Materials Science and Engineering
This area is dedicated to Materials Science; find out what it is, watch some videos from our students and alumni and hear from some of our academic staff.
On this page:
- What is Materials Science?
- Studying Materials Science
- Hear from our Academics
- 3 minute thesis
- Where can a degree in Materials Science take you?
- Past Students
- UG programmes in Materials Science and Engineering
- Other resources
What is Materials Science?
Materials Science looks at the physical and chemical structure of materials, the properties of materials, manufacturing processes and design. Materials science covers metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites at a variety of length scales including macro, micro and nano. This is essential for students who wish to work in multi-disciplinary engineering sectors such as automotive or aerospace manufacture, where optimisation of material selection is critical.
Studying Materials Science
Hear about what it is like to study materials science from some of our current students
Materials Science and Engineering Programmes »
Hear from our Academics
3 Minute Thesis
One of our PhD students, Jasmin, explains her thesis in this 3 minute video: how do bone graft substitutes encourage stem cells to produce bone tissue.
Where can a degree in Materials Science take you?
Materials Science graduates go on to enjoy careers in a wide range of industries; from Aerospace and Sustainable Energy to Medicine and Dentistry.
As a materials scientist or materials engineer you could be involved in:
- developing new materials
- testing properties of materials
- selecting suitable materials for an engineering project
- computational modelling
- adapting materials to enhance certain properties
Past Students
Gioia graduated in 2018, hear about her journey since graduation
Queen Mary University of London Alumni Angles podcast featuring Tasnuva Tabassum (Materials Science and Engineering BEng, 2013), Operations Program Manager for Google Cloud at Google
Charlie Stokes Syed Mohsin Abbas Rizvi Jordan Homan
Michael Cheung Cymone Thomas Pavendeep Bansel
Other Resources
Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3)
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a major UK science and engineering institution whose activities promote and develop all aspects of the Materials Cycle, from exploration and extraction, to characterisation, processing and application, to product recycling, repurposing and reuse.
Prospects.ac.uk
Prospects.ac.uk is the UK's biggest graduate careers website with more than two million monthly browsers. They have detailed information about a range of careers from; what can I do with my degree to specific job profiles.
National Careers Service
The National Careers Service offer free and impartial information, advice and guidance to help you with your decisions about careers, courses and work.
They have over 800 job descriptions that will tell you about:
- the average pay for each role
- the type of courses you can do to get into a job
- the skills you’ll need
- what you'll do each day
- where the job can lead
Discover Materials
Discover Materials is a partnership between UK Universities Materials Science and Engineering Departments, the Henry Royce Institute, and other parties with interests in Materials Science and Engineering. Discover Materials aims to inspire young people to study Materials Science and Engineering. We do this by engaging with schools and students. We aim to support teachers with a range of resources to them to inspire their students to find out more about what a career in materials science and engineering might offer.