Course Title: Master of Science in Sustainable Transport and Mobility
Professionally accredited with the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) and the Transport Planning Society
The MSc in Sustainable Transport & Mobility at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) is a two-year part-time postgraduate course, delivered jointly by the School of Architecture, Building and Environment and the School of Transport and Civil Engineering.
The programme is multi-disciplinary and delivered by a team drawn from a range of professional backgrounds across TU Dublin, along with experts from industry. The course is designed to be highly engaged, both with industry and civic society, encouraging current best practice and reflectiveness, and to facilitate new research and innovation in the field of transport planning.
At the core of the course is the principle of sustainability and how integrated transport and mobility networks can be designed for the wider benefit of society, economy and environment. The course provides learners with both a theoretical and practical framework but also a basis to develop knowledge and to critically reflect on current transport and mobility environments.
The aims and objectives of the course include examining the context of enhancing mobility for resilient urban and rural environments and fostering equity and well-being for all. This in turn encapsulates the idea of planning and design for healthy communities and living streets.
The course is intended for those who wish to engage in the planning, design, regulation and operation of sustainable transport and mobility networks. While many participants will already be practitioners and/or stakeholders in transport planning, it is a programme aim to bring a more diverse and wider range of skills into the transport planning profession in Ireland and internationally. Therefore it is envisaged that a wide range of backgrounds will be potentially suitable in terms of the appropriate degree and relevant experience.
Entrance to the course is contingent on:
1. An appropriate honours (minimum 2.2 grade) degree;
2. An ability to demonstrate current professional practice OR a minimum of three years experience in transport planning or a related discipline will be considered an advantage.
Offers of places on the course can be made to applicants who successfully demonstrate the above criteria via the production of:
- academic transcripts
- a professional curriculum vitae
- appropriate references
- a brief covering letter
The brief (one-page) covering letter will be required to outline principal areas of professional expertise and experience. This may also include a short statement of motivation to undertake the course. Two references are required, ideally in support of professional, academic and / or personal ability.
The programme has been approved, by the Professional Standards Committee of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation and the Transport Planning Society, as meeting the educational requirements for the Chartered Transport Planning Professional (CTPP) qualification. Any graduate from the programme can now apply for CTPP professional accreditation using only the Standard Route, thereby achieving an exemption from the Portfolio of Technical Knowledge.
Graduates of the MSc in Sustainable Transport & Mobility are eligible to apply for Affiliate Membership of the Irish Planning Institute.
The requirements of the Master of Science in Sustainable Transport and Mobility are that each student must achieve a minimum number of 90 ECTS credits in order to successfully complete the course. A total of 30 credits are assigned to the research and dissemination project. The remaining 60 credits are divided between two academic years and comprise of core and elective modules. Core and optional taught subjects include the following:
- Introduction to Sustainable Transport and Mobility
- Spatial Planning and Sustainable Communities
- Local Governance, Development & Innovation
- Traffic Management and Road Safety
- Transport Economics and Operations
- Behavioural Change and Active Travel
- Principles of Public Transport Systems
- Transport Modelling and Simulation
- Geographical Information Management II
- Summer School in Sustainable Transport & Mobility
- Placemaking (optional *)
- Smart Cities and ICT (optional *)
- Work-based Project (optional *)
- International Field Trip (optional, subject to demand *)
- Research & Dissemination (30 ECTS individual research and dissemination project)
Participation in a summer school involves students collectively in a practical group project. As part of the summer school students are required to engage with an industry or community partner in a Problem-based Learning (PBL) and Students Learning with Communities (SLwC) setting. The Summer School is normally delivered over a number of days with all or part of it located within the partner organisation’s premises.
The elective aspect of the course allows students to either participate in an international field trip (5 credits), undertake a Work-based Project (5 credits) or choose from a specified selection of modules (5 credits each) selected to reflect the programme philosophy and learning outcomes.
The International Field Trip is an elective module and may be delivered in conjunction with other masters courses within the respective Schools.
Work-based Project, also an elective module, is a period of planned work experience that is completed within an organisation in the transport sector or transport related work experience in another sector.
In year two students are required to prepare a major research and dissemination project on a specialist topic within or closely related to transport planning.
Our TU266 MSc in Sustainable Transport & Mobility - Student Handbook 2024 is available for download.
Timetables may vary but teaching is likely to be concentrated in afternoon and early-evening blocks from Wednesday to Fridays to facilitate those in full-time or part-time employment.
Lectures will take place in a blended format, delivered mostly online/remotely with several evening/full-day sessions per semester delivered on-campus.
Applications for this course are now open. Apply Online
Non-EU Students
Non-EU students, not resident in Ireland, are not eligible to apply for part time programs that are delivered on-campus. Applications for part time courses that require on-campus attendance will not be processed and the application fee will not be refunded.
The programme has received positive feedback from many recent graduates.
The diversity of people is a great strength: just having that breadth of life and work experience coming into the course. The people on my course were fantastic. Some of them, as I said, were already working in the sector, and it's always really helpful getting their insights. I learned a lot from them, as well as the actual course content, the research and so on.
And all the lecturers on the course are also brilliant. They are very supportive during the course and are genuinely interested in your career and how it's progressing.
- Brendan Meskell, Transport Modeller, National Transport Authority
The range of modules we studied was vast, ranging from the social science of behavioural change, to architecturally-related placemaking, to the sometimes challenging maths of transport modelling. It really is a well-rounded course and no matter what your academic background you will find some modules relatively familiar and others unlike anything you’ve studied before.
During the course I was frequently reminded of how relevant our subject matter was to important and current issues in policy, which was a definite advantage for me as I was working in politics for most of my time on the course. In particular, challenges in climate, health and social equity. It felt like we were going to graduate with an awful lot of really useful tools to solve policy problems that many feel are relatively intractable.
Should you do this course? In a word, yes! If you care about problems that matter and don’t mind having your brain slightly melted at their complexity, this is the course for you. It’s a course that’s fundamentally about people, and it is key to solving the singular challenge of our age: the climate crisis.
Thomas Bibby, Software Developer, Sustainable Transport Advocate