Summary

Roughly half of your final year will be spent working on a major individual project of your own choosing.  The project will usually involve design, research and/or computer work at a high technological level on a topic of practical relevance. There are two types of fourth year project, either of which may involve collaboration with an industrial company:

• Type (a) are offered by staff and cover a wide range of areas relating to their research interests.
• Type (b) are projects that you propose yourself, which may then be approved by the Department.  Any such project must be approved by the Coordinator of the appropriate Group, and a member of CUED staff must be willing to act as supervisor.  Arrangements to undertake this type of project should begin during the Lent Term of Part IIA.

Your project is a very important part of the final year and is expected to take up roughly half your working time throughout the whole of that year. Given the amount of effort involved, it is essential that you find a project that will engage your interest. A good project will be one that stretches your ability in the skills which you have acquired on the Cambridge engineering course and will give you opportunity to show initiative in more than one area of engineering activity, such as experimentation, design, computing or analysis.

For more information regarding Part IIB projects, see also:

• Part IIB project importance, overview and aims
• Finding what you need for your 4th year project (recording)
• FindingWhatYouNeed_2022_2023_EB_AccessibilityWriteUp.doc
• Finding What You Need Fourth Year Projects - Slides & Notes 2023

Important landmarks in the project period

• Lent and Easter terms (Part IIA) - Details of type (a) projects will be posted online.  During the first part of the Easter Term, you will be asked to look through and discuss the projects of interest to you with the members of staff offering them. You will then make a provisional selection of five projects in order of preference. Remember, early action is especially necessary if you wish to propose your own project (type (b) projects). Bythe end of Easter Term, you will have been allocated a project and held a planning meeting with your supervisor.
• Long vacation between Parts IIA and IIB - for some industry-linked projects, there may be investigations at an industrial site. Background reading and preparation should be undertaken by all students: ask your supervisor for some suitable preparatory work so you can hit the ground running in October.
• Michaelmas term (Part IIB) - you will be required to keep a log book or equivalent electronic record, which will be checked regularly by your supervisor. Its content may be taken into account in the assessment of your project. There will be credit available for progress and industry throughout the year.
• End of Michaelmas term (Part IIB) - you will be required to give a 10-minute presentation to staff and other project students, explaining what the project is about and how much progress has been made. The presentation is assessed.
• Start of Lent term (Part IIB) - the technical milestone report (TMR) is submitted. This is a formal report, not more than six pages long, produced to professional standards. It gives details of the progress on the project to date, the results obtained and presents plans for the remainder of the work.
• Middle to end of Easter term (Part IIB) - the final project report and a technical abstract are submitted. You will also be required to give a 10-minute presentation focused on the most significant aspects of the project work. Guidance notes on the form to be taken by the reports and the presentations will be issued during the Michaelmas term.