Arranging placements

It is up to individual undergraduates to arrange their own projects with research laboratories in industry and elsewhere. Undergraduates may be able to set up a suitable project with an industrial firm already sponsoring them, or by approaching other research laboratories. All arrangements for payment and other conditions of employment during the project period are the responsibility of the undergraduate.

One starting point for your search might be the database of projects maintained on the Cavendish teaching website - these are projects both within and outside Cambridge.

Approval process

If it is intended to use vacation work for credit, then approval must be obtained before the end of the Easter Term from David Buscher by submitting an application form (see below) giving details of the project.

Certain guidelines must be satisfied before approval is granted:

1. The project must be of at least two months' duration and must include a substantial element of independent or original work. It is important that the project includes a significant amount of physics and is not, to take two examples, simply a series of routine measurements or entirely devoted to computer programming.
2. An abstract of half to one page of A4 should be submitted to Dr Buscher describing the project.
3. Details of the work must not be restricted by commercial or other considerations (although precautions can be taken to safeguard patent applications).
4. A suitably qualified supervisor who will be responsible for the project must be named in advance. The supervisor will need to fill in part of the application form outlining the proposed work before it can be approved as a suitable project. The supervisor should also be willing to write a brief report describing the work that has been done and giving an assessment of the quality of the work. These reports will normally be requested from supervisors shortly after the undergraduate has submitted their report on the project. A guide for the supervisors of these projects is here.

Gaining approval for the project does not commit the student to using the project for examination credit: it is still possible (up until the due date for the report below) for the student to decide not to submit a report and gain credit instead from some other allowed item of further work. In this case the student should inform Dr Buscher of the change in plans as soon as possible.

Report submission and project marking

Undergraduates must submit two copies of a report on the project written by themselves by 4 pm on the first Monday of the Michaelmas term. The project will be awarded a mark based on the report and on a 30-minute oral examination carried out by two assessors, usually members of the Cavendish staff. The oral examinations take place during the Michaelmas Term.

Deadlines

• Deadline for submission of application form: Friday, 8 June 2012
• Deadline for submission of report: 4pm Monday 8 October 2012

Forms and further information:

• Application form for project approval: PDF form or online application form.

  The PDF form should be submitted in hardcopy signed by the supervisor, or alternatively the online version can be submitted but must be followed up with an email from the supervisor (see form for details). PDF forms submitted by email are strongly discouraged.

• Guidelines for supervisors

• Guidelines on submission of reports

• Marking guidelines for report assessors

• Report assessors' mark sheet