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Department of Computer Science and Technology

 

Supervisors are expected to be fully aware of the contents of the project pages. Part II Projects provide 25% of the total marks award in Part II. Therefore it is important that students receive careful attention from their project supervisor. If a project looks as though it might be getting stuck or heading for any other problem, please inform the student's DoS straightaway.

Students vary enormously in the level of project supervision they require and the load is never even throughout the project duration. Please make regular progress enquiries even during periods when not much supervision is needed. If a student has more than one project supervisor, please be sure, at all times, who is responsible for monitoring progress and reporting to the DoS.

Project Structure

It is helpful if a basic version of the project is working as early as possible. A really-basic version could form part of the preparation for the main project. It is important that the main deliverable is working during Lent Term since students need time to conduct their evaluation and write their dissertation. The evaluation is an important component of a successful project so please help the student by suggesting ways that the project can be evaluated and ensure they structure their work towards a good evaluation, rather than merely producing a working project.

Experiments with Human Subjects

If a student's project interacts in any way with human subjects the student should request approval from the Laboratory's Ethics Committee by submitting an online application for ethics approval. Please read the Ethics Committee guidance.

Non-disclosure

A supervisor may, if they wish, sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in a personal capacity in order to help supervise a project with confidential content. However, please ensure that everything that is submitted for examination is unrestricted. The Examiners will not sign NDAs. The source code for the project that is created or substantially modified must be submitted along with the dissertation itself. However, libraries or other bodies of code that would be required to make the project run do not need to be submitted and could be subject to NDA. Please note that both the supervisor and the student sign any NDA in a personal capacity and that this does not impose any liability on the University.

Dissertation

Please make sure that the dissertation meets the required structure and has sufficient material in each chapter to match the expectations of the marking scheme. It is expected that the Supervisor and the DoS will both read drafts of the dissertation before it is submitted. Please ensure that the student allows sufficient time both for you to read the dissertation and for the student to make changes before it is submitted.

Supervision Reports

Project supervisors are formally appointed by the student's Director of Studies at their College. Supervisors should register on the CamCORS supervision reporting system and file a report at the end of each term that includes the hours of supervision given. Payment for supervision will generally be approved by the DoS or Senior Tutor at the College shortly afterwards. Supervisors should ask the student's Director of Studies if they wish to know the mark awarded to a project they have supervised.

Supervision Report Form

You will be asked to complete a report form for the examiners when the dissertation is submitted. Student Admin will contact you with details and forward you a form to complete. Once completed, the form should be forward to the student's Director of Studies.