Every technology you use
is a materials problem.
Here is where you learn to solve it.

A modern chip is a stack of materials, some layers only a few nanometres thick — each one deposited, doped, patterned and etched with near-atomic precision. Speed, power consumption and manufacturing yield are decided by crystal defects, interfaces and impurities long before a circuit is ever designed.

Building new fabrication plants in Europe is only half the challenge; running them takes engineers who understand semiconductor materials from the band structure up. Industry and the European Commission consistently name the skills gap as one of the main obstacles to the Chips Act's goals.

MSEn's micro- and nanotechnology courses follow exactly this chain: Fundamentals of Semiconductor Materials and Surfaces, Interfaces and Thin-Film Materials Science in Year 4, followed by Electronic Materials Processing — crystal growth, thin-film deposition, doping, lithography, etching and packaging, with laboratory sessions — and Optoelectronics and Sensors.

Source: European Commission, European Chips Act — Regulation (EU) 2023/1781.

In aviation and automotive engineering, weight means fuel, range and emissions. Carbon-fibre composites were one of the main reasons Boeing could claim around 20% lower fuel use than the aircraft the 787 replaced — and the same logic now drives lightweight design in electric vehicles, where every kilogram costs range.

Additive manufacturing is changing the equation for metal parts too. GE's 3D-printed LEAP engine fuel nozzle combined some twenty separate components into one and weighs about a quarter less. Printed parts bring new problems — residual stress, anisotropy, porosity — and solving them is materials engineering.

MSEn covers structural materials end to end: Mechanical Behaviour of Engineering Materials and Composite Materials in Year 3, Fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing and Powder Metallurgy in Year 4, then Deformation and Failure of Engineering Materials — backed by hands-on mechanical and non-destructive testing in the Engineering Laboratory.

Sources: Boeing, 787 Dreamliner programme facts; GE Aerospace, LEAP additive fuel nozzle.

That mismatch has a name: stress shielding. Because the implant carries most of the load, the surrounding bone is under-stimulated and gradually resorbs, which can loosen the implant over time. Much of today's implant research — porous metals, 3D-printed lattice structures, bioactive coatings — is an effort to make metal behave more like bone.

Biomedical materials go far beyond implants: biodegradable polymers that dissolve once healing is complete, peptide- and DNA-based materials for diagnostics, and magnetic nanoparticles used for drug delivery, MRI contrast and magnetic hyperthermia. Each must perform reliably inside the human body — the most demanding environment a material can face.

MSEn's biomaterials courses are built around these questions: Biochemistry Theory and Laboratory, Bioorganic Materials and Bioinorganic Materials in Year 4, followed by Biomechanics — including bone mechanics and implant design — and Bio-inspired Engineering.

Typical elastic moduli: Ti-6Al-4V ≈ 110 GPa; cortical bone ≈ 10–20 GPa.

The Critical Raw Materials Act sets that benchmark because Europe relies heavily on imports of lithium, rare earths, cobalt and other elements that batteries, magnets and electronics cannot do without. The EU Batteries Regulation goes further: from 2031, new batteries must contain minimum shares of recycled cobalt, lithium and nickel.

Recycling at this scale is a materials problem before it is a logistics one. Separating mixed materials, recovering high-purity metals from waste and designing products that can be taken apart all depend on chemistry and processing know-how — and life-cycle assessment is needed to prove the environmental benefit is real.

MSEn teaches the full circular chain: Materials Circular Economy and LCA in Year 4, then Waste Valorisation and Advanced Recycling Technologies — including e-waste and battery recycling — and Critical Raw Materials, which covers supply risk, substitution and EU policy. Materials and Environment in Year 5 completes the picture.

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act); Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 (Batteries Regulation).

Materials research runs through its priorities — energy storage, electronics, health and clean manufacturing — and in 2023 the European Commission listed advanced materials among the technology areas critical to Europe's economic security. Research careers in the field are well funded and highly mobile across Europe.

The Integrated Master is a Level 7 qualification — the level normally required to apply for a doctorate — so you can move straight into PhD research after graduating, without first completing an additional master's degree.

Research training runs through the whole programme: Design and Analysis of Materials Experiments in Year 2, Design of Materials at the Atomic Scale in Year 3, then Research Methodology and AI and Machine Learning in Materials Science in Year 5. It all leads to the Diploma Thesis (30 ECTS), carried out in an AUTh research laboratory.

Sources: European Commission, Horizon Europe; Commission Recommendation of 3 October 2023 on critical technology areas.