New MSc students
Welcome to the Department
We're looking forward to meeting you this autumn!
Please take a look at our Welcome Week schedule below.
Department contacts
Meet our department's MSc contacts.
Useful links
- Arrival in the UK - All the things you might need to know when you arrive in the UK from overseas, whether you are just beginning your course or you are already a registered student and this is the first time you have been able to come to the country).
- Virtual tour - a 360 Virtual Tour of Imperial. Get familiar with the campus before you arrive.
- PG Safety Induction Presentation - Please familiarise yourself with the Health and Safte procedures.
Information for MSc students starting in October
Welcome Week timetable 2022
This is the Department of Electrical and Electronc Engineeing welcome week schedule.
Please make sure you also check out the Imperial College Welcome Week website, with details of more events and activities across campus, including Imperial College Student Union clubs and socities.
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Monday 3 October |
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Time |
Event |
Mode |
Location |
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10.00 - 11.00 |
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Online recorded |
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13:00 - 13:30 |
Collect ID cards from your MSc Course Administrator (Safety form must be completed online first) MSc in Control and Optimisation |
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1107b |
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13:30 - 14:00 |
Collect ID cards from your MSc Course Administrator (Safety form must be completed online first) MSc in Future Power Networks - Room 1107b MSc in Applied Machine Learning - Room 1002 |
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| 14.00 – 14.50 |
EEE Welcome Talk - New EEE PhD and MSc Students
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On Campus |
Lecture Theatre 408
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| 15:00 – 16:00 |
MSc Programme Meetings - find out more about the course and ask any questions regarding timetables, exams, projects etc.
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On Campus and online |
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| 16:00 - 16:30 |
Collect ID cards from your MSc Course Administrator (Safety form must be completed online first) MSc in Analogue and Digital Integrated Circuits Design - Room 509 |
On Campus |
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Tuesday 4 October |
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| 10.00 - 16:00 |
Student Union Freshers' Fair
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On campus | Check My Imperial App |
| 11.00 - 12.00 |
MSc Control students only
Preliminary Test - Dr Giordano Scarciotti. This is a mandatory attendance test to evaluate whether you need to attend the Control Engineering module |
On campus | 305 |
Wednesday 5 October |
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| 11.00 - 12.00 |
Postgraduate Services - Induction
Library Services (11.00) with Alexandra Martins Dos Santos Careers Service (11:15) with Jess Popplewell Enterprise Lab (11.30) with Jennifer Mills Imperial Award (11:40) with Kieron Creagh
Centre for Academic English (11:45) Graduate School (please view online introduction)
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On campus | 408 |
| 12:00 - 13:30 |
Women in Engineering Lunch Social
MSc and Undergraduates social event. Lunch is provided. |
on campus | 305 |
| 13.00 - 14.00 |
MSc Lunch Social
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On Campus |
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Thursday 6 October |
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| 13.30 - 14.30 | Plagiarism Awareness – with Alexandra Martins Dos Santos (Compulsory) | On campus | Room 408 |
| 14:30 - 15:30 |
Wellbeing session - ‘How to do well and feel well’ Kelly Greenwood - EEE Student Wellbeing Advisor |
On Campus | Room 408 |
| A small number of lectures will start on THURSDAY | |||
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Keep in mind these upcoming help sessions throughout the year. MSc Project support sessions. The two sessions are fairly similar, so you only need to attend one of the sessions.
Mastering Presentations: Informational Posters – Layout and Design. Wednesday 21 June 11:00 - 12.30, Room 408 – All MScs MSc Turnitin support sessions. Mid August. Dates to be confirmed later in the year. |
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Joining the EEE department - Everything you need for week 1
Imperial College Welcome Season
- Imperial has a lot of different events and activities to get involved with during October's Welcome Week Download the 'Welcome to Imperial' app in the App Store or Google Play for most up to date information.
EEE Welcome Week Timetable - starting Monday 4th October
- The EEE Department also organises our own welcome programme which can be found on the Welcome week tab.
EEE Course information
- The MSc A-Z List is where you will find the most important information for yur studies in the department. Please bookmark this page.
- Make sure you take some time to read through the MSc Handbook 2022-23. It is full of useful general information about the Department and about Imperial.
Before you start - registration, email, College services
- You should activate your college account. Any communications from the 1st October '22 will be only via your College email account.
- You must register online before starting your course. You will be asked to upload your photograph which will feature on your student ID card. You will not be issued your student ID card if you do not upload a photo in time or do not complete day 1 safety induction.
- Imperial Mobile app will give you access to College information and services, including your programme timetable, College emails and a library catalogue search tool.
Learning Resources and background reading
MATLAB
There may be a need for you to use MATLAB during your MSc course. These tutorials from the web and YouTube may be helpful to you:
http://www.mathworks.com/academia/student_center/tutorials/launchpad.html
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MATLAB&annotation_id=annotation_736368&feature=iv
http://www.math.utah.edu/lab/ms/matlab/matlab.html
Another good way for a novice to get started is to open one of the demos within MATLAB and work through it step-by-step (you simply need to type “demo” or “help” in the command window to get to the demos).
PYTHON
Python and its packages such as numpy, pandas and matplotlib are essential programming tools for the Applied Machine Learning
course.
Linear Algebra
These notes on Linear Algebra will assist students on our MSc courses. It might be worth studying these before you arrive.
MSc in Control and Optimisation
- “Introduction to linear algebra” by Gilbert Strang
- MATLAB courses available on-line at: https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com (recommended: MATLAB onramp, Simulink onramp, Control Design Onramp with Simulink, MATLAB Fundamentals, MATLAB for Data Processing and Visualization, MATLAB Programming Techniques, Introduction to Symbolic Math with MATLAB, Solving Nonlinear Equations with MATLAB, Solving Ordinary Differential Equations with MATLAB, Introduction to Linear Algebra with MATLAB)
- Book by Astrom, Murray: “Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers”. By Karl J. Åström and Richard M. Murray, available on-line http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/amwiki/index.php/Second_Edition
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Linear Systems, by Panos Antsaklis & Antony Michel, Birkhauser, 2006
MSc in Future Power Networks - background study materials
- AC transmission system operation, powerflow and basic stability analysis. Chapter 3 and 8 of ‘Electric Power System’ 5th edition by Weddy, Cory et. al.
- Analysis of the performance of linear closed-loop controllers using frequency-domain tools. Chapter 1 and 2 from 'Multivariable feedback control: analysis and design.' Vol. 2. New York: Wiley, 2007 from Skogestad, Sigurd, and Ian Postlethwaite.
- Basic stability analysis and control design. Chapter 5, 10 and 11 from ‘Automatic Control Systems’, 10th Edition by Farid Golnaraghi and Benjamin C. Kuo
- Challenges of future power system with high penetration of inverter-based resources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nh22PgScCQ&t=2844s https://lowcarbonconversations.libsyn.com/episode-2-a-tricky-balance
- Construction of synchronous generators https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WdmWL2aUmo
- Digitalisation of Energy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpoTZP8Aew
- Generation of electricity by wind turbines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KE65O44q9o
- Operation and characteristics of Thyristors and IGBTs Chapter 23 and 25 from ‘Power Electronics: Converters, Applications, and Design’, 3rd Edition by Ned Mohan, Tore M. Undeland, William P. Robbins
- Operation of synchronous generators https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8zJKXkU_yM
Library
Microsoft Teams for lectures
Information and instructions for using Microsoft Teams.
Computing and laptops - Bring Your Own Device
updated 16 September 2022 - for students starting in October 2022
Advice on laptops
The Department runs a Bring-Your-Own-Devices (BYOD) scheme. Electrical and Electronic Engineers need excellent skills in using computers for programming, controlling equipment and many other tasks. There is no better way to become proficient than by managing your own laptop, including all the software installed on it.
Financial assistance may be available from the College to support purchasing a laptop https://www.imperial.ac.uk/students/fees-and-funding/financial-assistance/student-support-fund/
What laptop to choose?
Our recommendation is to buy a laptop with the following specifications:
- Intel i5/i7 CPU
- 8/16GB of RAM
- 512GB hard drive
- 13”/15” screen
We do not make official recommendations on the specific make of laptops. When choosing your laptop processing power is less important than weight (light) and battery life (long). The more RAM you have, the better. An SSD hard drive can speed up some processes but is not essential. A touch screen can be useful for annotating notes but is also not essential.
The Department’s laptop loan scheme uses:
HP EliteBook 840G5, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD drive, 15” display
Mac users can consider the MacBook Pro 13”, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD drive.
Operating system?
This depends solely on personal taste, but if you bring a MacBook make sure to install both OS X as well as Windows 10. We advise you run an English Windows 10 version on any laptop. Every student can request a key for their own license to Windows 10 educational version from ICT (via software shop). Help will be available for installing and converting operating systems. Windows is more compatible with a lot of the software we use. Also, some software packages are incompatible with the new M1/M2 chip Macbooks.
What about Software?
We use Office 365 at Imperial College. It is free to all students and can install on up to five devices. In addition, we offer students a wide range of free software to support their work. The ICT resources for new students pages have information about the available software packages.
Do I need a desktop as well as a laptop?
You are strongly advised against purchasing a desktop machine. Instead, you may want to buy a lightweight external monitor and connect your laptop to it. This configuration is much more portable and useful than a desktop machine.
Do I need a printer or other computer peripherals?
Scanning, photocopying and printing services are available in public areas, including the library. You access the printers and purchase print credits using your College ID card and details. If you intend to print lots of paper copies, it may be cheaper if you use your own printer.
Do I need to subscribe to cloud-based storage?
You do not need to pay for your own cloud. Instead, you will be provided with 4GB of secure file space in your Home directory and 5TB of cloud-based space on Microsoft One Drive.