12 monthsProgramme duration
28 Jul, 2026Application Deadline
SepStarting Month
Programme overview
Main Subject
Engineering - Mechanical
Degree
MSc
Study Level
Master's
Study Mode
On Campus
How can you test an engineering idea before you build it? And how can simulation help you design faster, optimise performance and solve problems that are difficult to explore in the physical world?
If you want to use advanced computational methods to understand how engineering designs will work in practice, MSc Advanced Mechanical Engineering Science (Computational Engineering Design) is for you.
This specialist pathway combines mechanical engineering with computational engineering and design. You’ll explore the latest numerical techniques, modelling methods and simulation software used to create, test and improve engineering ideas.
Develop the skills to use advanced numerical methods alongside design search and optimisation, helping you investigate complex engineering problems and make better-informed design decisions. Computational modelling plays an important role across sectors including automotive engineering, aerospace and bioengineering.
Here, you’ll move between theory and practical problem-solving. Through lectures, tutorials, practical work and design exercises, you’ll explore how computational tools can help engineers understand complex systems before committing to physical designs.
You’ll also complete an independent research project, bringing together what you’ve learned to investigate an engineering problem and develop your own original ideas.
Key features of this course
**See how ideas perform before they’re built.** Use simulation and computational modelling to explore engineering designs virtually, helping you understand behaviour, test possibilities and identify potential improvements.
**Develop advanced computational skills.** Build expertise in numerical methods, computational modelling and software engineering techniques for science and engineering.
**Search for better designs.** Explore design search and optimisation methods and learn how engineers use them to find effective solutions to complex design challenges.
**Shape the course around your interests.** Choose from specialist options in areas such as advanced finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, aircraft structural design and computational methods in biomedical engineering.
**Learn by solving problems.** Your studies combine lectures and tutorials with practical work, individual and group planning exercises, design activities and project work, giving you opportunities to apply computational approaches in different contexts.
**Take your thinking further through research.** Spend the final part of the programme carrying out an independent research project. You’ll source and evaluate information, apply critical analysis and communicate your methods, results and conclusions through your dissertation.
Your future career
Computational engineering gives engineers a way to investigate ideas, predict performance and solve problems before physical prototypes are built.
You’ll graduate with advanced skills in modelling, simulation, numerical methods, design optimisation and engineering problem-solving. These capabilities are relevant to sectors where computational modelling plays an important role, including automotive, aerospace and bioengineering.
The course can also prepare you for further research, giving you experience of planning and carrying out an original engineering project.
Wherever your interests take you, you’ll leave Southampton better equipped to turn complex engineering questions into models, evidence and practical design decisions.
Further information
This is a one-year, full-time MSc based at Highfield Campus. The first eight months are mainly focused on taught modules, followed by four months dedicated to your research project.
The programme is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) as meeting the academic requirement for Further Learning for Chartered Engineer registration. Full CEng registration requirements also depend on your undergraduate qualification.
Programme overview
Main Subject
Engineering - Mechanical
Degree
MSc
Study Level
Master's
Study Mode
On Campus
How can you test an engineering idea before you build it? And how can simulation help you design faster, optimise performance and solve problems that are difficult to explore in the physical world?
If you want to use advanced computational methods to understand how engineering designs will work in practice, MSc Advanced Mechanical Engineering Science (Computational Engineering Design) is for you.
This specialist pathway combines mechanical engineering with computational engineering and design. You’ll explore the latest numerical techniques, modelling methods and simulation software used to create, test and improve engineering ideas.
Develop the skills to use advanced numerical methods alongside design search and optimisation, helping you investigate complex engineering problems and make better-informed design decisions. Computational modelling plays an important role across sectors including automotive engineering, aerospace and bioengineering.
Here, you’ll move between theory and practical problem-solving. Through lectures, tutorials, practical work and design exercises, you’ll explore how computational tools can help engineers understand complex systems before committing to physical designs.
You’ll also complete an independent research project, bringing together what you’ve learned to investigate an engineering problem and develop your own original ideas.
Key features of this course
**See how ideas perform before they’re built.** Use simulation and computational modelling to explore engineering designs virtually, helping you understand behaviour, test possibilities and identify potential improvements.
**Develop advanced computational skills.** Build expertise in numerical methods, computational modelling and software engineering techniques for science and engineering.
**Search for better designs.** Explore design search and optimisation methods and learn how engineers use them to find effective solutions to complex design challenges.
**Shape the course around your interests.** Choose from specialist options in areas such as advanced finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, aircraft structural design and computational methods in biomedical engineering.
**Learn by solving problems.** Your studies combine lectures and tutorials with practical work, individual and group planning exercises, design activities and project work, giving you opportunities to apply computational approaches in different contexts.
**Take your thinking further through research.** Spend the final part of the programme carrying out an independent research project. You’ll source and evaluate information, apply critical analysis and communicate your methods, results and conclusions through your dissertation.
Your future career
Computational engineering gives engineers a way to investigate ideas, predict performance and solve problems before physical prototypes are built.
You’ll graduate with advanced skills in modelling, simulation, numerical methods, design optimisation and engineering problem-solving. These capabilities are relevant to sectors where computational modelling plays an important role, including automotive, aerospace and bioengineering.
The course can also prepare you for further research, giving you experience of planning and carrying out an original engineering project.
Wherever your interests take you, you’ll leave Southampton better equipped to turn complex engineering questions into models, evidence and practical design decisions.
Further information
This is a one-year, full-time MSc based at Highfield Campus. The first eight months are mainly focused on taught modules, followed by four months dedicated to your research project.
The programme is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) as meeting the academic requirement for Further Learning for Chartered Engineer registration. Full CEng registration requirements also depend on your undergraduate qualification.
Admission Requirements
Scholarships
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