As a postgraduate student of geomatics at Newcastle, you will be fully integrated into our research community and enjoy access to world-class facilities for geomatics research, including a suite of the latest generation GNSS receivers, three terrestrial laser scanning instruments and an advanced geospatial engineering computing facility.
Our research transcends traditional scientific disciplinary boundaries such as geography, mathematics and IT and encompasses two main themes: geodesy; and geospatial engineering. In geodesy we focus predominantly on computations and analysis for GPSIGNSS, satellite tracking and Earth’s gravity field, and associated engineering and geophysical inferences (including ice sheet mass balance, hydrological loading and sea level change). Postgraduate training in geodesy provides a diverse set of sought after geophysical skills and we collaborate with a wide range of other geophysicists to work on problems of wide societal and scientific interest.
Geospatial engineering covers the collection, management, processing, analysis and application of geographic information, encompassing the disciplines of photogrammetry and laser scanning, remote sensing and geoinformatics (including GIS). Our scientific research is conducted at a variety of scales relating to the natural and built environment. Our research forms an essential element of the Centre for Earth Systems Engineering Research, which tackles the complexity of coupled technological, human and natural systems with research that is shaping the management of long-term change and associated uncertainties, in particular in river basins, urban areas and national infrastructure provision.
Most of our major projects are funded by research councils, industry and government, and the quality of our research was recognised in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008. An impressive 90 per cent of our research was classed as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, placing us second in the UK in terms of research power, which is a combination of the quality of research produced and the number of active researchers.
As a geomatics student within the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences you will be matched with research-active academics, who will provide advice and support throughout your research project. The first three months of study involve quite intensive theoretical and practical tuition to ensure that you have the study skills to plan your project and can use the equipment and software related to your research. You will be encouraged to attend our weekly research seminar series and to present your work at our annual postgraduate research conference, group seminars and relevant international conferences. During the course of your studies you will be encouraged to publish your work in international leading journals in our fields of research. Geomatics research students are also encouraged to actively engage with both industrial partners and key stakeholders within our research portfolio. Thus, our research students gain excellent preparation for a potential career within academia and also within geomatics-related industries and technological sectors.