4th year students taking their project in the School of Life Sciences. Only available to Year 4 students.

This is a year-long module, but with most of the work being complete by the end of January. The module focuses on the preparing students to engage in substantial independent research in Life Sciences, and is supported by lecture content in Research Presentation Skills (C14705). Students choose a research topic from a list provided the previous academic year, and are allocated an individual research supervisor accordingly. In regular meetings, student and supervisor discuss relevant research literature and design a practical research project addressing a specific hypothesis. Assessment is via a substantial research proposal.

This module will provide students with an opportunity to use their imagination and research skills to plan and prepare for an original research study. The student will familiarize themselves with, and review in detail, a specific area of the research literature. They will then identify one or more unanswered research questions, and plan a programme of research designed to answer them. During the planning process, students will consider: the feasibility of the proposed work in a specified time period; its novelty and timeliness; its potential scientific and societal impact; the costs involved in the execution of the project; the ethical context for the work; and contingencies for situations in which the work does not go to plan.