Project Selection & Allocation

Each member of academic staff suggests a number of projects, which are listed on the e-Project System. We also strongly encourage students to come up with their own ideas for projects. The process for selecting or suggesting a project is described below. You need to have selected or suggested a project by the closing date shown here. The allocation of projects to students, and the matching of students to supervisors, happens just before the start of semester one. There are hundreds of students involved, so it takes a while. The sooner you engage with the process, the more likely you are to secure your preferred choice of project.

When you email a potential supervisor, please make it very clear what you are asking and what your intentions are. If you want to do one of their projects, explicitly say this. If they email you back to double check, reply promptly. If you are waiting to hear back from a few different people, be honest and let them know you are speaking to multiple supervisors. Any confusion arising from unclear emails or delayed replies could mean that you are allocated to the wrong project, or another student is picked ahead of you.

Project Selection

The e-Project System will open on the date shown above. You should browse the list of available projects and discuss any that interest you with the people who proposed them. Use the facility to mark favourite projects so you can easily return to them later. Please do not favourite projects called 'suggest your own' (or similar) because they cannot be allocated. If you want to suggest your own project, speak directly to relevant supervisors (see below).

When you've decided which project you'd like to do, check with the supervisor that it's still available and ask them to allocate it to you. You should do this before the closing date shown above. A project is not allocated until you see your name confirmed on the project listing. At this point, you are guaranteed that project. If you just rely on us to allocate from your list of favourites, there is a chance that none will be available by the time the selection phase closes.

Important: When you are allocated to a project (ie. your name is attached to it on the e-Project System), you cannot change your mind, as this would be unfair on the supervisor and other students who might have chosen that project. Please be certain that you want to do that project before you confirm it with the supervisor. [This note was added to the website on 15th September after the project launch, to clarify a couple of queries from students and upset staff.]

Please be aware that popular projects are likely to disappear quickly. You should make time to engage fully with this process as soon as the system opens. Each supervisor has the freedom to accept students as they wish. Some will allocate a project to the first student who asks, while others will wait to speak to several students and then make a decision. We recommend you speak to several supervisors about their projects to ensure you have the best chance of securing one that interests you.

Generic Projects & Supervisor Allocation

Many of the listed projects are generic, which means they can be supervised by anyone. It's important to note that this does not make them less worthy (or more easy) as projects. If a supervisor allocates you to a generic project, you are guaranteed that project but not necessarily that supervisor. Some projects require the specific expertise of the supervisor who proposed them, and this will be clearly stated in the project description. If you are allocated to one of these specialist projects, you will be guaranteed both that project and that supervisor.

Project Allocation

The selection phase will close on the date shown above. After this time, you will be unable to select a project. If you are already allocated to a project, this is guaranteed and won't change. For everyone else, projects will be allocated according to the favourites you selected, so it's a good idea to add a wide variety to your list. We will try to look at the types of project you seem most interested in, but the allocation is generally random.

If all of your favourites have already been allocated, or if you didn't select anything, you will be randomly allocated to a supervisor who has spare capacity. It is in your best interests to be proactive and speak to supervisors to ensure you are allocated a project before the closing date. A handful of students will end up without a project of their choice. If this unfortunately happens to you, you'll need to work with your allocated supervisor to define a suitable project. It will likely be based on one of their unallocated proposals, but you can modify it or suggest another idea. However, it's not possible to change your supervisor at this point.

Project & Supervisor Confirmation

When all students have been allocated to a project, we will balance supervision duties so every member of staff is supervising roughly the same number of students. If you are allocated to a generic project, your listed supervisor might change at this point. Project and supervisor allocations will be confirmed on the date shown above. Check the e-Project System to see who your supervisor is, then contact them to arrange an initial meeting and get the project under way. To ensure fairness for everyone, including staff, you cannot request a change of project or supervisor after the allocation has been confirmed.

Suggest Your Own Project

If you want to suggest your own project, discuss your idea with a potential supervisor. If they agree that your idea is suitable, write a short project description (similar in length to the listed projects) then ask them to enter it into the e-Project System and allocate it to you. Your project is not confirmed until you see it listed with your name attached. You must do this before the closing date shown above, otherwise you will be allocated along with everyone else, based on your favourites.

Suggesting your own project idea is a great way to stay motivated and explore a topic that interests you. It also means your project allocation is guaranteed. Where possible, the person you speak to about your own idea will become your supervisor, but we might need to reallocate them when we balance supervision duties. If you really want to work with them, please ask them to note this on the project description. Students who propose their own project tend to be more independent and require less supervision, so if you are happy for your project to be supervised by anyone, this will help us to balance staff more easily.

Projects must include the students undertaking practical work of some sort using technology. This is most frequently achieved by the creation of an artefact as the focus for covering all or part of an implementation life-cycle. Projects based solely on literature review activity or surveys are not acceptable.

This quote is from the BCS Accreditation Guidelines. Projects must involve the practical use of technology, and most will meet this requirement because they involve designing and implementing a piece of software. However, your project could investigate a research hypothesis by applying existing technology or software to a particular problem. You definitely cannot conduct a survey and analyse the results, as this doesn't meet the BCS requirement, even if the analysis makes use of technology.

Enhancing Your Project

Many students want to make an app, a game, or a website. There is nothing wrong with these ideas, but you risk ending up with a project that doesn't allow you to stretch yourself, apply knowledge from the taught modules, or demonstrate technical excellence. If your idea falls into these categories, consider adding the following aspects to the project.

• Mobile Apps — Include a backend to demonstrate networking and API design. Use a novel feature of the mobile OS (such as ARKit) to demonstrate new technical skills.
• Games — Focus on the physics of the game world to demonstrate technical and mathematical competence. Implement a multiplayer mode to demonstrate networking and server development. Create an AI opponent that learns how to play the game to show application of machine learning.
• Websites — Implement a backend to show knowledge of best practice in online security. Design a robust and scaleable underlying database. Employ and evaluate contemporary web technologies to show technical competence.

As we are a department with research excellence in algorithms and AI, you can enhance your project by adding one of these elements. Talk to potential supervisors and see what emerges from your discussion.