As the EngD qualification and programmes are still unknown to main stream academia and the wider public, I often recieve a number of questions which I will collect and answer here.

What is an EngD?

An EngD is a PhD conducting industry related research with a sponsoring company.

The EngD is a ‘professional’ doctorate, equivalent to a PhD, but with the Research Engineer (EngD student) pursuing a research project while based within a company, and enjoying an enhanced stipend (tax free most cases) that is typically £5,000 pa more than for a PhD. The research itself is identified by the sponsoring company and confirmed as appropriate by the University(ies)

The Engineering Doctorate scheme is a British postgraduate education programme promoted by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The programme is undertaken over four years. Students conduct PhD-equivalent research and undertake taught business and technical courses whilst working closely with an industrial sponsor.

Successful candidates are awarded the degree of Doctor of Engineering (EngD). The first programmes began in 1992. As of 2009, Engineering Doctorate schemes were offered by forty-five UK universities.  Students on the scheme are encouraged to describe themselves as ‘Research Engineers’ rather than ‘research students’ to reflect the more professional nature of the EngD.

The EngD review panel
The EngD review panel (2007) reported that the programme is indeed meeting real business needs. It found compelling evidence that many of the research engineers are having a major impact on business performance. The scheme was shown to be making a valuable contribution to UK knowledge generation and transfer into industry, while satisfying its goals in terms of scholarship and publication.

The review also demonstrated that EngD research engineers are gaining the skills necessary for future leadership roles in industry – and for registration as Chartered Engineers. The technical and commercial competences acquired on the programme, coupled with its demanding entry requirements, make it an excellent fast-track route to the CEng title. Like all CEng candidates, those holding the award will still have to undertake a Professional Review Interview, though in most cases their final year thesis will go a long way to providing the basis for this.

The review panel’s report calls for greater resources for the EngD scheme and recommends that new programmes be considered in important industrial sectors that are currently not covered. (Though there is good coverage across most key sectors, and new programmes have recently been introduced in areas such as micro/nano materials and nuclear engineering, gaps still exist in civil/structural engineering, electrical power generation and transmission, transport logistics, computer science and healthcare technologies.)

Among its other recommendations, the report advises EPSRC to work with ECUK to ensure that EngD programmes are professionally accredited through the relevant engineering institutions. Currently, virtually none of them are. Accreditation would help establish a clearly visible path to CEng status.

Who should consider an EngD?

The EngD programme is aimed at ‘high caliber’ engineers graduating from their first degree and engineering graduates at an early or middle stage in their careers. Candidates will be selected for their academic suitability for the research project and potential to achieve a leadership position in an industrial research and development environment. Therefore, the collaborating company and the university will jointly interview and select applicants. Candidates can be either an existing employee of the company sponsoring the research project  (“Industry Employed”), or a non-employee funded by an alternative arrangement (“Industry Sponsored”).

Academic qualifications
Students must be able to demonstrate “a capability to undertake and benefit from research training through to completion, to the standard necessary to qualify for a PhD.” This normally requires an upper second class honours degree, or a combination of qualifications and/or experience equivalent to that level. However, universities can use their discretion in deciding whether candidates are suitable for research training.

Applicants without a recognised degree may be acceptable if they can demonstrate significant, relevant industrial experience, e.g. candidates who can provide documentary evidence of peer reviewed technical reports or papers, or who hold responsible positions within a company. Candidates without the full academic qualifications who have achieved Chartered status may also considered acceptable.

What are the benefits of an EngD?

Benefits for industry

• Stay ahead of the competition by accessing and developing techniques at the forefront of your field
• Collaborate with leading academics on research of strategic importance to your organisation
• Access international research networks
• Attract and retain the highest quality staff, and make optimal use of their skills

Benefits for EngD graduates

• Develop the knowledge and skills to become a leader.
• Acquire excellent career prospects
• Join the international research network
• Gain experience of using the latest techniques in your own industry sponsored research project
• Pursue your desired career focus by choosing from a range of technical and management modules

What are some pros/cons of the EngD program over a traditional PhD?

Pro’s

• A Taught component. The EngD programme includes a taught component that teaches technical or business modules. One of the best modules I have ever done looked into the philisophical underpinnings of conducting research and selecting methodologies (I suggested it should be a requirement for all doctorate students). A recent business module taught about technology strategy and supply chain issues.
• More money (See funding). The EngD research engineer recieves a stipend from the EPRSC along with a contribution from the sponsoring company and the usual student tax breaks. On average an EngD RE recieves £5,000GBP more than a PhD student.
• Increased employability. I have a number of PhD friends who have been applying for jobs in industry and are facing problems due to their lack of experience within a business environment. Some employers question the professionalism, motivation and ability to make the transistion to corporate life. The stereotypical view of academia from the business world is still entrenched. The EngD allows for the research engineer to conduct industrially focused and relevent research (rather impractical nonsense in ivory tower), within a business and team environment. The research engineer should be able to work as part of a team and alone on projects related to their research.
• Better support network. As companies are asked to sponsor you and your Industrial Doctoral Centre (IDC), there is a more professional attitude towards you and your research. While a PhD might seem like 3 years of funding for you to conduct research with only your supervisor for company, the EngD provides contact with academic and industrial supervisors, IDC centre staff, and other EngD research engineers* and company co-workers* (*who could actively participate in your research project rather than just course or office colleagues).
• Roadmap Research. A PhD is often centred around becoming a world leading expert in a very specific and often narrow field. This can be represented as an inverted triangle, indicating that you narrow your scope of field over time. The EngD is more flexible and allows for a broader approach that can meet the demands of the sponsoring company. A guiding theme, or grand research question could tie a number of research projects together to allow a doctoral thesis that covers a range of projects on a theme, rather than investigating one project to great detail/depth.
• Chartership. All time spent on the EngD programme is fully recognised by Institutions towards Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.

Con’s

• Duration. Due to the taught component from the university and integrating into the company environment, the EngD programme is usually 4-5 years rather than the traditional PhD of 3-4years. On personal reflection, EngD time will disappear more quickly than PhD time due to the more hectic and busy nature of the EngD. Univeristy lectures and business meetings will eat into your research time, but this should be offset with the business knowledge and contacts you develop over the EngD. The assumption is that the EngD research engineer will recieve a higher starting salary to reflect their efforts over the programme, but a job is in no way guaranteed with your sponsoring company.
• Increased bureaucracy & More stakeholders. A PhD can be a loney time, with few people showing interest in you or your research apart from meetings with your academic supervisor and annual reviews with the department head. In contrast the EngD is the opposite, due to the need for the university to show the sponsoring company the added value and work you are doing, and the company needs to validate the investment and gage the cost benefit.
• Reduced personal flexibility. As a PhD student you might look forward to working as and when you feel inclined, keeping hours that suit your lifestyle and progressing at your own speed – prehaps spending a whole day looking into something that interests you (like PhD Comics!). As the EngD is based within a business environment, you will be expected to work as an employee and subject to the same restrictions.
• Potential exam requirement (See Exams). As there is a taught component, this must be assessed via exams and coursework.
• Employee Status. Many companies who are sponsoring research engineers do not have the internal processes necessary to reflect the EngD programme. this means that while some research engineers are treated as employees, most are listed as ‘contractors’ with the same corporate restrictions.

How is the EngD funded, do the company or the research council pay you?

The majority or EngD research engineers will receive a stipend from the Engineering and Physical Research Council which is managed by the university. This will be topped up by a contribution from the sponsoring company which means that the EngD research engineer will often recieve an average 5,000GBP more than a PhD student stipend. The funding the Research Engineer recieves is not subject to income tax and they will not be subject to council tax (or a 25% discount if living with a tax payer)

Another route for EngD funding is to be employed by the company. You will not recieve a stipend from the EPRSC or any additional funding from your employer, or tax breaks from government.

Rules for Stipend Eligibility

• The rules for each of these two components depend primarily on your normal place of residence. UK residents (including non-citizens who have lived in the UK for three years, not in education, before the start of their Doctorate) will receive fees and stipend.
• EU nationals who have been in full time education in the UK for three years before the start of their Doctorate will receive fees and stipend.
• EU nationals who have lived in an EU country (not the UK) for three years will receive fees only.
• Overseas students resident in countries outside the EU are eligible for neither fees nor stipend. You must be able to show in advance that you can support yourself and pay your own fees throughout.

Limited relaxation of student eligibility requirements
To support  the EPRSC Delivery Plan training priority of maintaining the flow of skilled researchers, from October 2011 onwards universities will have some flexibility and discretion to support the very best students wherever they may come from (EU, international or otherwise) so there may well be opportunities arising for those individuals who would not normally meet the eligibility requirements for EPSRC funding – as such you would need to contact a university of interest directly, for further information.

Are you allowed to supplement that by doing part time work elsewhere?

Additional part time work while allowed, should be discussed with your Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) as it could effect your tax status if the additional income exceeds certain thresholds.

What EngD Research Project can you do?

The research project is undertaken as a partnership between the collaborating company and the IDC in Systems. It can be a single project, or a series of projects, firmly based on a real industrial problem and having significant challenging and innovative engineering content. The company will normally identify the research topic, and will agree the project with the RE, the principal academic supervisor and Systems Centre. The RE spends the majority of their time (about 75%) with the collaborating company working on the research project. The RE will normally start the research project within 6 months of joining the EngD programme.

The RE and all supervisors will hold two formal 6-monthly meetings in the first year and annually thereafter to review the development of the RE and the progress of the research project. The RE will prepare progress reports for review at these meetings, and will also give oral presentations on their research. The RE is also expected to meet with all supervisors at least once every three months and to have additional regular contact with the principal academic supervisor.

At the end of the EngD programme, the RE will submit a thesis on the research. The regulations for the doctorate degree will be followed. The final assessment of the research work as outlined in the thesis will be an oral examination conducted by one internal and one external examiner.

What is the relationship like between your industry sponsor and your university supervisor?

Your academic is your main supervisor as you are conducting doctoral level research. As with a PhD, the relationship between you and your academic supervisor is crucial and can determine the outcome of your research. Fostering a postive, or at least midly responsive relationship with your academic supervisor is essential. A negative, or unresponsive relationship will be detrimental to you and your research. Your academic supervisor should take an interest, and guide/assist you towards making the academic contribution of new knowledge that will ensure a roubust defence in your doctoral viva.

Your industrial supervisor can take any form from a first point of contact, to an active supervisor keen to shape and guide your research towards adding value and bringing benefit for the company and the investment in you. Depending upon your situation, your industrial supervisor could be your line manager if placed within a company, or a function manager who might want to meet periodically. When finding the balance between academic and company responsibilities the advice I have been given is to remember that you are conducting doctoral level research first, so must make a contribution to new knowledge at all costs. The ideal situation would result in you developing academic knowledge that is of direct benefit to your sponsoring company that would justify their participation in the EngD programme.

A joke recently about academic and industrial sponsors was that your academic supervisor is there to make you stop and think about the bigger picture, but the industrial supervisor is there to make sure you do something productive

Are there any exams or coursework required with the program?

With the EngD programme at the University of Bristol there is a taught component over the first two years. Intensive week long lecture blocks are given every other month with assessment in the form of course work or exams. The company should recognise your coursework requirement as an element of the programme and allow you to complete assignments during work hours as the time should fall into the 75% business 25% academic make up of any agreement (academic does not have to mean at university).

The bad news is that taking exams never gets any easier over time so you should work on your revision and execution techniques. Unfortunately, there is scientific evidence that shows nothing makes stuff stick like a horrendous experience like an exam

I was given some good advice early in the EngD to only focus on passing coursework and exams. To help time manage the many demands on our time from our academic research, company responsibilites and university assessments, we should only focus on achieving the pass mark (40-50%) rather than getting caught up on producing the high quality of work that we are all used to handing in. The extra marks do not count towards the award, only your academic research and contribution to new knowledge.

Where do you spend the majority of your time while working on the EngD? At the employer or on campus?

The EngD at the University of Bristol suggests that 75% of the time is spent on site within the sponsoring company with the remaining 25% spent at the university attending lectures and accessing academic resources Every project is different and depends upon the sponsoring company. While I am based onsite within a team with my company, another EngD research engineer is based in a PhD office within the university and rarely visits the sponsoring company.

Is there any collaboration with other employees of your industry sponsor?

Your level of integration will depend upon your sponsoring company, most research engineers are part of a team, reporting to a line manager and participating on (research relevent) projects as if they were a full time employee. At the other end of the scale, some will be given space within the company, but left out of the mainstream due to the company not considering the research engineer as an employee.

Research engineers can be put into the same group as contractors that need access to company resources with restrictions. I do know research engineers who have yet to step inside their company, and others who have been given a desk to work on, only for that desk to be reallocated when the company expanded but they were not reallocated a desk due to their status as a ‘contractor’.

Do I include my industry sponsor as an author on science papers?

When writing your science papers you should always acknowledge your academic supervisor(s), usually by including them as second authors. Regarding collaboration with industrial supervisor(s), it’s always polite to ask and offer to include them as an author in recogniton, but some many not want to be listed as authors so you should always ask for their preference, but there is no requirement to include industrial supervisors on academic papers.

EngD Life

What’s an average day working on the EngD for you like?

The majority of my time is spent working as if I was an employee of the company, with my main role focusing on my research project. I work mostly a 9 to 5, 37 hour week and try to keep the business/academic work within normal business hours. My office has a smart dress code (shirt and tie) expect on ‘relaxed’ fridays. I am based within a team that report to a line manager and I sit in and contribute to group meetings and discussions. I am left to manage my own time and get on with my research project, but will also join relevent projects that might contribute to my research in some way. Any additonal work requests are past through my line manager who will discuss the benefit to my research with me (if any).

When I attend university for the taught component, the whole week is spent in lectures with other EngD or Masters students. The university day is often rounded off by a trip to the pub. Any coursework from the taught component is completed during business hours or at weekends, any exams require a day off work that has to be requested (or more like notified in advance for meeting arrangements).