He was recently appointed to the GlaxoSmithKline/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Clinical Machine Learning and an NIHR Research Professorship. Here he discusses how he strikes the right balance between AI theory and AI practice to build real tools for social good.
Transformative solutions to antibiotic resistance
Bioengineering
More than 1.2 million people already die each year as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections*. But this number could soon rise dramatically: as resistance spreads, an increasing number of infections are becoming harder – and sometimes impossible – to treat as antibiotics become less effective.
Begbroke Innovation District: a living lab for sustainable development
Energy / Sustainability
The development of the Begbroke Innovation District is envisioned as a ‘Living Lab’, providing the opportunity to model sustainable practices from energy use to community engagement, and biodiversity to building design.
Safe Inspection of Tall Buildings
Oxford Robotics Institute
Inspection of tall buildings is a major challenge for facilities owners. The Oxford Robotics Institute, part of the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford, has developed an entirely autonomous aerial system for mapping tall buildings.
