Final Year Project

The Final Year Project is a learning exercise allowing you to tackle a significant problem in a similar way to how you might approach it in your professional career.

The Final Year Project requires independent thought and action. In most cases, you will be working in groups of two under the direction and continuing guidance of a project supervisor and a co-supervisor.

Work on the research project commences by early March and continues to the end of September, with the expectation that you will spend on average about 10 hours per week on your project throughout the duration. A project planner indicating the important dates is available for you to help planning the project.

You will draw upon the theoretical knowledge and skills you have acquired so far and extend these in many respects. A comprehensive survey of the field in which the problem lies and alternative approaches to the problem will precede detailed work on a solution.

The research problem might:

• Require the design of equipment to carry out some specific task
• Be experimental in the sense that it necessitates investigating phenomena or the behaviour of complex equipment
• Require the computer analysis and simulation of an engineering system
• Require a software solution
• Involve elements of all four of the preceding activities

In each case, the proposed solution to the research problem should be thoroughly tested and evaluated to determine its adequacy. The assessments (a provisional report, final report, public seminar and a demonstration) will be on an individual basis throughout the research project.

For businesses or employers interested in supporting a Final Year Project, please get in touch with the relevant Head of Department from our faculty.