Unit information: Individual Research Project in 2020/21

Unit name	Individual Research Project
Unit code	MENG35000
Credit points	40
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Croxford
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	MENG30007 Engineering Management
School/department	School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering
Faculty	Faculty of Engineering

Description including Unit Aims

The Individual Research Project provides students with an opportunity to develop the skills required to scope and solve real, open-ended problems, to plan and organise work, and effectively communicate results. This involves evaluation of academic literature to establish the state of the art in the relevant discipline, in order to address an open-ended engineering question through analytical, design, numerical and/or experimental methods.

The projects are wide-ranging and often multidisciplinary. Projects may be scientific and involve the study of certain phenomena, may be technology or product-orientated with a design emphasis, or may be on a topic related to systems and management.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the unit students will be able to:-

1. Find relevant research literature and analyse and interpret it in the context of a given problem.
2. Gather, refine and process appropriate data and visualise the results in an effective manner.
3. Carry out assessments relating to health and safety associated with their work.
4. Apply engineering knowledge and techniques (analytical, design, numerical or experimental) to solve open-ended engineering problems.
5. Critically evaluate technical results
6. Communicate technical results via structured technical reports and/or presentations.
7. Effectively discuss and verbally defend technical knowledge.

Teaching Information

Students will be allocated an academic member of staff who will supervise their work throughout the duration of the project. The overall specification of the project is decided by the supervisor with input from the student. They will discuss technical aspects and the supervisor will advise on project direction in regular meetings. The individual research supervision meetings are complemented by a series of non project-specific resources on topics such as planning, literature searching, report writing and presentation skills.

Assessment Information

The single graded summative assessment is based on a written report followed by a viva. In addition, a stage gate assessment must be passed by the students. Failure to complete this must-pass assessment element to a satisfactory level in the allocated time will result in failure of the unit.

Students will receive formative feedback on their progress during their supervision meetings.

Reading and References

Specified by project supervisor.