Aims:

To give students the experience of undertaking and completing a substantial piece of individual project work, applying knowledge learned from Terms 1 and 2 of the programme, including the skills of research, analysis, design, implementation, testing and evaluation. To document the results to a good academic standard via a written report.

Learning outcomes:

On successful completion of the module, a student will be able to:

Work individually to undertake a major project.
	Plan and coordinate the project activities to meet the deadlines.
	Make realistic work commitments.
	Write a substantial report to document the project results.
	Demonstrate good problem solving and evaluation skills.
Content:

Overview:

There is no set syllabus for this module. Students identify their chosen project topic and have a member of the academic staff who will act as the project supervisor. The project formally starts in early June after the summer assessments have finished, and runs for roughly three months. The submission deadline is usually in late August to  early September at the end of the degree programme.
	A number of Industry Exchange Network (IXN) projects with a range of external partners are made available for those students who want a project in collaboration with a company, the health sector, or other organisation. Alternatively a project can be internal to the department, potentially research-oriented, and defined in collaboration with the project supervisor.
	Projects are a full-time activity with no other teaching taking place. A typical project will comprise approximately three weeks of background reading, research, analysis and design, followed by six weeks of implementation or equivalent work, and finally three weeks to write the project report. Students who have any Late Summer Assessments (LSAs) should consult with their supervisor and the programme director to discuss how to coordinate the project work with preparation for the late assessment.
	Students are responsible for managing and carrying out their project, and are expected to attend weekly tutorials with their academic supervisor, also meeting regularly with their external collaborator if applicable. Tutorials allow the supervisor to monitor the progress of the project, providing advice and feedback as necessary.
Project Goals:

A MSc Computer Science project is expected to have a reasonable level of challenge and depth reflecting the content of the taught modules, and may include research-oriented goals as well as the practical application of Computer Science ideas and concepts. Most projects involve the design, implementation and testing of software, but more theoretical or mathematical projects are also possible.
Project Report:

The final report documents the results of the project, and is expected to be a substantial and properly structured academic document. The project guidelines available on Moodle give detailed information about the required content. Obtaining a higher module mark depends on submitting a good quality report as well as successfully undertaking the project work.
	As every student undertakes a distinct project there is no indicative reading list available. The student is expected to locate relevant information sources themselves with advice from their supervisor.
Requisites:

To be eligible to select this module, a student must be registered on a programme and year of study for which it is a formally available.