Types of electrical engineering

Personalise
Students work with a lecturer to understand sophisticated practical telecommunications equipment

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a broad and creative field involving the design, development and management of systems and devices which contribute to our quality of life. An electrical engineer will use new, computer intensive technologies to create and manage complex hardware and software systems and reliable, cost effective devices.

Telecommunications engineering

Telecommunications engineering is centred around communication information at a distance. It’s strongly associated with data communications because of the tendency to encode, compress and encrypt all information and because of the growing importance of digital and wireless networks.

Space systems engineering

Space systems engineering requires many engineering disciplines to work together. An electrical engineer working on a space project will work alongside mechanical engineers, thermal engineers, aeronautical engineers and systems engineers.

Quantum engineering

Quantum computers will offer advantages for expansive databases, cracking modern encryption and modelling atomic-scale systems such as biological molecules and drugs. Quantum bits, or qubits, are the building blocks of this field, and when coupled together, these qubits will give rise to exponential increases in computing speeds.

Research areas