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MSc in Major Programme Management and associated Research Network

Newcastle University has led the way in developing this highly specialised MSc in Major Programme Management and associated Research Network.

We have a world beating track record in this discipline, which is second to none! The EDC forms the core of this centre of excellence.

The course was developed with support from Thales UK plc.

The course offers a unique combination of elements to create a centre of excellence that aims to increase the national supply of the skills needed to manage large and very demanding projects.

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Current projects at the EDC

This page highlights some of the current work at the EDC. For more information about this please contact us.

Current projects

Design Change (Paul Braiden and Grant Ingram)

This project is concerned with improving the process of design change. In large complex projects it is common for the design to be "frozen" after it has reached a certain level of maturity this then allows construction or manufacture to proceed with some certainty. The real world is not a linear progression however and often changes have to be made to the design after it has been "frozen" - these changes are generally costly both in terms of cash and programme. This project aims to improve the peformance of design change.

Cost-committed and cost-incurred

Sustainability (Sharon Joyce and Peter Norman)

The EDC Sustainability Research Group investigates the impact of sustainability on the design process for complex systems. We focus on large made-to-order products such as offshore oil and gas, nuclear systems, land based chemical and power plant, ships, and military aircraft.

An EPSRC - funded programme (Design for a Clean Environment) has allowed us to develop design tools and methods for sustainability throughout the product lifecycle.

Current work concerns public attitude to risk associated with large projects, and how this can be taken into account by designers.

We are also involved in developing outreach activities around the concepts of sustainability. This effort is aimed at industry, the community and education.

Integrated Modelling Environments (John Dalton)

With continued enhancements to modern computing capability, the application of Modelling and Simulation to engineered systems has proliferated. However, despite validation and verification, the task of formally accepting Modelling and Simulation is increasingly difficult as systems become more complex and integrated. The fulfillment of this task is reliant upon effective decision making and as such, would benefit from computer support. Model acceptance is typically an ad hoc, subjective procedure but we have developed a methodology with supporting software to formally capture the required reasoning. It enables resources for improving models of complex systems to be better targeted and thus promotes the use of modelling over costly systems testing. (sponsored by BAE Systems)

The product hierarchy