Mastering environmental engineering for a sustainable world

Global warming, decarbonising the energy economy, and ensuring sustainable food and water supplies are all key issues defining our world today. 

Now, more than ever, there is the demand for engineers to have a well-rounded approach and outlook to provide sustainable solutions to the world’s environmental challenges. 

That's why our Master of Professional Engineering (Sustainability and Environmental Engineering) and Master of Engineering (Sustainability and Environmental Engineering) are the ideal degrees for those seeking to broaden their skills and be able to analyse and design solutions for global warming, the energy economy, and sustainable food supplies.

"To gain a wholistic education, students will study an array of units such as humanitarian engineering, engineering for sustainable development, sustainable design, and entrepreneurship for engineers," explains Professor Tim Langrish, a world leading drying technology expert from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Sustainability and Environmental Engineering Course Director.

Our Master of Professional Engineering degree is ideal for those individuals wanting to transition from a science or mathematics-based career to become an engineer, or are already with an engineering degree wanting to change paths or to specialise further in this area

This professional degree provides foundation studies as well as depth technical skills in the areas of mass and energy balances, mass transfer, separation processes, and chemical thermodynamics, and complements traditional environmental engineering and science skills in chemistry and fluid mechanics. 

For qualified engineers who are already in this area, our Master of Engineering offers the opportunity to gain the skills to move into a management role or develop specialised technical knowledge in sustainability and environmental engineering.

This course offers experienced engineers the opportunity to explore the development of sustainable products and processes to maximise efficiency and minimise environmental impact. 

“Central to both degrees is a focus on learning material with a high-level environmental engineering and environmental science both in depth and breadth," explains Professor Langrish.

"Both degrees will help students develop the sound communication, management and decision-making capabilities necessary to work in a wide range of fields, including energy engineering, CO2 reduction, mineral engineering, environmental engineering, water process, waste recycling, and food engineering."

Our Master of Engineering and Master of Professional Engineering degrees have both been developed in response to the clear need to create a stronger and broader foundation in engineering skills for sustainability and the environment.

They provide students with a clear and explicit understanding of system boundaries, mass and energy balances, transport including fluid mechanics and their translation to understanding and designing separation processes, as well as the understanding and application of reaction engineering.

“These exciting courses cover topics considered by the process industry and chemical engineers to be fundamental to understanding environmental problems and developing solutions at all scales.

"Sustainability, in the general sense, includes both technical skills and social and economic dimensions.

"While the key focus of this course is to provide technical skills, these are provided in the context of economic and social skills through several units of study.

"The Faculty of Engineering has an excellent reputation for producing graduates with a strong all-round engineering education, and with the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering’s strengths in providing educational rigour in engineering science, such as heat and mass transfer and separation processes, we are producing ‘all-rounder’ environmental engineers who will stand out in the job market.

“Environmental engineers in all process industry sectors such as mining need these all-round skills, these skills are equally important in the food industry, the water industry, the energy sector and bioengineering."