Prerequisites

If it is intended to use vacation work for credit, then approval must be requested before the end of August each year, by submitting an application form to the Undergraduate Office, Room 212B, Bragg Building, giving details of the project.

Every project will contain a substantial element of independent or original work in physics or a closely-allied subject. That may be theoretical development, equipment design and/or development, and practical or computational experimentation. There is scope for a very liberal interpretation of the guidelines as long as the project draws directly on skills gained as part of the physics course -- these may come from individual lecture courses, or may require the application of say quantitative analysis using physics methods to a problem from a different area of science or engineering.

Certain guidelines must be satisfied before approval is granted:

1. The project will normally be of at around two months' duration and must include a substantial element of independent or original work.  It is important that the project includes a significant amount of physics and is not, to take two examples, simply a series of routine measurements or entirely devoted to computer programming.
2. An abstract of half to one page of A4 should be submitted describing the project.
3. Details of the work must not be restricted by commercial or other considerations (although precautions can be taken to safeguard patent applications)'
4. A suitably qualified supervisor who will be responsible for the project will need to fill in part of the application form outlining the proposed work before it can be approved as a suitable project. The supervisor should also be willing to write a brief report describing the work that has been done and giving an assessment of the quality of the work. These reports will normally be requested from supervisors shortly after the undergraduate has submitted his or her report on the project

Gaining approval for the project does not commit the student to using the project for examination credit: it is still possible (up until the due date for the report below) for the student to decide not to submit a report and gain credit instead from some other allowed item of further work. In this case the student should inform the Helen Marshall in the \undergraduate Office (hm328@cam.ac.uk) of the change in plans as soon as possible.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment

Outcomes will vary greatly depending on the nature of the project. Approval to submit the project for credit will not be granted unless the project provides at least some of:

• Transferable skills:  team work, communication, project planning...
• Research skills: literature surveys, programming in relevant languages, database design, relevant experimental skills (clean room, cryogenics, data acquisition....)

Assessment

The deadline for submission is 4:00pm on the first Monday in Michaelmas (FULL) term.  Two paper copies of the report on the project written by the student should be submitted to the Undergraduate Office (Room 212B, Bragg Building).  A pdf of the report should also be uploaded to the TIS by the same deadline of 4:00pm.  The report should be concise, 20-30 pages, 5000 words maximum.  In order to preserve anonymity when your report is looked at by the examiners, your name must not appear on the report itself, but only on the cover sheet which you will be given when you hand it in.

The project will be awarded a mark based on the report and on a 30‐minute oral examination carried out by two assessors, usually members of the Cavendish staff. The oral examinations take place during the Michaelmas Term.

Marks are split equally between three areas:

• Scientific content: How much appropriate understanding of science (particularly physics) was shown?
• Quality of work: How carefully/accurately/successfully was the work planned and performed? Was an appropriate amount of relevant material included?
• Communication skills: Report: was the report well written and clearly organised, with clear and well-balanced arguments, appropriate use of figures and tables, etc? Viva: was the student able to summarise the work and to respond coherently to questions?

Synopsis

Scientific work during the Long Vacation prior to your third or fourth year can count as project work worth one unit of Further Work in Part II, or one Minor Topic or unit of Further Work in Part III. Forms are available from the Undergraduate Office, the deadline for approval of the project is the beginning of September. You will be required to name in advance a suitably qualified on-site supervisor who is willing to write retrospectively to Dr Padman describing the work you have done and giving an assessment of your effectiveness. Normally the programme must be of at least two months duration and must include a substantial element of independent or original work. It is important that the project includes a significant amount of physics and is not, for example, simply a series of routine measurements or entirely devoted to computer programming.

Arranging Placements

It is up to individual students to arrange their own projects with research laboratories in industry and elsewhere. Students may be able to set up a suitable project with an industrial firm already sponsoring them, or by approaching other research laboratories.  All arrangements for payment and other conditions of employment during the project period are the responsibility of the student.

Vacation projects within the University may be offered through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP).  See http://to.eng.cam.ac.uk/teaching/urops/ for details.  Some of these projects may be suitable as assessed Long-Vacation Work. The teaching web pages www-teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/vacWorkDB.php offers other useful suggestions.

Further Information

• Form to request approval of projects (.docx) (.pdf)
• Further guidelines
• Physics vacation work database
• UROPs website