Engineering in Biomedical Engineering

The Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) and Masters of Engineering (M.E.) programme in Biomedical Engineering are 4 years and 5 years in duration, respectively.

Both include an eight-month period of Cooperative Education spent in an appropriate industrial environment. The course provides a broad and practical programme of study, which gives you a good understanding of anatomy, physiological fluid mechanics, medical devices, medical imaging, tissue mechanics, cell mechanobiology, biomicrofluidics, and computational modelling.

The first two years provide you with a foundation in the fundamental engineering disciplines, and subjects taught include:

• Introductory Anatomy and Physiology, 
• Cell & Tissue Behaviour for Engineers, 
• Physiological Fluid Mechanics 1
• Chemistry
• Engineering Mechanics 
• Computing for Engineering
• Mathematics for Engineering
• Materials

At the end of Year 2 you are placed in a company in the biomedical engineering industry both in Ireland and internationally for an 8-month Co-operative Education Period. Typical companies include Boston Scientific (Ireland & USA), Abbott (Ireland & USA) and Medtronic (Ireland and USA). This will take place directly after your Year 2 exams (Summer semester) and continue to start of your second semester of Year 3 (i.e. June to following January).

During your final two years you will undertake modules that again specific to biomedical engineering field. These modules will now focus on novel and cutting-edge topics in biomedical engineering. You experience more challenging and group based projects in interesting topics within the Biomedical Engineering field. Modules include:

• Biocompatibility
• Tissue Engineering
• Orthopaedic Biomechanics
• Biomaterials
• In Vitro Models for Bio Engineers

The ME Programme have modules designed around the Research and Development of medical devices as well as commercialising such devices. The ME students will get the opportunity to apply their knowledge of medical devices, anatomy, materials and mechanics in the 'Medical Device Design' project. This is run over two semesters where students design a medical device and build a business plan around it. In conjunction with the 'Entrepreneurship and Innovation' module you will follow a path to realise such a medical device and how to get it to market. 

Employability skills from this degree

• Solving problems using logic, creative and innovative approaches
• Planning, prioritising, working to deadlines and under pressure
• Communicating effectively (verbally and written)
• Working in multidisciplinary teams
• Numeracy and IT skills, with excellent use of statistics

• Project management
• Awareness of cost/value
• Awareness of social, cultural, environmental, health and safety, and wider professional responsibilities
• Attention to detail
• Good judgement and acceptance of responsibility

The year after graduating with this degree

The University of Limerick Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) is a detailed review of the employment outcomes of UL graduates conducted annually by the University and supported by the Higher Education Authority (HEA). The survey forms part of a nationwide review of the employment outcomes of Irish University Graduates. The table below illustrates a five-year trend for UL graduate employment levels and location the year after graduation.

Further Study Options

• GradDip in Chemical Engineering
• MSc in Software Engineering
• Structured PhD

Job titles for graduates with this degree

Graduates progressing directly into employment take up a wide variety of roles. The following provides a sample of initial roles listed on the Graduate Outcomes Survey by graduates approximately one year after graduation:

• Associate Regulatory Affairs Specialist
• Design Engineer
• Graduate Manufacturing Engineer
• Graduate Process Engineer
• Graduate Programme
• Graduate Trainee
• Lab. Assistant
• Manufacturing Engineer

• Operations Graduate
• Procurement & Commercial Analyst
• Quality Engineer
• R&D Engineer
• Research Assistant
• Risk Analyst
• Technical Biomedical Engineer
• Validation Engineer