Engineering - Civil Engineering - Structured

The Structured PhD, full-time, is a 4-year programme which offers added value to the core component of doctoral training. Students on this programme are offered disciplinary or dissertation specific modules, as well as generic and transferable skills designed to meet the needs of an employment market that is wider than academia.



The programme is flexible and student centred, as candidates choose their own pathways in consultation with their Supervisor and Graduate Research Committee.

PhD—high Honours standard in the primary degree.

Course Code: Structured PhD, full-time—1SPE1 (four years duration) Structured PhD, part-time—1SPE2 (six years duration)



PhD (full-time, four years); applications are made online via the University of Galway Postgraduate Applications System.



New entrants may register for the programme from September to March each year



The thesis remains central to the award of the PhD and is weighted at 330 ECTs.



Students select appropriate skills modules in consultation with their Supervisor and/or Postgraduate Research Committee as follows: At least 10 ECTs in two of the three skills categories, and an overall total of at least 30 ECTs



Skills Categories: (i) Problem Based Learning; (ii) Publication/Dissemination; (iii) Formal Training (from a range of Discipline-specific, Interdisciplinary and Generic modules)

Structured PhD, full-time—1SPE1 (four years duration)

Structured PhD, part-time—1SPE2 (six years duration)

Research Areas


Research activity spans a broad spectrum of civil engineering subjects, which include (but are not limited to) concrete, steel and timber structures, wind engineering, environmental engineering, highway engineering, geotechnics, earthquake engineering, building energy management, offshore and coastal engineering, construction management, advanced materials and computational mechanics. This topical and strategic research is funded by industrial partners and several national and international funding agencies, including the European Union (EU). Some of the research is interdisciplinary and is aligned with the university's major research themes; for example, some academic staff work within research institutes such as the Environmental Change Institute, and the Ryan Institute for Marine Science research.