CADEM0002 Sustainable Engineering Project Module Handbook 2024-25 | UoB

Contents

1. Introduction    
2. Intended Learning Outcomes    
3. Contact Information    
4. How You Will Be Evaluated    
5. Project Responsibilities    
5.1 Supervisor’s Responsibilities    
5.2 Students’ Responsibilities    
6. Student Visa Monitoring    
7. Ethical Considerations    
7.1 Individual Ethical Approval    
7.2 Failure to Comply with Ethical Requirements    
8. Writing the Dissertation    
8.1 Recommended Structure    
8.2 Dissertation Format Guidelines    
9. Referencing    
10. Dissertation Submission    
11. Assessment    
11.1 Sustainable Engineering Project Components    
11.2 Award Classifications    
11.3 Dissertation Classifications    
11.4 Dissertation Marking Criteria    
11.5 Individual Reflective Presentation and Viva Marking Criteria    
12. Key Stages and Dates    
13. Cheating and Plagiarism
13.1 Artificial Intelligence    
13.2 Why Does It Matter?    
14 Acknowledgements    

1. Introduction

The Sustainable Engineering Project is an important part of your programme, contributing one-third of your degree credits. It forms a unique opportunity to put into practice what you have learned throughout your Sustainable Engineering programme and to demonstrate your skills and knowledge. The Sustainable Engineering Project is the culmination of the degree programme.

Students will be assigned to groups that, where possible, represent a mix of the three pathways. Each group will follow an iterative process to engineer a sustainable solution to a real-world challenge, requiring an original contribution to knowledge. This final project acts as a focus for the accumulated skills resulting from other units within the MSc degree programme: the overarching aim is the application of those skills within an iterative design process leading to a sustainable and potentially viable solution.

The unit offers a high degree of freedom to select and develop a project and allows you to work together as a collaborative team, spending a significant amount of time and effort on the research and development of a novel design within an engineering context. The result will be a completed solution that can be presented to potential stakeholders alongside a project document that provides a clear account of the research and design process.

The individual presentation and viva will include a reflective summary of what has been learned through the process of doing the project. This unit provides an opportunity to refine and exercise a highly transferable set of skills, including collaboration, self-awareness, self-reflection, self-management, creative design, research, analysis, critique and evaluation.

2. Intended Learning Outcomes

As a result of this unit, you will have the confidence to apply your knowledge, understanding and practical skills that you have gained throughout the MSc programme to engineer a sustainable design for an identified purpose, demonstrating the technical, innovative and design expertise required to become the next generation of leaders within engineering.

Sustainable Engineering Learning Outcomes:

• Plan, manage, coordinate and execute a multidisciplinary group dissertation project in the field of sustainable engineering appropriate for award level.
• Conduct a thorough literature review on a specific, complex topic, demonstrating the ability to critically analyse and evaluate the work of others.
• Use an iterative design process to reach a solution for the chosen topic.
• Identify, analyse, and critically reflect upon economic, ethical, social, cultural, technological, and environmental aspects of the topic and solution, and communicate them to an appropriate level of detail.
• Critically evaluate and effectively communicate the project in terms of motivation, methodology, solution and existing work (both in written and verbal form).
• Critically reflect upon effective, inclusive collaboration within a team.

3. Contact Information

Your primary contact for matters related to the Sustainable Engineering Project is the Programme Director.

4. How You Will Be Evaluated

The culmination of your Sustainable Engineering Project will be a Project Document, produced in your group, worth 60% of your total mark in this unit.

You will also have an Individual Reflective Presentation and Viva, worth 40% of your total mark in the unit. For this assessment, each student should expect to present and answer questions on their contributions as well as on details about the overall project.

Additionally, each student will report regularly on their individual and group members' contributions to the project through a peer review process, which will be used to award individual marks within the group assessments for this unit if the contributions of the team members are not even.

5. Project Responsibilities

5.1 Supervisor’s Responsibilities

Supervisors have a key role in supporting students’ projects and providing guidance Sustainable Engineering Project. They will act as your key advisor to examine your ideas and to help you progress through the project and the writing-up of the work, so that it fulfils the academic requirements of the School.

A supervisor will be assigned to your group, and can only be changed under exceptional circumstances. Your supervisor will be an academic member of staff from within the School.

A supervisor will:

• Provide advice and guidance to students during the project selection stage.
• Give guidance about the nature of research and the standard expected to meet the programme’s requirements.
• Be accessible to the student and maintain contact through regular meetings.
• Inform the student of when they will be away for any extended periods and make appropriate alternative arrangements to project supervision.
• Provide formative and written feedback on the work that is both constructive and critical, indicating both strengths and weaknesses and how to improve (even if the work is very good).
• Ensure that the student is informed if either the progress or the standard of the work is unsatisfactory. Supervisors are advised to communicate their concerns to students by email.
• Advise the student on ethical issues, approval, and their completion of any related forms.
• If the dissertation does not pass, supervisors provide a detailed written statement explaining how the work can be improved to a pass standard.
• Be willing to support and guide students through resubmission.

Ensure that the correct safety procedures are followed if students are working with equipment or materials as required by the Faculty’s Health & Safety guidance.

A supervisor will NOT:

• Keep track of a student’s or group’s progress and chase them when deadlines are not adhered to.
• Assign roles and responsibilities to members of the project team.
• Arrange access to organisations as part of any research work.
• Necessarily be an expert in the theoretical or methodological area of a project they are supervising.
• Discuss previously supervised projects.
• Mark the submitted dissertation, but may provide feedback to independent assessors and/or the Programme Director.

Students are strongly reminded that the supervisor’s key responsibility is to guide them through research and to advise on research methodology and presentation of research outcomes.
However, it is important that all students be aware that the Sustainable Engineering Project remains the student team’s responsibility, not the supervisor’s. Therefore, the supervisor’s support and/or consent to the submission of the dissertation does NOT provide a guarantee that the examiners will consider the dissertation work satisfactory.

5.2 Students’ Responsibilities

You are expected to meet and consult with your supervisor. The meeting focus and quality of discussion is more important than the frequency of meetings.

You are also expected to regularly meet and keep in contact with your group members. Each student will be expected to:

• Contribute to the overall group project.
• Foster an environment for effective, inclusive group work.
• Participate and communicate respectfully and productively.
• Work to resolve any issues that may arise with regard to group dynamics.

As a group, students will:

• Lead the advancement of the project proposal, execute the project work, and write the dissertation.
•  Prepare well for every meeting to make the most of the supervision time and act on the advice given by the supervisor.
• Recognise the University of Bristol's Ethical principles in their research work and strictly follow the stated ethical procedure. If in doubt, it is the student’s responsibility to seek advice from a supervisor.
• Dedicate almost 600 hours to the project, including researching, planning and execution; compliance with ethical approval; collecting primary and secondary data, preparation, and completion of the dissertation documentation.
• Submit a Project Proposal, intended to help staff give you an early steer on the direction of your project and point you towards valuable resources and guidance.
• Agree with supervisor, in advance, a layout of the project/dissertation which shows chapter coverage and purposes.
• Submit agreed-upon work in a timely manner to generate supervisor feedback.
• Keep the supervisor informed of any situation that may affect progress, performance, availability (including holidays or trips) or submission of the project.
• Make the supervisor aware of any issues with group working dynamics and your group’s efforts to resolve these issues.
• Adopt, at all times, safe working practices and adhere to the Faculty’s Health & Safety guidance.

6. Student Visa Monitoring

For PGT visa requirements, students must meet in person with supervisors during the summer period. Students must meet in person once each month during the dissertation period so that students can meet this visa requirement. This is a requirement from the UK Home Office.

Our MSc Sustainable Engineering students are registered on a full-time basis on programmes of 12 months’ duration (running from September each year until the following September).

• All students are expected to remain in Bristol until they have submitted their project.
• This is particularly important in the case of visa holders, but the same principle applies to other students.
• If students are affected by exceptional circumstances that prevent them from remaining in Bristol, it is normally expected that these students will be supported to request a suspension of studies.

We acknowledge that some students depart from Bristol without obtaining permission. In such instances, students will have full responsibility for any potential adverse outcomes that may arise as a result of their decision.

The Programme Director is unable to grant permission to deviate from these visa requirements, and it is essential to engage in a direct discussion with the university’s visa team.

7. Ethical Considerations

At the University of Bristol, formal ethical approval must be obtained before any data is collected for a research project. The approval was obtained for the MSc Sustainable Engineering programme by the Programme Director. However, responsibility for the conduct of an ethical dissertation project must ultimately lie with the students themselves. You are expected to follow the programme’s ethical procedure correctly.

7.1 Individual Ethical Approval

• You are protected by the programme's ethical approval agreement under these conditions:
• You must not collect data before completing the “Ethical commitment and Approval” form and submitting it on Blackboard.
• You must complete an “Ethical Commitments and Approval” form, even if you are not collecting any primary data and submit it to Blackboard by the deadline.
• Any data collected before submission of the individual approval will violate the ethical procedure and is not permitted for use in the dissertation under any circumstances.
• You must meet the “minimal intervention studies” criteria. It is defined as using one of the following methods: interviews, questionnaires and/or focus groups. Any modification to these methods will need to be discussed with your supervisor and may necessitate applying for your project-specific ethical approval from the University's research Ethics.
• You must use the Participants Information Sheet (PIS) template before the interview takes place, using the supplied template on the unit’s Blackboard page.
• You must obtain a signed consent form before the interview takes place using the supplied template on the unit’s Blackboard page.
• You must use a Participant's Information Sheet (PIS) template for surveys using the supplied template on the unit’s Blackboard page. Participants must not be allowed to access the survey before they complete the PIS. You must have a consent statement for surveys using the supplied template on the unit’s Blackboard page. Participants must not be allowed to access the survey before they complete the survey consent.

The Appendix must include a copy of your:
Signed ethical commitment and Approval form.
Participants' Information Sheet Template.
Consent Form Template.
Interviews/survey questions.

If for any reason you believe your project may not satisfy the ethical requirements and/or have any other ethical issues arise, you must discuss with your supervisor and if necessary, seek advice from the Programme Director. You may need to seek an individual ethical application.  If you have any questions about the University Research Ethics, please email Mr Liam McKervey, Research Ethics & Integrity Manager, on liam.mckervey@bristol.ac.uk or research- ethics@bristol.ac.uk.

7.2 Failure to Comply with Ethical Requirements

Failure to adhere to the University ethical regulation 34.11K stating that “Be familiar with relevant University rules on health and safety, data protection, research ethics and confidentiality and the norms of good research practice applicable to their disciplinary area.” and to follow the programme ethical expectations stated in previous section and/or to gain appropriate supervisor approval for the research you will undertake by the relevant deadlines (before any data is collected) may result in:

• A 10-mark deduction to your dissertation final mark as indicated in the dissertation marking scheme below.
• and/or
• Investigation into misconduct in research as per the University of Bristol’s regulations.

8. Writing the Dissertation

8.1 Recommended Structure

The dissertation is a formal, inclusive report that details the purpose, background, methodology, data collection, analysis, and recommendations of a research investigation on a topic relevant to sustainable engineering. The following recommended structure is recognised as good practice and would provide a strong framework for the dissertation. Within reasonable justification, a different structure may be used for the research dissertation if more suitable for the particular work.

8.2 Dissertation Format Guidelines

9. Referencing

It is essential to reference or ‘cite’ the sources of ideas and information used in your academic writing. Such citations allow readers to refer to sources for themselves and decide whether they agree with your interpretation. A citation appears in the body of your writing and is used to show your reader that an idea or quotation is the work of somebody else. The reader can then look for further information about your source material in the reference list.

The University recommend EndNote Online via the Web of Science, which lets you gather and organise bibliographic references and then lets you cite these references in MS Word, whilst automatically creating a bibliography. EndNote Online has all the functionality you need to store and use references.

The University library provides training events for the EndNote reference management package. It can be accessed from anywhere at any time and is free to you as a member of the University.

10. Dissertation Submission

The dissertation must be submitted by 29 August 2025. Students must submit an electronic copy (.pdf format) of their dissertation via Blackboard to the School. Electronic submission of the dissertation enables examiners to check submitted dissertations for plagiarism using plagiarism detection software.

Penalties apply for late submission in line with Section 17 of the Regulations and Code of Practice. Other than in exceptional circumstances, students must submit their dissertation within the normal study period for the award and in accordance with the programme’s requirements.

11. Assessment

The key purpose of the assessment process is to ascertain that candidates have reached the standard required by the criteria for the award of Master’s degrees as set in the University regulations. Assessment must be operated fairly and consistently to ensure that the candidate has optimum opportunities to show their knowledge and understanding of the project topic and of the wider research field through the written dissertation.

11.1 Sustainable Engineering Project Components

There are two summative assessments that comprise the coursework for your Sustainable Engineering Project as shown in the table below.

Throughout this handbook, the words ‘project document’ and ‘dissertation’ are used to refer to the same assessment.

11.2 Award Classifications

The classification of the award in relation to the dissertation mark and the overall taught component mark is as follows:

11.3 Dissertation Classifications

11.4 Dissertation Marking Criteria

11.5 Individual Reflective Presentation and Viva Marking Criteria

Your individual reflective presentation and viva, or simply ‘viva’ for short, will be marked on a 0 to 100% scale based on the following criteria

12. Key Stages and Dates

The key stages of the dissertation are provided as an indicative overview of the timeline

13. Cheating and Plagiarism

In academic writing, plagiarism is the inclusion of any idea or any language from someone else without giving due credit by citing and referencing that source in your work. This applies if the source is print or electronic, published, or unpublished, another student’s work, or any other person.

Examples of plagiarism are:

• Handing in another student’s work as your own.
• Copying an essay or some text from a source without proper acknowledgement.
• Paraphrasing materials from a source text without appropriate referencing.
• Using someone else’s ideas or arguments without acknowledging them.
• Using statistics, tables, figures, data, diagrams, or images without referencing.
• Submitting, in whole/part, work that has previously been submitted at Bristol or elsewhere.
• Buying or commissioning work, such as essays or software programs.

13.1 Artificial Intelligence

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), more widely known as ChatGPT (Generative Pretraining Transformer) has raised serious concerns about academic integrity. It is the expectation is that students work on their dissertation independently, and within their assigned groups, with academic integrity values; these are trust, respect, fairness and honesty.

Here at the University of Bristol, presenting work generated via ChatGPT or similar as one's work is viewed as academic misconduct and subject to existing processes. It is considered in the same way as contract cheating.

Detecting ChatGPT (or similar generated text) is possible. While at present AI generated text may seem excellent match for human effort, there are many ways to differentiate student work from an automated attempt. ChatGPT and AI technologies are not primary sources of information, may not be accurate and may not reflect context of the assessment remit.

The University uses Turnitin UK to assist in systematically checking student assignments for plagiarism. The software highlights sections of text which have been found in other sources, including the world wide web, databases of reference material, and work submitted by other students. The assignment is reviewed by the academic department, which will decide as to whether the work has been correctly cited or whether there is evidence of plagiarism.

Dissertation projects suspected of being generated through ChatGPT or AI might be investigated through an oral viva and/or be investigated by the Academic Integrity Committee.

13.2 Why Does It Matter?

In academic writing a high premium is placed on original thought which utilises and builds on the knowledge and ideas of others. When you conduct research for your project, you will be relying on the citations and references provided by other authors in order to find material relevant to your topic.

In the exact same way, when you are the author, you will be responsible for providing readers with a route back to the sources you used so that they can also follow the progression of ideas. Your work needs to be placed within the context of other related work. If you plagiarise, this context will be lost.

14 Acknowledgements

This handbook was created based on preexisting materials within the University of Bristol, including the MSc Engineering with Management handbook written by Hadi Abulrub.