Biomechanics MSc
Overview
Biomechanics seeks to understand the mechanical design of organisms: how biological materials are made and how they are arranged within organisms to withstand forces; how animals walk, swim and fly; and how animals and plants interact mechanically with each other. Biomechanics is basically good fun, therefore, but it is also increasingly economically important as it underpins many applied technologies, helping us build better biomaterials, engineer better prostheses, and analyse sports more effectively.
The aim of this course is to provide a truly interdisciplinary training in the application of analytical, experimental and computer simulation methods to biomechanics, both pure and applied. Manchester has an unrivalled breadth of biomechanics research throughout the university from Life Sciences to Medicine, Materials and Computer Science. People are studying areas as disparate as computer simulation of dinosaur locomotion, the strength of tree forks, the energetics of bird breathing and finite element analysis of claws. Our expertise is further broadened by our close collaboration with researchers at Salford, Liverpool, Birmingham and Preston, as leaders of the North West Biomechanics Group.
The objective is to bring students from both biological and physical sciences backgrounds to the level at which they undertake original research. The project work is supplemented by seminar training on subjects such as materials design, locomotion and scaling to give students confidence to carry out research which is truly cutting edge and which is often published in peer reviewed journals.
Careers
Our graduates are equipped to enter a wide range of fields in research and medicine. Over half our students have gone on to carry out doctoral research, in areas as disparate as the mechanics of foot prostheses, analysis of the mechanical design of dinosaur claws and studies on walking in birds, horses and orangutans. Others have moved into hospitals, running gait laboratories, and into palaeontology museums. The course is also ideal for intercalating medics, who can go on to specialise in orthopaedics and dermatology.
For a graduate profile, see: Mark Johnson