Life Science Final Year Research
Project (C7127)
Course convenor: Professor Michelle West
m.j.west@sussex.ac.uk
• All students in the School of Life Sciences
(excluding Chemistry) carry out a final year
research project.
• You will have the opportunity to:
– undertake an individual piece of original
research.
– work independently (with guidance and
support).
Life Science Final Year Research
Project (C7127)
• The project is a core course for which
you will be automatically registered, you
will choose your other modules via the
online option system.
• You choose a specific project through a
separate procedure (see later slides)
and submit your project choice form to
the School office.
Project Assessment
• Oral presentation of approx 10-12 mins
at the end of the autumn term (10%).
• Project report of approximately 6000
words due in during the spring term
(90%).
How Much Time Will I
Spend On My Project?
• 30 credit course (1/4 of final year).
• 1 credit roughly equates to 10 hours of study
time.
• You will therefore be expected to spend
approx 300 hours working on your project.
• A rough guide:
– 50 hours writing report / talk.
– 250 hours doing research work and analysing data.
• Assuming a 7 hour day this is roughly
– 3.5 days a week for 10 weeks
Is Project Time
Timetabled?
• You are expected to manage your own time
spent on research- lab/research time will not
be on your timetable.
• Your project must be completed in the
autumn term.
• You need to fit your project work around your
lectures and course reading.
• Your project should NOT require you to skip
lectures and neglect course reading!
What kinds of projects are
available?
• In general a research project involves testing
a hypothesis or analysing a research
question. Projects can include:
– Field work, data collection, lab-based research.
– Analysis of existing data e.g. bioinformatics, data
mining, population/behaviour analysis.
– Extraction and analysis of data and information
from published literature.
Where can I find project
details ?
• Teaching and research faculty will provide
project titles and descriptions and list any
module requirements for their projects.
• These are available to view and download
from a dedicated webpage
(http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/internal/courses/research_projects)
as a single PDF file that covers all research
subject areas in the school (excluding
Chemistry).
What type of project shall I
choose?
• You are free to choose a project from any subject area providing
you meet any module requirements indicated by the supervisor.
• If you are considering a career in Medicine or a non-experimental
science-based career, then a critical review or data analysis
project may be a good choice.
• If you are considering a career in academic/ lab-based research
then a lab-based or data analysis project would be a good
choice.
• If the supervisor is offering more than one type of project you can
indicate if you have a strong preference for an
experimental/literature-based project on the choice form.
Choosing projects
• You are expected to contact supervisors to discuss
projects you are interested in (arrange an
appointment by e-mail do not just turn up!).
• Please obtain their signatures on the form available
on the school website.
• After discussions with supervisors please rank your
choices (1-6).
• There is no need to indicate specific project titles by
the same supervisor, projects are allocated and the
supervisor will then discuss your preference with you.
Choosing projects-tips!
• Do not leave it until the day the form is due in to
approach supervisors.
– They may not have time to talk to you.
– This doesn’t give them a very good impression of
your organisational skills.
• Think outside of the box!
– Try not to only pick supervisors you know- many
research faculty that you may not know offer very
good projects.
– Try to be open-minded about the area of researchmany projects offer training in widely applicable
techniques.