Here at Edge Hill University, our growing engineering provision gives students an exciting and practical environment in which to grow your interest into a passion. Our Associate Head of Engineering, Professor Ray Sheriff, brings his 30 years’ experience as an academic, plus industry experience in satellite communications engineering, to the heart of the modules he teaches to our engineering students.
At Edge Hill University, you’ll be taught by experts in their field, who apply real-world context to all your learning. Academic staff like Ray continue to work on large scale, international projects that contribute to global change alongside their teaching. This means you can be assured you’ll be up-to-date with current developments in the field of engineering, and will have an idea of exactly where your knowledge and skills could be applied in the real world. We caught up with Ray to find out a little more about his research, the international projects he’s worked on, and the engineering degrees at Edge Hill.
The word engineer has its roots in the Latin word ingenium, meaning ingenious, a clever, inventive problem solver. Throughout the centuries, from the days of the
Roman Empire, through to the industrial revolution in the Victorian era and now in today’s global information society, engineering has helped shape and develop how we go about our daily lives. These are exciting and rewarding times to be a professional engineer. Engineering is built on a solid foundation of established scientific knowledge and the realms of engineering and physics are closely related. Physicists are interested in discovering the fundamental knowledge that determines how the universe functions, whereas engineers make use of this knowledge to develop innovative solutions to address particular needs.
What’s one of the biggest projects you’ve worked on?
I began my career in the mid-1980s working in the satellite communications industry, when mobile phones had yet to emerge as one of the greatest engineering innovations in modern times, and the Internet revolution was yet to gather pace. In 1991, when the world wide web was still in its infancy and digital mobile phones first began to appear on the streets, I started research on the third generation of mobile satellite and cellular networks – better known as 3G.
From this point on, the boom of growth in mobile devices over the last 30 years has meant that as telecommunications engineers, we always need to work 10 years ahead of the market to keep up with consumer demand. I travelled all around Europe working on 3G, 4G and 5G – seeing the impact my own research and work, and that of thousands of other highly-skilled engineers, was having on a global scale. Each time a new network is developed, it needs to be faster than the one before. It’s my challenge as a telecommunications engineer to research the most effective ways to shrink the transmission cells down further, so that the network can accommodate more data with minimal power and better quality. Currently, I’m working on researching the next generation – the 6G network.
What’s the best thing about studying or working in engineering?
For engineers, work is never done. Society will always want to develop and improve by finding out new and more efficient ways of doing things, whether it be tackling climate change, increasing food production, better managing our health, or exploring the universe. Today, engineers around the globe are faced with the challenges of providing cleaner and more efficient energy, electrifying modes of transport, tackling the health and care needs of an ageing society, and feeding the world’s growing population, to name but a few. A degree in engineering will provide you with the opportunity to help shape a future society.
Engineering is a common language. The same concepts and methodologies exist across the globe. I’m always working on research projects alongside my teaching, it means I’m able to stay up-to-date with the developments across the sector, and bring updates with me into the classroom. Here at Edge Hill, we’re training our engineering students to be as work-ready as possible, and one of the best ways to do that is to ensure all their theoretical learning is underpinned by real-world examples. The things our students learn on their undergraduate degree are always reflective of the current landscape within the industry.
Why is this such an exciting time to join our engineering programmes?
At Edge Hill University we are continuing to develop our state-of-the-art laboratory facilities to reflect our growing engineering provision and following our recent investment in our electrical and electronic engineering teaching laboratory, you will have access to industry-standard equipment like oscilloscopes and signal generators. Our new Materials Engineering Laboratory hosts a tensile tester, which allows you to explore the properties of materials, and our new Electrical Machines Laboratory is furnished with electric motors and cutting-edge power electronics test kits for hands-on experimentation. By applying theoretical knowledge in the labs throughout the course, our students will graduate with the technical experience needed to work in the industry.
If you have the ambition to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges using ingenuity and technical know-how, or if you are interested in discovering how the world works in the pursuit of new scientific knowledge, then opportunities for studying engineering or physics at Edge Hill University are here for you to explore.
Come along and meet with our staff, explore our facilities, discuss your exciting career options, and see how we can help you begin this rewarding journey with an engineering or physics degree at Edge Hill University
September 8, 2022
