ACS Project Briefing 2 nd December 2009 Steven Hand

What’s an ACS Research Project? An independent* piece of work in some area of computer science – Can be based on one of the many project suggestions, or initiated by the student – Needs to have a willing academic supervisor Official member of staff who signs off on proposal, and provides 50% of final assessment Optionally can have additional ‘day to day’ supervisor who helps with the actual doing of the work! (* you can work in collaboration with others… but need to be very careful about attribution; best avoid other ACS students)

A “Research” Project? The word ‘Research’ describes an aspiration… – A successful project should be something that could lead to a paper submission to a decent venue… – … but novelty is not strictly required – Perfectly acceptable to do a measurement study; to reproduce (or not!) results; or just build a Aim is to show that you can – Find a problem/area (perhaps with some help); – Get up to speed with the state of the art – Produce a research proposal; – Effectively carry out a decent amount of work; and – Write it all up coherently

Timetable Now: think about possible projects – See ACS project web page for ideas, or browse research group or individual pages to understand interests Next: acquire a supervisor – Get agreement in principle as soon as you can Dec, early Jan: – Do background reading, and iterate on proposal Mon 18 th January 2010: submit research proposal Week of 1 st March 2010: progress review Tue 8 th June 2010: submit dissertation – HARD deadline! (fail if miss this… so don’t ;-)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title Formally registered with BoGS in January Must notify us if you want to change it! – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) Aim for an ‘elevator pitch’, i.e. 1. What’s the problem? 2. Why is it important / interesting / non-trivial? 3. What’s your approach? – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) Motivation, background and context Should interleave some related work here – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) What’s the basic idea? What will you aim to produce / achieve? – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) Total duration is approx 20 weeks – aim for 10x2 week ‘chunks’ Write down planned work and milestones Suggest leave 2-4 weeks for write up, and 2 weeks for ‘catch up’. – Appendix (max 2 pages)

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages) Academic references Required resources Anything other supporting material

The Research Proposal 4+2 page document which includes: – Your name, college, CRSid and academic supervisor – Project title – Abstract (1-3 paragraphs) – Introduction (~1 page) – Approach & Outcomes (~1 page) – Detailed Workplan (~2 pages) – Appendix (max 2 pages) Will put template on ACS project page…

Risk Management (1) Intellectual Risks – Due to hard deadline, must ensure that with very high probability a project produces something If possible structure project in ‘phases’, e.g minimum acceptable outcome followed by optional extensions Practical Risks – Avoid relying on someone else’s speculative work, or untested hardware, or flaky software – Ensure everything you do is backed up

Risk Management (2) Legal Risks – If incorporating any external IP, be sure you have clear permission to publish Unacceptable if a dissertation requires an NDA to read! – (In general I’d strongly advise you avoid any encumbrance from external IP if possible …) Ethical Risks – If your project involves human subjects, you must read the official procedures [see web page] – (and, if necessary, get approval)

The Dissertation A dissertation of no more than 15,000 words – Including footnotes, appendices and bibliography Relatively ‘free’ format apart from proforma (declarations, etc – see web page) Writing this much text (well) is hard – Suggest you try to write as you go – Generic structure will work as a starting point – Refine as/when the project results become clearer LaTeX strongly recommended (tho not required)

Attribution & Reproducibility Declaration of originality states everything is your own work except where explicitly stated – Be sure to explicitly state it! – Your supervisor can help in if you’re in doubt Your results/work should be reproducible – We require a tarball or equivalent of any source code, proofs, data sets, etc Examiners reserve the right to call a student for a vice voce examination for any reason

Summary Choose Project (Area) and Supervisor Prepare Research Proposal – Start background reading & preparation ASAP – Build plan incorporating risk management – Submit by Mon 18 th January 2010 Do Work || Write Dissertation Submit Dissertation: Tue 8 th June 2010 Party!