Course description
Introduction
On completion of a computer science degree, many students are not certain whether they may wish to pursue a career in research or to move to a more practical post within industry. Even those who have already decided that they wish to proceed to a PhD may not yet feel sufficiently confident to make the transition from taught study to research. This course is designed to enhance the knowledge of students in a specific domain but also to provide a sound introduction to the research environment. It will offer students the chance to experience a research environment before they decide if they wish to commit themselves to a PhD programme. It would also be a valuable preparation for those students to intend to pursue a career in industrial research and development. The course is offered in full-time (12 calendar months) and part-time mode (2 years).
Course Content
Each student will pursue an individual programme of study selected at the time of admission. The taught component of the course would consist of three modules which will be identified at the initial interview. The choice of modules will be based on the student's proposed research domain. These modules will be drawn up from the portfolio of Masters level modules within the School.
Research Methodology
All students will also be required to study a compulsory module on research methodology. This module will serve a dual function of preparing students for effective research and also allowing them, as part of the assessed component of the module, to produce a detailed programme for their research project.
Advanced Research Project
The students will also undertake a research project within their chosen subject domain. The project module, which is twice the size of equivalent modules on other Masters courses, has been chosen to allow students to tackle a project of significant size. The extended period of study compared to that offered on other Masters level project modules will also allow this module to focus more strongly on the evaluation of the work produced both in terms of the soundness of the research and in the context of published research in related areas.
Research areas: Research in the School is supported by the Sir George Cayley Graduate Centre and is carried out under a number of schemes including Teaching Companies, Research Councils, European Initiatives and Industry. On-going joint schemes with other European Universities encompass collaboration and student and staff exchange. The Centre is organised into groups who reflect the activities of the staff whose members are drawn from the three departments of the School: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Systems and Telematics, Information & Software Systems. The research base is strengthen by the wide portfolio of postgraduate studies (11 specialists MSc degrees) and MPhil and PhD research degrees offered by the School. The School is also hosting the Advanced IT Centre of Excellence for North West London funded by the Department of Education and Employment and sponsored by major computer manufacturers such as Silicon Graphics. The centre hosts training and research and development facilities in the areas of Digital Imaging, Multimedia, IT Security, Engineering Design and Networking. The Centre's equipment includes 50 high end workstations (NT and SGI) and a 4 processor SGI server with a Terabyte of space and Gigabit Ethernet.
After completing the course the students will have gained deep and critical knowledge on a Computer Science topic of their choice; and will be able to: i. carry out an individual piece of research work without close supervision; ii. critically understand national and international research policies iii. summarise and critically evaluate the work of others; iv. present orally and in writing scientific work v. write critical evaluations of their own work.
