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Sustainable Geoenergy at Heriot-Watt University - UCAS

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2025 - 2026
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Course summary

MSc Sustainable Geoenergy equips you with the knowledge and skills to manage geoenergy resources in a holistic, safe, and cost-effective manner. It will appeal to science and engineering graduates or those of you from a different numerate academic background who are interested in the management of subsurface reservoirs used to switch from a fossil fuel-driven economy to a decarbonised one. You’ll address key concepts in subsurface energy and CO2 storage, geothermal energy or transitional gas while integrating geoscience, engineering, and political and societal aspects into your learning. You’ll consider geoenergy resources, the application of technologies to geoenergy management, and ethics relevant to professional engineering practice. You’ll integrate theory and practice, and learn relevant statistical, scientific, and economical skills.   This career-focused master’s programme will develop your technical, scientific, and managerial abilities, relevant for a career in academia, industry, government and non-governmental organisations.

  • Your learning environment*
The Subsurface Energy Systems programme is taught though a combination of lectures, tutorials, and project work allowing you to get to know and build relationships with your teaching staff, academics, and peers. You will be assessed by coursework, exams, written reports and oral presentation, including group presentations. You’ll be supported and receive feedback throughout the programme. During your studies, you’ll benefit from and have access to our specialist equipment, state-of-the-art computer technology and industry standard software. You will have the opportunity to work on real-world problems individually and collaboratively to deliver practical solutions with global impact. Outside of the classroom, you can get involved with the Heriot-Watt Student Union, based at the Edinburgh campus, and there are lots of ways to do so including participating in student groups, becoming an Academic Rep, and joining societies. Societies provide a great opportunity to meet likeminded people, get involved in regular social and networking events, and gain insights into career prospects.  You may be particularly interested in joining some academically related societies including:
  • Eco Society
  • Geography Society
  • Net Zero Society
Customise your learning You’ll take eight mandatory courses encompassing a wide range of subsurface geoscience and engineering fundamentals, relevant to the current petroleum, subsurface storage or geothermal industry. In semester three, you’ll strengthen your collaborative and communication skills through the group project where you will assess real data from a field such as carbon dioxide, energy storage or geothermal energy, or natural gas production. The data will be like that which would be available to an operator prior to making a development decision. Your collective analysis of the data will lead to the design of an appropriate production or storage strategy. Through this exercise, you’ll gain valuable insight into the use of imperfect and incomplete data, integrate knowledge from prior learning from the taught courses, and increase your collaborative problem-solving skills. The project also provides the basis for in-depth discussion of the regulatory, economic, and societal challenges related to these technologies. You can customise your learning in semester three to match your specific interests or desired career pathway by choosing the topic of subsurface geoscience or engineering in which you’ll complete your detailed individual project. Projects are offered by the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering and by industry, and normally include a wide choice of experimental research, computer modelling, and real-world problems. You programme is studied full time for 12 months at our Edinburgh campus commencing in September.

Modules

Mandatory September -Transitional Gas -Fluid Mechanics, Reactive Transport and Heat Flow -Reservoir Characterisation -Reservoir Geophysics and Monitoring Mandatory January -Geomechanics -Geothermal Energy -Subsurface Gas Storage -Environmental Risk, Policy and Economics of Geoenergy Applications Mandatory May -Individual Project -Integrated Group Project

Assessment method

You will be assessed by coursework, exams, written reports and oral presentation, including group presentations. You’ll be supported and receive feedback throughout the programme.

How to apply

International applicants

If your first language is not English, we'll need to see evidence of your English language ability. The minimum English language requirement for entry to this programme is IELTS 6.0 (or equivalent) with no score lower than 5.5.

Entry requirements

A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree or non-UK equivalent in engineering or a physical or earth science discipline. Accepted science degrees include Chemistry, Geology, Maths, Physics, Computing, Environmental, Geophysics, Hydrology. Applicants should ideally have good basic mathematical capability. Equivalent academic ability based on industrial experience or membership of a professional institution will also be considered. We welcome applications from international students and accept qualifications from around the world. Please refer to the entry requirements for your country for more details. English language requirements If your first language is not English, we'll need to see evidence of your English language ability. The minimum English language requirement for entry to this programme is IELTS 6.0 (or equivalent) with no score lower than 5.5. If you do not have IELTS 6.0, we offer a range of English language courses to help you meet the English language requirement for this programme prior to commencing your studies.

English language requirements

Applicants whose native language is not English and who have not been educated previously in the English language must provide evidence of their English language ability to ensure they can cope with the demands of a Heriot-Watt programme taught and assessed in English. Further information about the English Language tests that we currently accept as proof of English Language ability including our own English Language programmes, can be viewed on our website.

HWU English Language Requirements

https://www.hw.ac.uk/study/entry/english-language-requirements.htm

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £13000 Whole course
Northern Ireland £13000 Whole course
Scotland £13000 Whole course
Wales £13000 Whole course
International £29960 Whole course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.

Sponsorship information

Postgraduate scholarships and bursaries We aim to encourage well-qualified, ambitious students to study with us and we offer a wide variety of scholarships and bursaries to achieve this. Over £6 million worth of opportunities are available in fee and stipend scholarships, and more than 400 students benefit from this support.

Sustainable Geoenergy at Heriot-Watt University - UCAS