1. MSc Physics Projects: 2014 entry  Summer projects (12-month MSc)  Extended projects (2-year MSc)

2. Projects  What are these for ?  What can your project be on ?  How do you acquire a project ?  How are they assessed ?  Some key dates for your diary

3. What are the projects for ?  Expose you to a high-level research environment and provide a taster of life as a PhD student.  Provide experience and training working within an active research group.  Develop your expertise beyond that possible through lecture courses alone.  Provide exposure to cutting edge experimental and computational facilities.  Summer: Workload ~ 3 months, full time.  Extended: Workload ~ 9 months full time

4. What can your project be on ?  Any area of physics that interests you – provided –  you can find a supervisor and an assessor.  suitable space and resources can be found.  the project is sufficiently demanding and physics based.  projects can take place off site, e.g. at NPL or RAL, but an Imperial supervisor must be identified in advance If you are doing MSc with SHOCK or NANOPHOTONICS you must do a project approved by Bill Proud or Stefan Maier. Projects with the Theoretical Physics group (e.g. string theory, quantum field theory, etc.) will probably not be possible as the Theoretical Physics group provides projects for the ~40 students on the QFFF MSc. However, most of the other research groups do both theoretical and experimental research.

5. How do you acquire a project ?  Approach supervisors of active MSc, MSc-Photonics, MSci projects make sure to let them know you are looking for a summer or extended MSc project.  Approach a research group working in an area of interest to you to see if they have any opportunities.  Think up your own title, see Julia Sedgbeer for suggested supervisors - no guarantees however.  Complete and return a project sign up sheet.

6. Staff offer projects which are either: a) MSci projects taken by 4 th year MSci students during the academic year some of these are also offered as MSc summer projects a) MSc-only projects – taken by MSc students during the summer Note that Staff who have offered an MSci project may be willing to supervise it as an MSc summer project – contact the supervisor. The lists may also give you ideas for projects. See the list of MSci projects at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/physicsuglabs/msciprojects/projectproposals MSci Summer Projects

7. Extended Projects MSc in Physics with Extended Research (2-year) The project is of ~9 months duration and takes place in the second year (normally October – June, though you may be able to start earlier if your supervisor agrees). If you want to change to take an extended research project you should tell Julia Sedgbeer and Andrew Williamson To find a project contact: any of the staff offering MSc or MSci projects to see if they are willing to offer a 9-month project Research groups Julia Sedgbeer for suggestions of whom to contact

8. External Projects Projects can be undertaken in other departments at Imperial College or at external institutes. In all such cases we must approve: the project (physics content) the supervisory and pastoral arrangements and safety Please note that an Imperial academic must agree to co-supervise before a project can be undertaken at an external institute. Research groups in the Department have contacts with external labs and universities such as NPL, RAL, Culham, Orsay …… So it may be possible to undertake a project at such a lab if both an external and internal supervisor can be found. Note that some Imperial staff work at external labs (e.g. RAL, CERN), so it may be possible to spend some or all of your time at a lab even on an internal project.

9. Projects may be experimental, computational, theoretical or a mix, e.g. some previous projects: ProjectsGroup - location The Herschel SPIRE FTSASTR Constraints on Dark Energy using Bayesian statistics for supernovae data ASTR Constraining the growth of structure using 21cm intensity mapping ASTR Hofstadter butterfly for grapheneCMTH – ETH Zurich The Chan-Hillard EquationCMTH Organic Solar cellsEXSS Study of spin ice structuresEXSS Fourier transforms as possible tools in the CMS TriggerHEP Comparison of model dependent and independent analyses in neutrino cross section calculations HEP Analysis of neutrino interaction dataHEP Measurement of the production asymmetry of neutral D 0 mesons at the LHC HEP – INFN Bologna

10. 3-D Laser Scanning and Material ProcessingPHOT Investigation of scale-free brain dynamics under different behaviour conditions PHOT – Bioengineering dept. Imperial Active stabilisation for attosecond pump probe spectroscopy QOLS Generalized maximum entropy principles in thermodynamics QOLS Spectrometer Design and Characterization of Distributed Bragg Reflector for Micro-cavity Single Photon Source CCM Cavity QEDCCM Mid-latitude storms and climate changeSPAT Analysis of overlapping cortical sub-networksTHEO, Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL Complex networks: new tool for studying the brainTHEO Ion sources in Titan’s upper atmosphere (extended project)SPAT

11. How are projects assessed ? Summer projects  Short literature review, project outline and plan specific to your work – in the style of a research paper – due June 2015.  Continuous assessment by the project supervisor.  Open poster session towards the end of the project  Viva - oral presentation ~15 minute PowerPoint aided, plus questions, ~mid-September.  Long thesis-style dissertation due mid-September.

12. How are projects assessed ? Extended projects  Short literature review, project outline and plan specific to your work – in the style of a research paper – due June 2015.  Continuous assessment by the project supervisor.  Progress review January 2016: oral presentation plus questions plus plan to completion.  Viva: oral presentation to the supervisor and assessor, plus questions, ~May 2016.  Long thesis-style dissertation due ~May 2016.

13. Key Dates Summer and Extended projects  Start talking to potential supervisors now.  Inform Andrew Williamson of your project choice – ideally by the end of this term (Friday 27 th March).  Projects start – Monday 1 st June 2015 (after the last level 4 exam).  Fill in safety documentation jointly with project supervisor and return to Andrew Williamson, Friday 5 th June 2015.  Literature review & project outline, Friday 19 th June 2015. Summer Projects  Poster & oral sessions: September (date TBC)  Dissertation hand in deadline, Monday 14 th September 2015

14. Further Information  MSc and MSci Projects – see webpages  Blackboard  Research group webpages  NPL, RAL, Culham …. webpages  See Julia Sedgbeer if you have ideas of your own and need guidance on feasibility and whom to approach as a potential supervisor

15. What to do next ?  Decide if you are an experimentalist, theoretician or numerical / computational physicist.  Identify subject areas you might want to work in.  Look through the MSc and MSci project lists and start contacting potential supervisors.  Find out as much detail as possible about a potential project and the research group it is hosted in. Who will you work with (e.g. RAs and PhD students), how well is the work resourced, what equipment / funding is available etc. etc.  Make it clear that you are a Masters student looking for a summer or extended project.

16. Other things...

17. Transferring to / from MSc Physics MSc Physics with Shock Physics / Nanophotonics - check that you have taken the necessary lecture courses - you will have to take a project in the ISP / Nanophotonics - transfer to these courses must be agreed with Dr Bill Proud or Prof Stefan Maier MSc Physics with Extended Research - there will be extra fees to be paid (50%) - there may be visa issues to extend your course – check If you want to change your course registration see Dr Julia Sedgbeer Deadline: end of this term, 27 th March 2015.

18. Registering for exams You must inform Andrew Williamson by the end of this term, 27 th March 2015, which exams you will be taking Exams & assessments Special examination arrangements - see Handbook and Andrew Williamson - arrangements must be in place before the exams Mitigation and Extenuating Circumstances - circumstances that may have affected performance in exams or other areas - must submit form at the time - see Handbook and Andrew Williamson

19. REMINDER Research Skills Training Mini project assessment Friday 27 th March 2015 Level-3 computer annex Live demonstration of your project Matlab, Mathematica or LabView