Sports Design Engineering (Hons) University of Strathclyde

Overview

Sports engineering concentrates on the conception, design and manufacturing of sporting equipment. Sports engineers work in nearly every sport, creating designs that meet specialised specifications to improve athlete performance, safety and sports product durability. For example, sports engineers could be involved with projects as diverse as designing new high specification football boots or fitness monitoring and improvement products, match and playing surface analysis equipment to developing image processing algorithms which act as analytical tools to determine strategic instances in a game. The background our students gain in biomechanics also makes careers in medical device development and design a viable career route which is an exciting area due to the new and emerging sports and widening participation in sports for example prosthetics and guidance for partially sighted. 

The subject is both technical and creative in its nature and attempts to quantify the performance gains that might be achieved through a particular design or method. Top athletes rely on the work of the sports design engineer who develops cutting edge equipment by translating new developments from biomedical engineering and science fields in user requirements. With global growth in participation, investment in and spectators for a vast range of sports, this translates well to great career prospects for sports engineering graduates.

A sports engineer requires expertise in many technical skills; from engineering design to understanding biomechanics of human movement, technology concepts to production techniques. This is integrated with manufacturing processes, CAD, rapid prototyping and digital prototyping technologies, software and practical skills to turn the design and production process into reality which is fundamental to global market success.

Sports engineering design is about understanding product requirements and functionality, questioning existing ways of doing things and seeing opportunities to change things for the better.

During the Sports Design Engineering (Hons) programme at the University of Strathclyde, you will focus on modules that allow you to develop your knowledge on how equipment and products are designed for sport such as:

• Anatomy & Physiology for Biomedical Engineers

• Sports Engineering

• Biomechanics of Human Movement – Theory & Measurement

• Physiology of Aerobic Exercise

• Sports Injury & Rehabilitation

• Advanced Topics in Human Movement

As well as engineering design modules which allow you to develop your appreciation of feasible design and production options such as:

• Total Design

• Technology Concepts

• Production Techniques

• Engineering Design

• Product Development/Product Programming

• Mechatronics Design & Applications 

Careers

Sports engineering is a constantly growing area, as people look to technology to improve performance. Someone with the right skills and qualifications should have a wide variety of role opportunities ahead of them. 

As a sports design engineer you can be involved in almost every aspect of the product journey, from the initial concept, design, development, testing and management of projects to the manufacturing. Sports engineers use technical knowledge, problem solving skills and a passion for designing and refining the usability of luxury to everyday sports equipment, across a diverse range of brands and companies.

Roles may have responsibilities such as:

• Project ownership from conceptual phase through to sign off

• Body packaging, concept studies and detailed design of new products

• Build support, prototype and production

• Solutions development in 3D solids and/or finished surface models from digital scan data, physical samples and technical drawing packages

• Creating engineered solutions to develop existing products in CAD software

• Coordinating design work to deliver timely design releases meeting all design for manufacture input from suppliers

• Designing components to the lowest feasible weight, or to cheaper manufacturing costs

• Quality control of product manufacture

Work experience is highly desirable for graduates applying within the sports design engineering industry, to best demonstrate their team working abilities, skills and portfolio breadth. Our students truly benefit from the industrial group project which is integrated into their degree, to provide them with this necessary experience to stand out when competing for graduate jobs. Furthermore, many of our students gain placements and internships throughout their studies to advance their professional development ahead of graduation.

Accreditation

Institution of Engineering & Technology, Institution of Engineering Designers & Institution of Mechanical Engineers