Biomedical Engineering with Foundation Year

Biomedical engineering applies engineering principles to problems in medicine and biology, developing the devices, systems and materials that diagnose, monitor and treat illness and injury. Prosthetic limbs, imaging equipment, pacemakers, dialysis machines, surgical robots and wearable health sensors are all products of biomedical engineering, and the field is one of the most innovative and fastest-growing areas of both engineering and healthcare. It requires practitioners who can think across the boundary between engineering and medicine, combining technical design capability with an understanding of human physiology and clinical need.

At the University of Hull this four-year programme, which includes a foundation year, develops that cross-disciplinary capability from the ground up. The foundation year provides a supported entry into engineering education, building the mathematical and scientific foundations needed before the main BEng begins. Across the degree you will study the engineering sciences of mechanics, electronics, materials and signals alongside the biological and physiological sciences relevant to medical application, developing the knowledge to design and evaluate devices and systems that work within the complex environment of the human body.

Hands-on laboratory work and local hospital visits provide practical exposure to the clinical context in which biomedical devices are used.

Graduates work in medical device companies, hospital engineering departments, NHS clinical engineering services and healthcare technology companies, in roles including device design, product development, quality engineering, clinical applications and regulatory affairs. Research in biomedical engineering is a growing field, and some graduates go on to postgraduate study or doctoral research in biomechanics, medical imaging, tissue engineering, neural engineering or another specialist area. Chartered engineer status, available through engineering professional bodies, is a common professional aspiration, and the four-year programme provides the academic foundation for that pathway.