ENCH495-25W (C) Whole Year 2025

Research Project

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 February 2025
End Date: Sunday, 9 November 2025
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 16 March 2025
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 24 August 2025

Description

An independent research project introducing students to planning a research project, literature searching, design of equipment, development of project plan/timeline, laboratory work and/or computer simulations as well as presentation and research report writing.

This course provides an introduction to engineering research giving students experience in planning a research project, literature searching, design of equipment, development of an experimental plan or process modeling work as well as oral presentation and research report writing. Students choose a project from a list reflecting the research interests of the academic staff in the Department. Research projects from other Departments (e.g. Chemistry, Biology or the School of Product Design) will be offered. Having made their choice, students are assigned a supervisor who will be available at least once a week to provide overall guidance during the project. The planning and execution of the project are the student’s responsibility with the supervisor kept fully informed.

Learning Outcomes

Managing an individual project
Gaining personal experience of the process of conducting research
Using library tools to find and access past research
Learning how to identify and minimise hazards in a laboratory environment
Developing appropriate methods to carry out research
Obtaining and analysing data to make conclusions
Writing a dissertation that fully describes the research
Further developing oral presentation skills

Prerequisites

a pass in all compulsory Second Professional Year courses

Timetable 2025

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 09:00 - 11:00 CAPE 213 Design Office
17 Feb - 23 Feb
Lecture B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 09:00 - 11:00 CAPE 213 Design Office
3 Mar - 9 Mar
Lab A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Thursday 12:00 - 16:00 CAPE 213 Design Office
17 Mar - 23 Mar
Presentation A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Thursday 09:00 - 15:00 E16 Lecture Theatre
20 Oct - 26 Oct
02 Thursday 09:00 - 15:00 E14 Lecture Theatre
20 Oct - 26 Oct
03 Thursday 09:00 - 15:00 E12
20 Oct - 26 Oct
Tutorial A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 12:00 - 14:00 CAPE 213 Design Office
3 Mar - 9 Mar
Tutorial B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 11:00 - 13:00 CAPE 213 Design Office
31 Mar - 6 Apr

Timetable Note

Students are expected to spend some time in S1 for the project background and plan, as well as for the library data base induction sessions, and 20 hours per week during Semester 2 on their project. Care must be taken to ensure that you balance the workload of the group design project (ENCH494) with your research project. Both courses are weighted at 30 points.
This course comprises of 4 lectures, all of which are compulsory to attend.
• Project Selection: Mon 17 Feb
• Safety Briefing: Mon 3 March
• Library Session: Wed 5 March
• Lab Methods: Thurs 20 March
Additional key dates are:
• Research projects list released: Mon 10 Feb
• Student project choice submitted by: Mon 24 Feb, 9AM
• Project and supervisor/s assigned: Wed 26 Feb

Course Coordinator

Rachael Wood

Lecturer

Daniel Holland

Contact Person

Garrick Thorn

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Student Contributions 20% End of project
Project Scoping Plan 02 May 2025 5%
Literature Review and Project Plan 18 Jul 2025 15%
Oral Presentation 23 Oct 2025 5%
Final Research Report 07 Nov 2025 55%


Prior to working in the lab, you will need to complete the Department’s safety procedures which will be explained in the safety briefing. You should aim to have safety forms submitted and your orange card issued before the end of Semester 1. The importance of having your safety forms submitted early cannot be emphasised enough.

Textbooks / Resources

There is no formal textbook but students have access to the University Library that contains a wide variety of literature searching tools, engineering journals and other resources.

Additional Course Outline Information

Other specific requirements

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $2,537.00

International fee $12,475.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Chemical and Process Engineering .

All ENCH495 Occurrences