Individual Project

Module overview

The Individual Research Project is your opportunity to bring together everything you have learned throughout your degree to investigate a real engineering challenge. Working closely with an academic supervisor, you will undertake an independent project that allows you to explore a topic in depth while developing the skills expected of a professional engineer and researcher. You will define objectives, review the relevant scientific and engineering literature, develop an appropriate methodology, and plan, execute and evaluate your project using analytical, computational, experimental or design-based approaches. Throughout the project, you will strengthen your ability to think critically, solve open-ended problems and make informed engineering decisions while managing your own time and resources. As your work progresses, you will develop the communication skills needed to present complex technical information clearly through written reports, presentations and discussions. By the end of the module, you will have demonstrated your ability to undertake an independent engineering investigation from conception to completion, producing work that has the potential to contribute to current engineering knowledge or practice. The project represents the culmination of your undergraduate studies and prepares you for professional engineering careers, postgraduate study and research.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Full CEng Programme Level Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Students make use of risk management process throughout the project duration to mitigate risks associated with particular activities of the project, e.g. access to experimental laboratories for manufacturing and testing, submit jobs to queue on high-performance computing facilities, receiving data from external partners, IT failure and data loss
As part of the individual project, students will use practical laboratory and workshop skills to study certain aspects or design considerations of the complex problem
As part of the individual project report, students are assessed on the selection and application of the appropriate methods and techniques to a solve a complex problem, and discussion of the limitations of the techniques employed
As part of the individual project, students must adopt holistic and proportionate approach to the mitigation of security risks that can impact negatively the project, e.g. data loss or theft, protection of data shared by external partners, data with personal information
As part of the individual project, students must identify and analyse ethical concerns related to their subject area and make reasoned ethical choices based on professional codes of conduct, e.g. human participation, dual use of technology, conflicts of interest
In the analysis and interpretation of the individual project results, students must evaluate the impact their solutions to the complex problem has on the environment and society, including matters from the broader context outside their subject area
As part of the individual project, students must demonstrate the ability to select and apply appropriate materials, equipment, engineering technologies and processes for their chosen research topic and be able to recognise and discuss their limitations
As part of the assessments, students must propose design solutions that are innovative and original to solve their complex problem and that include wider considerations such as health safety, societal and and codes of practice
As part of the individual project, students must apply an integrated approach to study the multi-faceted aspects that may influence or be influenced by their choice of methods, showing understanding of the system of systems approach
Students must be able to communicate effectively to a technical audience as part of the individual project report and to a non-technical audience as part of the poster presentation, evaluating the appropriateness of the chosen method
As part of the individual project report, students must select and critically evaluate technical literature to identify a gap in knowledge to solve a complex problem relevant to their discipline
As part of the assessments, students must formulate and analyse complex problems in their respective discipline to reach sound and substantiated conclusions in cases when data are available or information is uncertain or incomplete, choosing the appropriate approach that involves first principle or engineering judgment
As part of the student-supervisor interaction, students plan and record their meetings with the supervisor, taking feedback as opportunity to direct self-learning and development needs
As part of the assessments, students must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of classic engineering principles and disciplinary knowledge relevant to their chosen subject area and demonstrate critical awareness of recent developments and the wider context in engineering

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Using information and communication technology to acquire, collate, process and analyse data
Completing the risk assessment process
Problem solving, planning and meeting deadlines
Selecting, gathering, evaluating and synthesizing information from a range of sources

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Managing processes for the effective planning of self-learning and improvement of own performance
Extracting data pertinent to an unfamiliar problem, and applying solutions from an appropriate wide background.
Communicating ideas and arguments effectively in a variety of written and oral formats
Designing and testing skills; preparing, processing, interpreting and presenting data, using appropriate qualitative and quantitative techniques and computer software

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include - Regular interaction with supervisor to discuss project aims and progress. - Lectures on - Module briefing - Risk assessment process - Information skills - Projects aims and objectives, academic integrity - Literature Review, time management and organisation - Report writing, poster presentation and oral questions - Laboratory training as required by the project Learning activities include - Learning through reading, note taking, problem solving, independent research, and (depending on the chosen project), design, use and validation of models (numerical or analytical) and experiments. - Learning through the independent production of reports, poster, delivery of presentation and response to oral questions. - Learning through written and oral feedback from the supervisor.

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	150
Completion of assessment task	120
Lecture	10
Project supervision	20
Total study time	300

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Individual Project Student Guidelines (available on Blackboard).

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Report	90%
Poster Presentation and Oral Examination	10%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Report	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal