ACS Project Briefing

2nd December 2009Steven 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 <foo>• 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 18th January 2010: submit research proposal• Week of 1st March 2010: progress review• Tue 8th 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 18th January 2010

• Do Work ||• Write Dissertation• Submit Dissertation: Tue 8th June 2010• Party!