MPhys Physics with Theoretical Physics / Course details

The Research Project accounts for 45 credits in year 4 of the MPhys and MMath&Phys programmes. You will be allocated a single project for the academic year during Welcome Week, based on their preferences. Projects are designed and proposed by potential supervisors, and span experimental, computational, mathematical, and theoretical physics.

Projects identified as having an astronomy, astrophysics or cosmology focus (labelled with an “A”) will count towards the credit requirements for the Physics with Astrophysics degree. Projects identified as having a theoretical physics focus (labelled with an “M”) will count towards the credit requirements for the Physics with Theoretical Physics degree. Math&Phys students will be required to take a project labelled either as theoretical physics (“M”) or applied mathematics (“MP”) in order to meet the credit requirements for the joint degree.

The Research Project can be undertaken individually or in collaborations of two students, and you will be guided by one or more supervisors, who may include academic staff, research staff, postdoctoral and postgraduate researchers, or technical staff.

The Research Project is open-ended and designed to give you experience of undertaking research within the Department’s active research groups. You are expected to take ownership of your project. Two full working days are reserved in the fourth-year timetable for project work across both semesters, and laboratory settings will be open from 9 am to 5 pm on those days. You are expected to take responsibility for managing their time and their projects effectively.

Risk Assessment and Ethical Approval

You are required to attend a mandatory Health and Safety induction during Welcome Week and to familiarise themselves with the generic risk assessment. For experimental projects and projects taking place in a research laboratory environment (even if only computer based), you must perform a specific risk assessment. Experimental work or work in a research laboratory environment must not begin until a risk assessment has been completed, signed off by the supervisor, and recorded via the Canvas Risk Assessments assignment.

Research based on human participants, or their tissue or data must be undertaken in line with principles of research ethics. Please see the University's research ethics pages for further information. You can use the University’s ethics decision tool to check whether their project requires formal ethical approval. You should consult your supervisor and the University ethical approval pages.

The Research Project involves an additional focus on ethics, research integrity and EDIA.

The aim of the research project, in addition to illustrating aspects of physics research, is to undertake tasks that are expected of physics graduates in the real world of research, technology and commerce. You will work independently to attain a goal agreed with the project supervisor (your 'line manager') by deploying all the skills and physical background you have accumulated during the past three years.

On the successful completion of the course, students will be able to: 

• Design an appropriate research methodology for a physics or physics-aligned research problem. 
   
• Implement a research methodology to address a physics or physics-aligned research problem. 
   
• Demonstrate good research practice in terms of time and project management and record keeping.
   
• Identify responsible research practice in the context of ethics, EDIA and research integrity 
   
• Convey the context, methodology, key physics concepts, results, and conclusions orally and in written form. 
   
• Assess the limitations of results by evaluating the methodology and quantifying errors, as appropriate. 
   
• Compare results with the existing literature through critical analysis.

supervisor meetings; lectures; seminars; workshops; and online material, collated on Canvas

Project Specifics 

You are expected to undertake your own self-directed reading on the topic of your allocated project.

Textbooks 

Lindsay, D.R. (2020) Scientific writing = thinking in words. Second edition. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing. 
Marder, M.P. (2011) Research methods for science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
Thomas, C.G. (2021) Research methodology and scientific writing. Second edition. Cham: Springer; India: ANE Books. 

The University of Manchester Library Online Guides

Literature Review
-  "Planning and reviewing your search" 
- "Getting started with search tools"
- "Getting started with subject databases"
- “Searching effectively” 
- "Evaluating sources of information" 
- "Getting the most from your reading" 
- "Thinking, reading and writing critically" 
 - "Writing your literature review"

Research Practice 
- "Academic Integrity" 
- "Making the most of academic feedback"

Scientific Writing 
- "Getting started with report writing" 
- "Writing an abstract" 
- "Writing scientific reports" 
- "Proofreading your writing" 

Referencing
- "Referring to other people's ideas in your work" 

Presentations 
- "Planning your presentation"

Student Support and Study Skills 

You are directed to the information on Student Support, and Digital and Study Skills.