Why study at the VEIV Centre?
Why study for an EngD at the VEIV Centre?
The Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualisation (VEIV) three-year EngD focuses on visualisation and imaging in engineering and design. The programme is for outstanding students and engineers who want to direct research in industry, or maintain strong industry links. Many of our students are supported by one of our industrial collaborators.
The VEIV EngD is run by the VEIV Centre which is a world leader in computational capture, rendering and simulation for a diverse range of applications. The VEIV Centre is based in the Department of Computer Science and has strong collaborative links with the Departments of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, and the Bartlett, Faculty of the Built Environment.
UCL Computer Science is a global research leader, ranked by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 evaluation as the best UK computer science department. 96% of the research was ranked as internationally excellent. The Bartlett is a world-leading, multidisciplinary faculty focusing on developing and understanding the built environment.
Throughout their histories both UCL Computer Science and The Bartlett have impacted their respective research landscapes and continue to deliver innovations that change the world. Graduates are highly regarded as a result of these global reputations and the strong links with industry held by both.
Careers
UCL Computer Science graduates secure careers in a variety of organisations including global IT consultancies, City banks and specialist companies in manufacturing industries. The Department takes pride in helping students in their career choices and offers placements and internships with numerous start-up technology companies, including those on Silicon Roundabout, world-leading companies such as Google, Skype and Facebook, and multi-national Finance companies including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche and JP Morgan. Our graduates secure roles such as applications developers, information systems managers, IT consultants, multimedia programmers, software engineers and systems analysts in companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Bloomberg, PwC and IBM.
UCL Computer Science research students' employability is greatly enhanced by working alongside world-leading researchers in cutting-edge research areas such as virtual environments, networked systems, human-computer interaction and financial computing. Computer Science enjoys the UCL multi-disciplinary tradition and shares ideas and resources from across the departments of Faculty of Engineering and beyond. Our alumni have gone on to find work, or found their own successful start-up companies, because they have an excellent understanding of the current questions which face industry and have the skills and the experience to market innovative solutions.
UCL Computer Science is located in the heart of London and subsequently has strong links with industry. We regularly welcome industry executives to observe students' project presentations, we host networking events with technology entrepreneurs (many of whom are Computer Science Alumni) and companies sponsor our student prizes. Students also have the advantage of a location close to the City and Canary Wharf to work on projects with leading global financial companies. London is also home to numerous technology communities, for example the Graduate Developer Community, who meet regularly and provide mentors for students interested in finding developer roles when they graduate.
EngD Programme Structure
The Engineering Doctorate (EngD) is an alternative to the traditional PhD for students who want a career in industry. The VEIV EngD is a three year programme during which a student will undertake a PhD-level reserach project under the supervision of two academics and complete 5 Milestones.
EngD Milestones
Milestone 1: Submit First Year EngD Report
- A detailed report outlining the work completed during the first year and demonstarting how the thesis hypothesis will be validated within the remaining time.
Milestone 2: Complete Oral Examination (viva) and submit Feedback Form
- The purpose of the Oral examination is for the student to defend their research and to check that there is a viable plan of work leading to doctoral quality research.
Milestone 3: Submit Second Year EngD Report
- The second year report should be in the form of a partial draft thesis.
Milestone 4: Complete Oral Examination (viva) and submit Feedback Form
- The purpose of the Oral examination is for the student to demonstrate that they have completed the main body of research work in their doctorate and that they have a good plan to finish in the remaining 12 months.
Milestone 5: Submission and oral defence (viva) of the final EngD Thesis
Student Testimonials
“I had previously completed an MSc at UCL and after a short stint in industry, an EngG vacancy at UCL became available that I could not resist. The combination of the topic, academic supervisor and industrial partner was perfect. Although it seemed like a leap of faith to quit my job to be a student again, being back at UCL I knew that I was in safe hands. A world leader in research, the strong connections to industrial partners within London and beyond opened many opportunities to me. The environment is one that encourages researchers to thrive and explore creatively. Simply put, the more you put into UCL, the more you get out!”
Kelvin Wong, MRes + EngD Student, 2013 cohort
“Deciding to go for the MRes + EngD program has opened so many doors for me. Mostly I love that I've been part of such great projects and trialled some of the most cutting edge technologies around. The greatest benefit career wise has been gaining access to director level decision making at my sponsor company and working intensively to develop my research skills. It's a great program and I would highly recommend it.”
[Full text] “I was studying at UCL pat time and working as a receptionist when I found out about the opportunity at VEIV. Deciding to go for the MRes + EngD program has opened so many doors for me since then. Mostly I love that I've been part of such great projects and trialled some of the most cutting edge technologies around. The people you can meet on the VEIV program are incredible too, and they've given up so much of their time helping me reach my goals. I feel really lucky. The greatest benefit career wise has been gaining access to director level decision making at my sponsor company and working intensively to develop my research skills. It's a great program and I would highly recommend it to anyone who's open to new experiences and looking for a challenge.”
Lucy Campbell, MRes + EngD Student, 2013 cohort
“I chose to study at UCL because of the calibre of the research group and facilities. During my four years as an EngD I have grown greatly as a researcher with the guidance and example of the academic staff.”
Sebastien Friston, MRes + EngD Student, 2012 cohort
“After working in industry for a few years, I was very keen to develop my skills in research but didn’t want to lose my connection with industry. The Engineering Faculty at UCL has a great reputation around the world and I had experienced this first hand during my undergraduate degree. My lecturers and supervisors had always been incredibly supportive throughout and this didn’t change during my time as a postgraduate. The MRes and EngD programme appealed to me because of the strong collaboration between industry and academia. I was highly motivated by the idea of solving a problem that was significant to my industrial sponsor. The programme allowed me to split my time and grow in these two environments. After returning to industry I can instantly see the benefits the programme has had to me in terms of the wide variety of skills that I have developed, but also the impact it has had on my career progression.”
Anita Soni, BIM Strategy Manager, Skanska, 2010 cohort
“I couldn’t have chosen a better career path than when I decided to do an EngD at UCL. One of the main objective of the EngD programme is to create the next generation of academic and industrial leaders, and the programme does exactly that. I was lucky enough to do what was essentially a Masters and PhD, plus developed invaluable knowledge and skills to understand technology transfer and innovation that you wouldn’t typically get from doing a traditional PhD.
My Research focus was in the area of optimisation. I designed and implemented optimisation algorithms that could solve real-world problems faster and better than state of the art, which had wide-ranging applications in both academia and industry. Subsequently I span out a company loosely inspired by this research that was funded ad supported by UCL. As CEO of this company (Satalia) I can testify to how well the EngD prepared me for this role.
The EngD is an essential degree for those interested in science and the pathways to impact of research, which are both critical in securing academic funding or being a successful entrepreneur, engineer or manager. The EngD gave me the option to have a career in academic and equipped me to be a success influencer in business and industry. “
Daniel Hulme, CEO, Satalia, 2003 cohort