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MChem Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry

Year of entry: 2024

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Course unit details:
Advanced Practical Training

Course unit fact file
Unit code	CHEM30620
Credit rating	40
Unit level	Level 3
Teaching period(s)	Full year
Available as a free choice unit?	No

Overview

This course unit detail provides the framework for delivery in 21/22 and may be subject to change due to any additional Covid-19 impact.

The unit provides training for employability in industry and research.

Semester 1 provides a common training ground of experiments across the broad spectrum of chemistry topics and acts as a stepping stone from first and second year laboratories. Semester 1 experiments are generally split into two parts; the first part will enable a practice of fundamental skills with the second part being open-ended and an opportunity to develop planning, creativity and critical analysis.

Semester 2 will provide time for group research projects, focussing on a key area of chemistry as chosen by the research group. Research groups will work with a member of academic staff to develop project aims and deliver against these aims.

The CHEM30620 course will develop skills in employability including communication skills, reporting to a professional standard, research skills, creativity, planning work with milestones, budgeting, risk assessment, allocating work amongst team members and working as a team to achieve shared objectives.

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title	Unit code	Requirement type	Description
Practical Chemistry	CHEM10600	Pre-Requisite	Compulsory
Practical Chemistry	CHEM22600	Pre-Requisite	Compulsory

Aims

The unit aims to:
Enable students to (i) make critical judgments regarding experimental techniques and to select appropriate methods for a given process based on analysis of the system/compound; (ii) to report their findings to a professional standard; (iii) work as a part of a team to develop research goals, plan activities and deliver against shared objectives.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course students should be able to:

Make critical judgements regarding experimental techniques,
Select appropriate techniques for a given process based on analysis of the system or compound,
Report your findings to a professional standard, evidencing integrity and consistency,
Work as part of a team to develop aims, plan activities and deliver against shared objectives.

Syllabus

The course is split into 3 distinct activities:

1) Group Project Planning & Preparation – taking place during semester 1, 4 weeks of time dedicated to teamwork & group work, specific tasks involved in planning for the group projects (such as risk assessment, Gantt charts, budgeting and ordering), transferable skills and SWOT mapping in project groups, and task management. This section is supported by a 2 hour workshop, online resources, weekly meetings with the project supervisor and an additional meeting with technical staff.

2) Laboratory Experiments – taking place during semester 1, 8 weeks of experiments. Each experiment lasts 2 weeks and you will undertake 1 experiment in each of four themes, covering analytical, computational, inert atmosphere and synthetic methods.

3) Group Project Work – during semester 2 you will have 8 weeks dedicated to carrying out your group research project.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

Assessment methods

Method	Weight
Report	25%
Project output (not diss/n)	10%
Oral assessment/presentation	25%
Set exercise	40%

Feedback methods

Feedback is provided in the following ways:

(i) Formative oral feedback is provided through in-lab discussions between students and GTAs/staff members (both semesters),
(ii) Formative oral feedback is provided by group project supervisors in meetings during group project planning weeks (semester one) and during the project execution phase (semester two),
(iii) Feedback is provided on summatively-assessed executive summary reports in semester one,
(iv) Oral feedback will be provided by markers at the group poster presentation (semester two)
(v) Written comments will provide feedback on individual project reports (semester two).

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Practical classes & workshops	240

Independent study hours
Independent study	402

Teaching staff

Staff member	Role
Carl Poree	Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Assesment details:

Assessment task 1:

Executive reports on teaching lab experiments (four reports, one per experiment, to be submitted over the course of semester one)
Length :11 pages maximum (6 pages report + 5 pages supporting information) per report
Weighting within unit (if relevant): 40%

Assessment task 2:

Group project planning document
Weighting within unit (if relevant): 10%

Assessment task 3:

Individual project report
Length:15 pages maximum
Weighting within unit (if relevant):25%

Assessment task 4:

Group poster presentation and dataset submission
Length :A0/A1 poster and discussion with academic staff. Dataset – experimental data collected during semester two, length and content is project-dependent
Weighting within unit (if relevant): 25%

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