Supervisors enable students to complete the taught module Informatics Project Proposal (IPP) during Semester 2, and to carry out MSc projects over the summer.
All teaching staff with a standard teaching load must submit project proposals that can be taken up by at least 5 students. If HoS has agreed you should have a lower load, make sure that your data in Theon are up-to-date because we rely on it for determining teaching load:
https://portal.theon.inf.ed.ac.uk/reports/duties/now/TP261_Duties_By_Person.shtml
At least 40% of the capacity (rounded up) must be suitable for essentially any MSc student, with a very simple baseline version of the project being possible. Students interested in these projects should only be designated as unsuitable in exceptional circumstances, or if they fail to attend meetings or otherwise fail to take steps to understand what the project entails. For staff on partial load, the numbers above are adjusted accordingly, rounded to the closest integer (in case of a tie, up). e.g., a staff member at 50% has a load of 50% * 5 = 2.5 –> 3 projects.
2nd marking allocation: The default load is to mark a total of 12 projects (combined as 1st or 2nd marker) for full-time staff. Staff who supervise fewer projects than their load are assigned 2 extra marking duties for every one lacking project supervision. Staff who supervise more projects than their load are assigned 1 less marking duty per extra supervised project. Staff with N moderation assignments mark N fewer MSc projects.
Over the summer, the supervisor gives appropriate technical advice and also assists the student in planning the project and working towards various targets during the period of work. Students should expect approximately weekly meetings with their supervisor at the start of the project but the frequency of these meetings will normally drop as the project progresses and as students become more self-sufficient. Backup supervisors may be allocated to cover periods of absence of the supervisor, if necessary.