Unlike the individual project, it is not primarily concerned with software development, although software development may be involved as part of the process of carrying out the research, for instance to construct the 'experimental apparatus' required for it.

Projects are suggested and supervised by Department of Computer Science staff. Students form groups and choose a project which interests them (subject to numbers of students registered), then refine the scope of the research by conducting a thorough analysis of the topic area and formulating a solution also with the help of their supervisor. The project is developed under strong supervision and appropriate interim reports are produced and presented.

• Blackboard
• Unconfirmed practical marks when available

• have a very good understanding of the process of conducting research;
• be able to conduct a complete and concise literature review of the topic area;
• be able to form a research proposal and attempt to solve it based on a thorough understanding of a topic area;
• be able to write a journal quality scientific paper;
• be able to present research orally;
• understand the process of working within a team.

• The course begins with a number of lectures/lab sessions outlining how research projects are conducted and the resources available to students. The latter include: Linux, the Emacs text editor, LaTeX, MATLAB, scripting languages and collaborative tools (wikis, SVN, git, blogs).

• Group Meetings. From week 6, each group will meet the project supervisor for a full hour every week. These meetings are for the group to report to the project supervisor on progress so far, and to allow the supervisor to provide feedback on progress. These meetings should be minuted and those minutes should be available through PATS. Project milestones and interim deliverables will also be discussed or modified. Bi-weekly reports will be submitted at every other meeting and reviewed by the supervisor. These reports will reflect individual contributions to the main project and any particular sub-tasks an individual may have carried out.