DISS: Student-Proposed Projects

Students can submit their own project proposals via the DPMT system. However, they need to find an interested supervisor, typically well in advance of the project selection deadline. Supervisors can also freely bid on projects using DPMT, but it's better to contact potential ones directly.

Self-proposed project supervisors should be members of Academic staff or Research staff. The School’s Institutes pages are useful for finding staff in particular research areas, and to browse the broad research areas represented in the School.

This procedure of self-proposal is intended for students who know what specific project they wish to do. The student must discuss their idea with a member of the academic staff and get them to agree to act as supervisor for the project. Note that the projects follow the usual allocation process; that is, you may not get the project eventually! It is unlikely if the student bids high on their own project, and a supervisor also bids on it, but it is possible (this might even be a planned outcome in case the student wants another project).

It is important to note that students are not in general expected to propose a project; the default is that students will be assigned a staff-proposed project which they will flesh out into a fuller MSc project as an outcome of the taught module Informatics Project Proposal (henceforth IPP).

Externally-supported projects

If you want to do your self-proposed project with an external industrial (or academic) partner as supervisor, you’ll still need an internal co-supervisor (i.e., an Informatics staff member) in addition to your external supervisor. (If your supervisor is a staff member at a different School at the University of Edinburgh, then no co-supervisor is required.) As always, your project proposal must be filed before the deadline. Both the internal and external supervisors need to register for it.

Even if you self-propose a project, you still need to register interest in other projects, until you are marked suitable for 5 projects (including your self-proposed one). You might not get your self-proposed project if the named supervisor ends up with too many projects to supervise. Thus, you need fall-backs.