Humanitarian Engineering MSc/PGDip/PGCert/PGA

Find out more about our Humanitarian Engineering taught Master's degree.

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P-H1C1 (MSc)
P-H1C5 (PGCert)
P-H1C4 (PGDip)
P-H1C6 (PGA)

MSc/PGDip/
PGCert/PGA

FT: 1 year (MSc), 9 months (PGDip/ PGCert/PGA)

PT: 2 years (MSc), 18 months (PGDip/PGCert)  

29 September 2025

School of Engineering

University of Warwick

Warwick's Humanitarian Engineering MSc spans a broad range of disciplines and is ideal for those looking to explore all the professional and disciplinary facets of humanitarian challenges. Available as a MSc, PG Cert, PGDip and PGA, this course lets you fit your learning around your commitments.

Humanitarian Engineering is the use of science and engineering to invent, create, design, develop, or improve technologies that promote the wellbeing of communities facing grand humanitarian challenges.

Humanitarian Engineering spans a broad range of disciplines and is ideal for students who are looking to explore all the professional and disciplinary facets of humanitarian challenges.

The Postgraduate Award, Certificate and Diploma are specially designed to support professional development for those already working in the field or interested in humanitarian engineering. Making time for work, family, and friends is important, so take advantage of our flexibility.

Each module runs over 5 days (in weekly or biweekly blocks), meaning study can fit in around other commitments and is tailored to your personal interests or development requirements.

Postgraduate Award (30 credits)

Select any combination of core (excluding Project) and optional modules for 30 credits (2 modules).

Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) (60 credits)

Take any combination of core modules (excluding Project) for 60 credits (4 modules) or any combination including a maximum of 30 credits of optional modules.

Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) (120 credits)

Complete all core modules (excluding Project) for 90 credits, and any combination of optional modules for 30 credits (2 modules).

Skills from this degree

• Equipped to think and work in a problem- and solution-oriented way across the professional and disciplinary facets of humanitarian challenges.
• Have a broad perspective and the ability to communicate with parties of different backgrounds.
• Enhance critical thinking, reasoning and analytical abilities which are sought after by multilateral development institutions (e.g., World Bank, IMF, United Nations), NGOs and the private sector (e.g. professional services, manufacturing, and investment banking) or academia.

Each module will run intensively over 5 days (normally in 1 week or across 2 weeks) and will be taught by a variety of methods: seminar, lecture, field research, flipped classroom.

Core modules are up to 30 students; optional modules vary between 5-15 students and seminars typically average around 15-20 students.

Contact hours vary from 24 to 30 hours per module, per week.

The core modules are assessed in a variety of ways including essay, poster, presentation, artefact, student-devised assessment, video, report, blog.

Reading lists

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platform 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue.   

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department. 

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars, and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you, and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent), ideally in Engineering, Science, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Business or Medical Sciences, although we will consider graduates of all disciplines.

• Band A
• IELTS Band of 6.5 or more overall, with minimum component scores not below 6.0.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Optional modules

(One chosen from List A and one chosen from List B)

List A:

List B:

Page updates

We have revised the information on this page since publication. See the edits we have made and content history.