THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Chemistry : Chemistry

Postgraduate Course: MSc Research Methods (CHEM11012)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Chemistry CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits40 ECTS Credits20
SummaryThe course includes an extended small-group exercise that develops skills in all aspects of research project development, from articulation of the problem and suitable methods, information searching, to full proposal costing. The course also includes a literature survey plus a written report defining the scope of the subsequent individual research project work. Topics will be tailored as appropriate to the disciplines of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry or Materials Chemistry.
Course description The course provides experience of the sort of research, invention and commercialisation process which is common to academic and industrial research. These project is carried out in small groups and is assessed in four phases comprising of presentations, production of a wiki and a grant proposal.

The course contains an additional written component in which training is provided in searching, reading and assessing the primary chemical literature. Students are required to produce two review articles, which summarise the main theories, concepts and principles of the area of chemistry covered by each article. The second of these articles will be on the subject of the Research Project to be carried out in the dissertation.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements Pre-requisites : A 2.1 University Honours Degree or its equivalent in Chemistry or a closely related discipline, or with the permission of the Head of School.

Co-requisites : This course may only be taken as part of a Taught Postgraduate Masters degree in Materials Chemistry or Medicinal and Biological Chemistry.

Prohibited combinations : Graduates from Edinburgh University BSc (Hons) or MChem/MChemphys (Hons) degrees in Chemistry or Chemical Physics may only take this course with the approval of the Head of School.
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Full Year
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 400 ( Lecture Hours 3, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 16, Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 5, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 3, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 365 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) A wiki and a grant proposal on an extended "grand challenge" project, a literature survey and a written report defining the scope of the subsequent individual research project work.
Feedback Oral feedback will be provided during meetings with the project supervisor at regular meetings over the duration of the project. Written feedback will be provided after each of the four phases.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Search the chemical literature on a given topic, and summarise the results of the search in written form to a professional standard
  2. Gain experience in team working, project planning and leadership skills in ways which show a clear awareness of his/her own and others' roles and responsibilities.
  3. Present, at a professional level, the results of an investigation in common scientific formats
  4. Gain technical understanding of research in the field of chemistry through study of a particular problem in depth.
  5. Develop an understanding of fund raising, translation of research into applications and commercialisation of research discoveries.
Learning Resources
There is no textbook for this course. The course handbook, on LEARN, contains details of what is expected in each phase of the course.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 1. Ability to work as part of team on a research project.
2. Presentation skills in communicating science.
3 Effective searching of the chemical literature.
4. Summarising literature in the form of a review.
5. Practice in preparing a grant proposal.
Additional Class Delivery Information Approximately 400 hours of student teamwork and individual preparation effort, plus literature survey preparation effort, within times assigned.
KeywordsChe-PGT-RME(L11)
Contacts
Course organiserDr Annamaria Lilienkampf
Tel: (0131 6)50 4812
Email: Annamaria.Lilienkampf@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Claire Dickson
Tel: (0131 6)51 7257
Email: Claire.Dickson@ed.ac.uk
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