Module:

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

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Module Title
Module Code	(ITS: MM548)
Faculty		School
NFQ level		Credit Rating

Description

The purpose of this module is to give the students the opportunity to use and demonstrate their theoretical knowledge and practical experience to carry out a substantial research project at Masters level. In this module students will plan and manage the project, critically review literature in the public domain (principally from journals), undertake the work required to apply engineering solutions to the problem, analyse the effectiveness of the solution and report progress and findings in written, presentation, poster and meeting forms. In addition, the impact of the project on society will be evaluated through health & safety, risk and environmental impact assessments. Students will participate in the following learning activities: Project Planning and Management; Running project meetings; Sourcing, reading and critically reviewing literature; Analysing an engineering problem and developing a solution; Risk assessment, Health & Safety, Social and Ethical, reviews implementing the solution; Critical Evaluaion of the implementation and effectiveness of the solution; Presentation of project work in final report, poster presentation, oral presentation and meetings. This module may also be taken by distance learning students

Learning Outcomes

1. Plan and undertake a research project at Level 9
2. Critically review and extract relevant information from literature in the public domain
3. Critically review the project and technology with respect to society. Health & Safety, Risk Assessments, Personal Ethics
4. Apply knowledge from other modules to complete the project
5. Design experiments, undertake them and analyse the results to evaluate the effectiveness of the work undertaken in the project
6. Report the findings in both verbal and written form to level 9 standard
7. Manage schedules and meetings with interested parties
8. Record activity on an on-going basis
9. Present findings visually and orally in a critical forum

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Independent Study	450	Background research, Project planning, Execution & reporting
Directed learning	150	Directed learning (Project planning & Development)
Directed learning	150	Directed learning (testing, Analysis and Reporting)
Total Workload: 750

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Report(s)	Interim Progress Report	15%	Week 24
Research Paper	Write a Conference Paper detailing the achievements of your project, present your paper in a simulated conference environment to a panel of academics and a selection of your peers. Address the questions of the panel.	70%	Other
Report(s)	Prepare and submit a detailed set of appendicies that contain sufficient information to allow someone to repeat and/or continue your work	15%	Other

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Indicative Reading List

Books:
None

Articles:
None

Other Resources

None