MSc Metamaterials

This programme is built around genuine, hands-on discovery. From the moment you join, you’ll be working in real research environments, using the same tools, labs and experimental setups that Exeter’s metamaterials researchers use every day. You’ll spend time designing, modelling and fabricating structures, testing devices, and learning directly from experts at the Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation — the heart of Exeter’s metamaterials activity. It’s an environment where ideas quickly turn into prototypes, and where you gain the confidence to solve problems using both theory and practical experimentation.

To make this experience even richer, you’ll have access to a range of specialised facilities and collaborative opportunities, including:

• Dedicated metamaterials research labs for simulation, measurement and fabrication — ideal for electromagnetic, acoustic, or fluidic metamaterial work.

• Advanced design and modelling software used for simulating wave behaviour, analysing material responses and designing metasurfaces and metadevices.

• Group-based research and design projects, where you work with peers across physics and engineering to build, test or refine metamaterial concepts.

• Experimental facilities for prototype fabrication, allowing you to translate a model into a real physical structure and measure its behaviour.

• Access to CMRI — an interdisciplinary institute where physicists, engineers and materials scientists collaborate on real-world challenges.

• Regular research seminars, workshops and guest lectures, giving you insights from national and international researchers working at the forefront of metamaterials.

• Specialist laboratories and departmental facilities, including measurement spaces, modelling suites and experimental equipment specifically geared towards wave physics and materials innovation.

• Full use of the University of Exeter’s science and engineering library resources, ensuring you have access to the latest research and academic tools while developing your project.

Graduates from the MSc Metamaterials often step into roles that sit at the heart of emerging technologies — whether that’s as a photonic or metamaterials engineer, an R&D scientist working with advanced materials, an acoustic or fluidic design engineer, or a specialist developing sensing, imaging or energy-related devices. The blend of simulation, fabrication and research experience you gain at Exeter gives you a strong footing in both industry and academic pathways.

To support your next steps, Exeter offers several advantages:

• Career Zone support — from personalised career guidance and mock interviews to job-search workshops, employer events and help with applications.

• Direct exposure to industry through the Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation, which collaborates with partners across energy, communications, security, healthcare and more.

• Strong employability reputation, with Exeter consistently recognised as a university valued by employers and known for producing skilled, work-ready graduates.

• A respected UK master’s qualification, backed by a research centre known internationally for its contributions to metamaterials innovation.

• A wide range of graduate destinations, including technology firms, research laboratories, defence and sensing companies, and doctoral programmes in the UK and abroad.

Further Academic Progression:

If you want to continue into research, this programme provides a natural lead-in to a PhD — especially within Exeter’s own metamaterials research hub. Many students use the MSc as a springboard into advanced research areas such as photonic materials, nanoscale metamaterials, wave engineering, and materials innovation.