School of Chemistry

The purpose of this programme is to produce graduates with advanced knowledge of colour and imaging science. The programme will provide you with excellent training and a breadth of practical and academic skills in this subject area at an advanced level. You will learn how to plan experimentation and processes and to solve industrial problems related to colour science, colour management for cross-media reproduction, and colour image processing in information technology.

The skills you learn will be supported by relevant up-to-date knowledge and critical understanding. The final stage of study is the individual research project, which is normally carried out within one of the department’s research groups and may also involve industrial collaboration.This individual research project benefits you by allowing you to study an area of particular interest in depth, whilst developing a wide range of highly transferable skills. Many of our students comment that the extended project is the most enjoyable and rewarding aspect of their programme.

The programme comprises 180 credits made up from seven taught modules, a practical module and a research project dissertation. The modules, listed below are delivered over two semesters through a combination of lectures, tutorials and practical work involving our state-of-the-art facilities. 

Advanced Colour Science 
How we see colour, colorants properties and application methods, colour psychology and also colour reproduction.

Colour Image Processing
Covering the theory and implementation of restoration, enhancement, segmentation and compression of digital images.

Colour Science for Imaging Technology
Introduces human colour vision plus the industrial measurement and specification of colour appearance.

Cross-media Colour Reproduction
Looks at the principles of colour-management systems, including the industry-standard ICC framework.

Electronic Image Communication
How images are stored and rendered, including compression, quantisation, halftoning, security and metadata.

Imaging Technology and Devices
Additive and subtractive reproduction together with the principles of displays, digital cameras, scanners and printers.

Optical Properties of Coloured Materials
Includes light emission, absorption, scattering, interference and its interaction with pigments and dyes.

Practical Skills
Develops vital transferable skills such as problem solving, data analysis, presentation, report writing, planning and risk assessment.

Research Project
Focuses on a substantial, often industrially relevant, individual topic which is researched and then practically developed.

A first or second class honours degree or equivalent in science and engineering-related subjects such as computing, physics, mathematics, chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering, electronics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, textiles and graphic art.

If English is not your first language, you may require a language qualification to show that your English is of a high enough standard to meet the demands of your course. The University accepts IELTS, TOEFL or PTE qualifications with the following minimum scores:

- IELTS (Academic): an overall score of 6.5 with at least 6.0 in all components;

- TOEFL iBT (internet-based test): an overall score of at least 94 with at least 21 in listening, 23 in reading and speaking, and 24 in writing;

- PTE (Academic): an overall score of 64 with at least 60 in all components.

Other English Language qualifications may be acceptable, please contact us to find out more.

Graduates in Colour and Imaging Science are highly sought after in many fields, including display manufacture, multimedia systems development and graphic arts.

Our recent graduates have secured employment with Clariant, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sony and Framestore-CFC, to name a few.