Welcome to your Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems course

Welcome to MSc Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems, it has never been such an exciting time to study electrical engineering. The power supply is evolving at a rate that has never been seen before, with the ever increasing demand for energy at as the same time the reduction in the carbon footprint. The world requires engineers to devise innovative solutions to enable us to continue to consume the energy we require.

Your staff team

We want to make sure you know some of our team before you arrive. Hopefully this will help you recognise us and ensure you know who you can contact if you need any additional help and guidance.

Dr Alison Griffiths

Associate Professor

Alison's expertise includes smart grids and their protection and renewable integration, smart homes, wireless sensor network design, implementation and optimisation.

Alison's profile

Torfeh Sadat-Shafai

Emeritus Professor

Torfeh's expertise lies in plastic electronics, Photovoltaics, Experimental Physics, Electronic Material; Thin Films Technology and Optoelectronics. Torfeh is also course leader for Advanced Technology MSc

Torfeh's profile

Professor Hamidreza Gohari Darabkhani

Professor-Low Carbon & Renew Energy Sys

Prof Gohari Darabkhani has focused his research and industry collaborations on technologies and projects that directly contribute to resolving current major issues in the energy industry to achieving net-zero emission targets by 2050.

Hamidreza's profile

Professor Abdel-Hamid Soliman

Professor

Abdel-Hamid's expertise includes automation, including Smart Cities, Building automation, Energy management, Security, Safety and health applications.

Abdel-Hamid's profile

Dr Anas Amjad

Course Director

Anas is Course Director for Electrical and Electronic Engineering. His expertise lies in the use of smart systems for a diverse range of applications, such as smart healthcare, smart homes, smart cities etc.

Anas's profile

Course delivery

Teaching will be through a mixture of workshops, lectures, tutorials, labs and seminars. Most modules have four hours of contact a week and class sizes will be bigger in lectures and smaller in workshops, tutorials and labs. Most classes are face to face on campus, and we use a range of assessments including technical reports, lab reports, group assignments and online and traditional exams.

Semester one activities

Welcome Week is your first opportunity to meet your fellow students and the staff you’ll be working with, in one place. We’ll be getting involved in activities and making sure you know more about how the University works and how the next few weeks and months are going to look. We’re hoping that you’ll get to know us and your course mates and be ready to start with the next stage of your journey.

In Welcome Week, you’ll be introduced to the IMechE and IET professional bodies who accredit the course so you can learn more about becoming a member and the benefits linking in to a local and global network of professional engineers can bring to your future career.

Before you start - what can I do to prepare for the start of the course?

This is an award for the graduate engineer who wishes to enhance their knowledge of electrical engineering with the inclusion of locally and grid generated renewable energy, at the domestic, industrial national and global level. The course covers a broad range of areas related to Electrical l Engineering and renewable energy with modules in Smart Grids including networked power engineering, modern power systems and protection, power convertors for electric utilities, low carbon and renewable energy systems and plastic electronics. You will also learn how to be a professional engineer and undertake research methods training which enable you to develop your own project proposal and write an in-depth literature review in readiness for your project.

Before you start, these are some fantastic websites to get you thinking and developing yourself for the course;

https://www.theiet.org/

https://www.instructables.com/

The Engineer is a great place to keep up with news in the Energy and Environmental Industries

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/energy-and-environment/

Software that we will be using on this course includes the following

https://www.mathworks.com/

https://www.pscad.com/software/pscad/overview

Pre-arrival task!

Prior to your arrival we’d like you to complete a little activity – there’ll even be a little prize for the best entry! We’d like you to produce a page or two that presents the most important future looking idea in Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems that you think will make the biggest impact in the next 20 years. You’ll need to explain WHY you have chosen it and explain why you think it will make such an impact. Maybe you think the DC home or factory are going to become the mainstay or maybe you’re really looking forward to battery technology – we want to know how you think these ideas are going to impact our future!

Equipment

For the first sessions in Welcome Week – as always it would be useful to bring a notepad and pen – while we’ll make sure you have access to any information you need – you might want to note a few things down. As you start your lectures and learning then you’ll want to make sure you always bring a few things to your sessions. Pens and a notebook are a must, while you’ll find that always carrying a scientific calculator will mean that you’re always prepared. It is useful to have a smartphone for logging into the attendance system too. We have PCs available on campus that have the simulation and design software on that we use, but some of these packages can be downloaded onto your own laptop if it is powerful enough. Most don’t work quite as well on Apple Macs.

Once enrolled, you will be able to download a range of software free of charge from the University.

Software link

Professional membership

You will be getting professional membership of the IET for the duration of this course, so make sure you go to the talk in welcome week!

Keep in touch over the next few weeks...

In the 'related accounts' section below we have linked you to course social media accounts - please join us!

Academic skills

Whether you're joining us from school or college, or you're returning to education after some time away, everyone can benefit from the Academic Study Skills resources provided by the University library.

The Academic Skills team is here to support you throughout your academic journey and to help you gain the skills you need to reach your full potential. They can assist with academic reading and writing skills, give advice on how best to plan assignments, and help improve your time management.

The library's Academic Skills Guides offer the key information to make studying easier and give a comprehensive guide to the learning resources and services we offer.

Staffs CampusConnect

Staffs CampusConnect is our student-led community app for new students. Connect with other people from your course, hometown or country, and even those with similar interests.

To register, please ensure you use your Applicant ID (Student Number) that you received in your offer letter, and the email address you used in your application to us.

Register for CampusConnect

Welcome website

Our welcome website will provide you the link to your new student life. It's all about how you find your place at university, including everything from how to meet friends, feel confident in doing your academic work, being a member of your Student Union and getting involved in Union Societies, Academic Societies, Sports, Volunteering or representing your peers in your School.

Part of this Welcome Week - we have an exciting program of University and course level activities planned for you for your first week in September. We are also building an extended program for you to join a series of events throughout the first half of the autumn term. Further details will be shared with you via the Welcome website and Students' Union pages over the coming weeks.

Welcome website

Campus map

Use our campus map to familiarise yourself with our campus before you arrive.

Campus map (PDF)

Check your email

Please make sure you check your personal email account regularly over the next few weeks. We will be sending you lots of information about Welcome Week.

 We look forward to welcoming you to the campus in September.

If you have any questions, please send them to a.l.griffiths@staffs.ac.uk

MSc Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems Course Team

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Social Inclusion

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021