New MSc at the IBA: Learn to optimize everything from robots to banking

Do you already hold a bachelor’s degree in engineering, mathematics or natural sciences?

If so, the IBA is now offering an accredited MSc in Control, Automation and Artificial Intelligence, which is useful across most engineering disciplines. The programme is relevant to industries such as the automotive sector, aerospace, the process and chemical industries, manufacturing, robotics and automation, as well as the finance and banking sectors.

This broad relevance stems from the fact that control engineering is about controlling and measuring performance in processing plants and systems. Often, the process is automated or carried out with assistance from AI.

“You can apply control to anything—from physical production lines to processes, material flows and digital security systems. And the better you understand the system, the greater your chances, of course, of succeeding with what you want to achieve,” says Dr. José Rodolpho De Oliveira Leo.

“While I was doing my PhD, I missed teaching”

Rodolpho is among the lecturers on the MSc in Control, Automation and Artificial Intelligence at the IBA. He has many years of experience in this field—both as a researcher, as a lecturer and in practice.

Rodolfo holds a PhD in Materials Engineering from The Open University in the UK. He subsequently worked for eight years at Coventry University, which the IBA is collaborating with on the new programme.

In 2023, Rodolpho moved to the School of Engineering (at the University of Warwick), before now taking up his position at the IBA.

“While I was doing my PhD, I missed teaching, so ever since then I’ve worked in roles where teaching has been an important part of the job,” he says.

In addition to his experience as a researcher and lecturer, Rodolpho has several years’ experience as a consulting engineer across a range of industries—including mining, steel production, oil and gas, and the energy sector.

“There is a constant desire to optimize systems. So, the ability to implement automation – and increasingly also artificial intelligence – has become a ‘must-have’ in many sectors,” says Rodolpho.

For Rodolfo, it was the natural sciences that provided his route into working with control engineering. Even as a boy, he was captivated by classical sciences such as mathematics, physics and chemistry. During his studies, he developed a particular interest in how materials behave when subjected to stress in all conceivable forms – for example pressure, heat, transition or acceleration.

“It’s about ensuring there is an optimal relationship between what you put into a system and what you get out of it. That is why advanced control is also an area with great academic depth that can be applied very broadly. And there will be strong demand for graduates who have this knowledge,” says Rodolpho.