Fourth Year Meng Project

Comp 591 and Comp 592

Fourth Year of an MEng Degree

G401/G404 - MEng Computer Science
You must take COMP591 (Group Project) in semester one
and COMP592 (Individual Project) in semester two.

The fourth year Meng project provides an opportunity to carry out a substantial piece of work for which you are individually responsible. It is a key element of the Honours degree and its BCS accreditation. You are required to apply and explore in more depth some of the things you have learned elsewhere in the course, and to show initiative in expanding and applying your knowledge.

You should not expect to be told everything you need to know, nor exactly what to do. You will have to find much of the information for yourself, drive the project forward, take the initiative, and manage your own time. You'll have a supervisor who will provide advice and guidance, but it's your project and you are expected to take responsibility for it.

Recommended Reading

Project supervision

You will be allocated a supervisor who will offer help and advice throughout the project. The role of the supervisor is to ensure you stick to the deadlines, and advise you when writing your final report and other documents that form part of the assessment.

In general, you should not treat your supervisor as a person who can solve all your problems. Very often you might find that you have more detailed knowledge than them, especially if you are working in a new development environment. Your supervisor might not be willing or able to help with tricky coding problems, although they will be able to refer you to the right resources.

Your working relationship with your supervisor will be unique. You shouldn't worry if your experience differs to those of your friends. You'll be treated as an individual, so your meetings will vary in scope and content depending on the project topic. Remember that each supervisor has to balance their workload across many areas, so they might not always be available to meet with you urgently.

You should meet with your supervisor for a 30 minute session ideally every week, but this will vary across the period of the project. You should dictate the pace, so if you don't need a meeting you should let them know in advance.