Research Projects

During Year 4 of your MSci degree, you will complete a seven month research project based on one of the two research project proposals you wrote during Year 3.  Through this project you will receive a comprehensive training in relevant research methods, data analysis and interpretation of results.  You will also learn how lines of scientific research are developed and how it can be necessary at times to adapt your initial hypothesis in the light of results.  You will present your project and results as a scientific talk, meeting abstract, poster presentation and a report in the format of an appropriate journal.

Aims of research projects

To allow you to gain experience in:

  • analysing complex biological processes at cellular, whole organism or ecosystem levels to generate novel and timely hypotheses
  • designing experimental approaches to address these hypotheses.
  • interpreting complex experiments.
  • using diverse experimental approaches.
  • interpreting multiple lines of evidence to test a hypothesis.
  • problem solving.
  • working independently or as part of a group/team as required to address a particular bioscience question or topic.
  • current life science methodologies appropriate to your MSci degree programme.
  • developing critical and creative thinking skills (develop ideas, data analysis and evaluation skills)
  • literature searching and critically reviewing the literature in a particular field, and relating your own research to that in the existing literature
  • project management (managing your time, planning, meeting deadlines and milestones, addressing challenges, producing deliverables)
  • communicating your results as a scientific talk, meeting abstract, poster presentation and manuscript.

 

Allocation

You should have completed and handed in a Project Preference Form at the end of Semester 6 in your third year to indicate which of the two project proposals you want to pursue as your research project during Year 4.  This selection should have been done in consultation with your Programme Director.  If you didn’t complete and hand-in a Project Preference Form by the appropriate date, you will be allocated a project with one of the two supervisors with whom you have completed your research project proposals. We will endeavour to allocate students to their first choice of project.

Content, assessment and penalties

Detailed information on the content and assessment criteria can be found on the Blackboard page for BIOL40010 MSci Research Project. Your work will be marked by your supervisor and moderated by another member of staff. Over-length submissions will be subject to a penalty of 20 marks per page (or part thereof) over the limit. Submission dates are given on the front page of this handbook. Late submission will be penalised; if you miss the deadline you will lose 10 marks per day (or part thereof). N.B. Printer or computer failures are NOT valid reasons for seeking an extension see section Submission below). The same applies to theft of pcs, laptops, discs, memory sticks, etc – always back up your files on the p-drive, in cloud storage, or keep back-up copies in a location distant from your computer.

 Projects involving humans and other animals

You should have completed a brief Ethics Survey for each of your Research Project Proposals to determine whether your project requires ethical approval.

Any project using human tissue or data relating to humans MUST be covered by ethical approval. This takes time, and it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that the survey, and any subsequent application, is submitted in a timely fashion and that NO work on humans is carried out until approval has been given.  Further information and the relevant forms are available on the Blackboard page for BIOL33000 MSci Research Project Proposal.

In other projects, you may need to undertake techniques that are covered by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986. It is your responsibility, and that of your supervisor, to ensure that you have a Personal Licence under the Act and that all necessary techniques are detailed on that Licence.

Amount and timing of the work

It is important that you spend an appropriate amount of time on your Research Project. It is recommended that you spend at least 35-40 hours per week on project work. Also, as the Research Project is a 120 credit unit, you should expect to spend a total of 1200 hours on project work. Students must liaise closely with their Supervisor(s) regarding periods that can be spent actively performing experiments (either ‘wet’ or computational). This is because undergraduates MUST be supervised by a member of University staff AT ALL TIMES when working in any laboratory. You may work on University campus after normal hours (i.e., after 17.00hrs) but you MUST written permission and be supervised by a member of University Staff. You will need to discuss with your supervisor obtaining the required permission to work outside of normal working hours.

N.B. All laboratory-based projects must be subject to a risk assessment, prior to starting work – see section Health and Safety and also https://app.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/hs/coshh/default.aspx.

Suggested Stages to your project

  1. Meet with your supervisor during Welcome Week to discuss starting of your Research Project.
  2. Complete Lab Induction including reading and signing all COSHH and risk assessment forms for work you will be undertaking before starting ANY work.
  3. Begin work on your project in week 1 of semester 7; this may involve shadowing staff, learning how to use equipment or software, growing plants or culturing cells, making up solutions, etc.
  4. Seek support: at the outset of practical work you may need day-to-day help from post-docs, postgrads, your supervisor or other staff; eventually you should become more independent. Also, talk about your work to fellow students and think about what you are doing and why you are doing it.
  5. Attend supporting seminars. Ensure that you are aware of the dates of relevant research seminars, workshops and/or lab meetings, plus submission deadlines, and attend seminars appropriate for your project type
  6. Perform a literature survey and continue looking for new literature relevant to your project throughout the academic year. Keep detailed records of all the sources you consult (see Section Plagiarism, collusion and other forms of academic malpractice). References are best stored using bibliographic software like Endnote. If you have not used this before, or have forgotten how, you can consult the archives for BIOL21701 Critical Writing Skills on Blackboard. You must be aware of copyright restrictions on the use of images in your project and reference images accordingly, or acknowledge the sources of images that are freely available under a Creative Commons copyright license.
  7. Record your progress daily in your Lab book (experimental details, notes from meetings, ideas, to-do lists, progress, challenges etc). Write critical comments on your results. Draw conclusions and plan future work. Your supervisor will probably want to see your Lab book and discuss your progress and results. Analysing data and assembling figures as you go along, where appropriate, will help you to plan the next stage of the project.
  8. Review progress with your Research Project at regular intervals. Try to generate your own ideas for your research if appropriate, but always discuss these with your supervisor before you do the work. Plan ahead especially if you have a number of concurrent tasks to deal with.
  9. Meet with your supervisor regularly. Make appointments to discuss your ideas, progress and results with your supervisor at regular intervals.
  10. Finish your project work before the end of March if possible in order to allow sufficient time for report writing and obtaining feedback on a full draft of your report.

If, for reasons beyond your control, your project fails to give adequate results, you will not be penalised or disadvantaged.

 

Feedback

All types of projects include an element of formative feedback – an opportunity for you to submit material, e.g., an outline, and get feedback from your supervisor that will allow you to improve on submissions for summative feedback (observations and marks which contribute towards your final marks). It is in your best interests that you seek an appointment specifically for this purpose and your responsibility to arrange it at a mutually convenient time.

Submission

Dates of submission of major pieces of written work are cited on the front page of this handbook. You will receive further information on the format of each submission nearer the time, via email; you will be required to submit your project report electronically.

The deadlines will be strictly enforced. Late submission will not be permitted without an approved extension accompanied by appropriate documentation. Your supervisor CANNOT grant an extension for submission of a literature review or project report – this can only be done by the Senior Advisor. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with any additional submission requirements of your project.

Assessment

Your Research Project will be assessed through the following:

  • a 10 minute scientific talk followed by 5 minutes of questions, describing the background and aims to your project, the results you have obtained, and the conclusions you can draw from your work (10%)
  • submission of a 150 word meeting abstract describing the Research Project (5%)
  • preparation and presentation of an A1 format poster that is suitable for an international scientific conference (20%)
  • project performance (15%)
  • a 25 page project report in the format of an appropriate journal for your MSci degree programme (50%)