Research Project

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

A total time commitment of 2,000 hours over the two-year full-time (or four-year part-time) program is expected.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study and reasonable steps will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. This subject requires all students to actively and safely participate in laboratory activities. Students who feel their disability may impact upon their participation are encouraged to discuss this with the subject coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit.

The School of Earth Sciences is home to a large and diverse range of research programs. Our interests include the solid Earth, the fluid Earth (including our atmosphere and oceans) and processes that operate at the interface between these upon which all life on our planet depends. Current research activities include: Climate Variability and Change, Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics, Synoptic and Mesoscale Meteorology, Hydrogeology and Aqueous Biogeochemistry, Sedimentary Geology and Palaeontology, Palaeoclimate and Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction, Thermochronology, Neotectonics and Landscape Evolution, Ore Deposit Geology, Geochemistry and Geochronology, Structural Geology, Tectonics and Geodynamics, Thermodynamics of Metamorphic Systems (THERMOCALC), Geochemistry and Geochronology of Magmatic Systems, Noble Gas Geochronology and Geochemistry, Computer Simulation of Geological and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth's Deep Interior, and Energy: Resources and Futures.

This subject comprises a major piece of original supervised research on a topic as agreed by the student and their supervisor. A literature review is conducted in the first six months of candidature and includes a research proposal describing the aims, significance and approach of the project.

Students enrolled in the Master of Science (Earth Sciences program) are required to complete a 125 point Research Project. Students may enrol in a combination of Research Project subjects as indicated below (each of which is available in the summer semester, semester one and semester two) over their two years of full-time study or over their four years of part-time study, to ensure they have completed a total of 125 points by the end of their course.

• 625-671 Research Project - 12.5 points
• 625-672 Research Project - 25.0 points
• 625-673 Research Project - 37.5 points
• 625-675 Research Project - 50.0 points

The objectives of the research project is to provide students with the opportunity to:

• synthesise existing literature on a topic of interest and devise an appropriate research project that addresses key outstanding questions in the field;
• plan an appropriate program of data acquisition and manipulation (eg., modelling) in order to constrain the questions being addressed;
• interpret the results of their work, perhaps suggesting further avenues for research beyond the cope of their project;
• prepare a written report of their results.

It is anticipated that students will generate an original piece of research comparable to that produced for a paper submitted to a scientific journal, and will be encouraged to do so.

Assessment is based on a literature review of no more than 4,000 words (5%), a project-related oral presentation within two months of the conclusion of the project (5%); and a thesis of no more than 25,000 words (90%) due at the end of the course. These assessment requirements are applicable to the entire 125 point Research Project.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of their research project students will have had the opportunity to gain new skills in:

• planning and conducting a program of research;

• exercising critical judgement;

• undertaking rigorous and independent thinking;

• adopting a problem-solving approach to new and unfamiliar tasks;

• developing high-level written report and oral presentation skills;

• interrogating, synthesising and interpreting the published literature;

• field-work (where applicable); and

• research appropriate to the level of a professional scientist.