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An original research project carried out during Semester 2 with some preparatory work during Semester 1 and over the Christmas vacation. During Semester 1, you select a research project involving new research or an application or development of your academic work of the previous years or of work carried out while on professional placement. Throughout Semester 2, you should work half-time on your research project under the supervision of a member of staff. A wide choice of project topics are offered to cater for students with theoretical, experimental and computational physics interests. You may also propose your own project if certain criteria are met.
Project Choice:
The projects offered will be advertised on the departmental website from November. A ‘project fair’ will be organised at which most of the projects and supervisors will be represented - you will be notified of the exact date. You are encouraged to discuss projects with the supervisor before deciding which are of interest. When you have decided on three projects, you will enter this information on the project webpage. Projects will then be assigned by Dr Lohstroh, and we are normally able to satisfy preferences but this cannot be guaranteed. Members of staff will be allowed to supervise a maximum of 3 students per session. If you have your own definite ideas about a project, you are advised to discuss them at an early stage with Dr Lohstroh and a member of staff with an interest in that area. Project reports from previous years are kept in the Departmental Library (29BB03) and can be viewed to gain some idea of their range and scope.
Timetable:
You will be assigned a project by mid December and should then have preliminary discussions with your supervisor. During the remainder of Semester 1 and particularly over the Christmas vacation, some preparatory work is essential. Ordering of equipment for an experimental project well in advance may be necessary, and a certain amount of preliminary reading should be carried out under the supervisor's guidance.
You should work on your project half-time throughout Semester 2. In addition, there will be a timetabled one hour meeting every week in order to monitor the advancement of the project. During the early weeks of Semester 2, you will have a progress meeting with your supervisor and another member of staff, for which you will be required to produce a one-page report. This meeting is not assessed in any way and is arranged to enable you to explain your understanding of the project so as to ascertain any obstacles remaining.
For assessment you are required to write a dissertation on your work, which will be due in week 12. In the assessment of your project, 50% of the marks are awarded by your supervisor based on your technical achievements, and 50% of the marks are awarded by two independent academics based on the content of your report.
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