Two new engineering Master’s programmes

Two new engineering Master’s programmes are being taught through the Faculty of Engineering. Food Innovation and Product Design (FIPDES) is a new Erasmus Mundus Master’s programme being offered in collaboration between France, Ireland and Sweden through the Division of Packaging Logistics at LTH.
The Food Innovation and Product Design (FIPDES) programme has already started in France, with around 20 students from around the world. At Agro¬ParisTech, they are now studying food technology; in the spring they will study innovation, marketing and business management in Ireland. During their second year, they can choose between three specialisations, one of which is about food packaging design and is taught at the Faculty of Engineering, followed by a degree project.

“This means that we will receive six or seven students from the first cohort, a really global group”, says Professor Annika Olsson, who has this year succeeded Gunilla Jönsson in her post.

She explains that a couple of years ago there was a visiting researcher from France, Gwenola Bertuluci, at the department, who had applied to start the new programme but been turned down by the EU because they lacked some expertise. Once Lund had joined, approval was given!

“We would like to see more Europeans and Swedes taking the programme; at the moment there aren’t many, perhaps because there wasn’t a lot of time for marketing”, says Annika Olsson.

The aim of the programme is to provide outstanding training in innovation and food.
For the Division of Packaging Logistics, it means using three existing courses and developing a new one on food and packaging in collaboration with the French partners.

Master’s degree in energy-efficient construction attracts interest from abroad

A new Master’s programme, Energy-Efficient and Environmental Building Design , is being prepared by the Faculty of Engineering at Campus Helsingborg, starting in the autumn semester 2012. The construction industry is now crying out for experts in this field, says senior lecturer Maria Wall.

The Master’s degree is intended first and foremost as a continuation of the Bachelor’s in Construction Engineering with Architecture, but is also open to other students with a relevant engineering or architecture degree from Sweden or abroad.

Maria Wall points out that energy consumption in buildings is the largest source of their environmental impact and that the construction sector is responsible for a large proportion of our total energy consumption – 40 per cent in Europe. As a result, a number of authorities have raised the requirements for both future construction and older properties.

The programme will primarily build on the research conducted at LTH, other institutions abroad and in industry on ‘zero-energy buildings’ and other low-energy solutions in cold climates.

The programme will be delivered in English and has already attracted international interest even before it has started. The aim is to create a holistic view and a systematic approach that both reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and creates better indoor environments.

The Board of LTH and the Vice-Chancellor of LU have approved the plans.