IE Research Project 2 (CVEN90047)

AIMS

This subject provides the capstone experience for students in Infrastructure Engineering. Students will combine their expertise in interdisciplinary groups or as individuals to address real-world problems, typically in contact with industry.

Project topics will be advertised well in advance of commencement of the subject so that students can make an informed choice of topic and enrol early. Students must register their topic, group and supervisor before the subject commences.

Students with an average score of H1 in the previous 100 points of study and an interest in a PhD have the opportunity to undertake an individual research project.

INDICATIVE CONTENT

The first half of semester addresses research training and comprises online lectures and tutorials with group homework on topics such as project development, literature review, methodology development, skill development, critical thinking, project documentation, reflective writing, and scientific writing. Students will practise these skills throughout their project topics with supervisors providing feedback on the results.

Students then continue the project within their groups and with regular progress meetings with their supervisor for the remainder of the year. The project culminates with students presenting their project and findings on a poster at a student expo, an oral presentation at a student conference, and also in written form in the style of a conference paper.

This subject has been integrated with the Skills Towards Employment Program (STEP) and contains activities that can assist in the completion of the Engineering Practice Hurdle (EPH).

Notes

Note 1: Students wishing to directly incorporate work done during a non-teaching period must qualify for doing an individual project and have the agreement of a project supervisor and subject coordinator. During the non-teaching period the student must maintain a journal, and review the online research techniques lectures, but all assessment will occur at the regular times during the teaching semester.

Note 2: Students and their supervisors must adhere to the University Code of Conduct for research, which may include obtaining human or animal research ethics approval.

Note 3: Students working in University laboratories must comply with OH&S requirements and may be required to undertake additional training such as Workshop Tools Training before access the labs.

Note 4: Students are advised to enrol in the subject at the earliest opportunity to ensure ease of communication prior to the start of semester.

Choice of Research Subject for the Master of Engineering

CVEN90047 is a semester long capstone research project taken over one semester.  It is less suited to research projects that are dependent on methodologies requiring experiments that take longer than 6 weeks to complete, field work, and problems involving research on humans (for example surveys).  It is more suited to methodologies involved computer simulations, analysis of pre-existing data, theoretical studies and shorter experimental programs.

CVEN90064/65 IE Research Project 1 Part 1 and Part 2 have the same assessment and learning outcomes at CVEN90047 but are taken over two consecutive semesters.  Students may commence in either Semester 1 or Semester 2 and continue their enrolment in the consecutive semester.  Because of the extended length and the possibility of work in the break between semesters students wanting to pursue a project that requires extra duration due to logistical issues should enrol in CVEN90064/65