Civil & Natural Resources

Civil and Natural Resources Engineering

About Earthquake Engineering

Earthquake Engineering encompasses a broad range of activities that seek to minimise the damage and disruption communities suffer when hit by an earthquake. The subject includes:

  • Assessing the tectonic and fault mechanisms that generate earthquaker to estimate when they will occur and how large they will be.
  • Understanding how the earthquake energy trasmits through the ground.
  • Quantifying the likely ground surface responses at a specific site throughout the life of a structure.
  • Assessing the liquefaction potential of soils at specific sites.
  • Designing structures and lifeline services (electricity, gas, transport, water and wastewater) to minimise the damage and disruption during and after an earthquake.
  • Planning for emergency response and post-earthquake recovery
  • Preparing communities for earthquakes


Postgraduate Programme

The postgraduate qualifications in earthquake engineering are:

  • A Postgraduate Certificate in Engineering, endorsed in earthquake engineering,PGCertEng (Earthquake). This is a 6 month programme of coursework.
  • A Master of Engineering Studies, endorsed in earthquake engineering, MEngSt (Earthquake). This is a 12 month programme of coursework.
  • A Master of Engineering, endorsed in earthquake engineering, ME (Earthquake). This is a nominally a 18 month programme involving courses (6 months) and thesis (1 year).
  • A Doctor of Philosophy, endorsed in earthquake engineering, PhD (Earthquake). This is nominally a 3 year programme of research (thesis).

  • Earthquake Engineering course list.

For more information about the programmes contact any of the earthquake engineering staff or Louise Barton.