Radio Imaging and Sensing MSc

The Radio Astronomy group at Manchester University is offering an innovative 12-month MSc. course in Radio Imaging and Sensing . This course in the School of Physics and Astronomy, exploits academic knowledge and know-how from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics and commercial companies.

Run by the world-famous Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, the course will equip you with a broad range of knowledge and skills which will widen your career opportunities and enhance your employment prospects, whether you wish to enter industry or academia.

Its principal themes are:

• Remote sensing, both passive and active and from ground and space, for the study of our environment.
• Inspection of nearby objects including security screening and medicine.
• Next generation radio astronomy systems for probing the universe.

You will first be given a broad scientific background in the use of radio and sub-mm waves, then you will work extensively on real systems.

Later modules and a dissertation project will allow you to adapt the course to your career aspirations.

Our underlying philosophy is to educate the Masters students of today to become the company or academic leaders of tomorrow. This group will need to have a broad scientific background, to appreciate what is possible and what is not and have the vision to seek connections where others see none. There is a powerful mutual advantage in having pure and applied science cultures working together, what can be learnt from one field can reap benefits in others.

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to:

• Be taught by active researchers at the forefront of their fields
• Make practical use of research equipment
• Carry out a project at a research frontier
• Widen their career opportunities in academia and industry

To educate students in techniques and technologies used in a diversity of well established and emerging applications areas. This new course will benefit those coming from a wide range of backgrounds. It allows students to tailor the MSc to their own career ambitions. (See also 'Career Opportunities')

 The course is centred in the Radio Astronomy group within the School of Physics & Astronomy. Manchester staff operated the world-famous 76-m Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory and are leading players in many high-profile international projects including:

• o The UK National Radio Astronomy Facility eMERLIN;
• o The European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network
• o The R&D technology programme for the International Square Kilometre Array.
• o The ESA Planck space mission to image the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation plus a range of instruments to study the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation from the ground.
• o The EC-funded FP7 APRICOT Radio Camera Study

There will be an immediate and direct link with the staff from the QinetiQ company involving applications in security, all-weather imaging and remote sensing from space and links with other leading UK companies in respect of the many other applications of imaging and sensing technologies.

There will be links with groups in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In particular the E&EE Masters course in  'Nanoelectronics' which concentrates on the design of active semiconductor devices with applications across the same wide wavelength range. We anticipate an option to take one or more modules from Nanoelectronics, in particular 'Terahertz Technology'

We will call for projects and project supervisors outside the School - in the Schools of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences and Life Sciences.