Course Catalogue

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Students will co-design and conduct independent original research on a geoscience topic. Students will have an academic supervisor and will base their topic largely around the use of analytical facilities in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences and potentially the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, or external industry and academic collaborators. Field components can also be included. The course will include the production of a dissertation.

There will be a formal introduction and laboratory safety classes at the start of the course, but otherwise the course will be timetabled personally at the instigation of the student, their supervisor(s), laboratory technicians and managers.

Normally completion of Level 3 Geology or Level 3 Earth Science courses at a mean of B3.

EARTH4004 - Independent Research Project

Research Dissertation (75%),

Project Plan (written, including Gannt chart) (5%); 

Project Pitch (oral presentation to hypothetical funders) (10%); 

Project reflective practice (ongoing written journal and interview about the project in its aftermath) (10%).

The aims of this course are:

■ To provide students with an opportunity to co-design, champion, conduct, report and reflect on a significant and original piece of independent academic research on a geoscience topic.

■ To provide transferable and ancillary laboratory and collaborative skills required by graduates for both postgraduate study and for the commercial and industrial environment.

■ To provide research-level analytical expertise.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Compile and critically evaluate existing literature in an area of geoscience.

■ Propose a formal plan to tackle a research question in geoscience.

■ Pitch a project to (fictional) funders and assess its merits, drawbacks, and ethical efficacy.

■ Demonstrate safe field and/or laboratory working procedures during the running of a project.

■ Analyse geoscience data critically in terms of uncertainties in sample collection methodologies, quantitative analysis and interpretation.

■ Present and discuss the project results and interpretation in a dissertation.

■ Demonstrate critical reflective practice.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.