This module aims to help Chemistry students develop skills needed for further educational opportunities or employment in a wide range of chemical and non-chemical based sectors through an industry-designed group research-based mini-project (semester 1) and an individual research project (semester 2).

In this module, students will be assigned an extended experiment or project according to their own interests. Depending on the exact nature of the project undertaken, the general aims of the module are:
•To give the student a taste of research in a contemporary area of chemistry
•To develop an appropriate experimental technique for the topic undertaken
•To show the use of appropriate characterisation techniques
•To illustrate the use of the library and other information resources as research tools or more generic tools for the appropriation of information
•To gain initial experience of how to approach a research project•To familiarise the student with the preparation of written reports
•To teach the skills necessary for the preparation and delivery of a short oral presentation.
•To enable the student to apply web based design and techniques
•To interact with outside bodies (e.g. schools) with the aim of applying or disseminating chemical based knowledge and fostering cooperation

(LO1) By the end of the module, students will have investigated the importance of transferable skills to the workplace through reflective practices of a variety of relevant employability activities.

(LO2) By the end of the module, students will be able to evaluate work created by their peers through peer reviewing processes and recommend improvements to their peers work.

(LO3) By the end of the module, students will be able to give an oral presentation as part of a team, based around the group mini-project.

(LO4) By the end of the module, students should be able to use scientific databases effectively for literature and citation searches.

(LO5) By the end of the module, students should be able to find relevant information from online chemical databases regarding chemical reactions and structures.

(LO6) By the end of the database section of the module, students should be able to apply the database skills in writing a report drawing from scientific literature.

(LO7) By the end of the module, students will be able to give a reasoned written exposition of experimental work and achievements.

(LO8) By the end of the module, students will be able to give an oral account of their experimental work.

(LO9) By the end of the module, students will be able to make valid deductions from acquired data.

(LO10) By the end of the module, students will be able to justify shortcomings, experimental errors or weakness in data.

(LO11) By the end of the module, students will be able explain the wider social and/or technological relevance of their work.

(S1) Students will develop teamwork and communication skills through group work and peer reviewing.

(S2) Students will develop organisational and lifelong learning skills through portfolio and reflection activities.

Coursework 1 (Industry group project): Involves two lectures (2 x 1 hr), two tutorials (2 x 1 hr) and a final presentation workshop (1 x 3 hr) where groups present their final presentation to peers, academic staff and industry partners, where available. Independent work on the project (~25h) may include adhoc meetings with industry partners, when available

Coursework 2 (Portfolio): Two database skills lectures (2 x 1 hr) and a workshop (1 x 3 hr). There are 6-8 employability lectures (attendance at least 6 expected) with the application and portfolio activities being highly variable in length and students can choose when and how they engage with the material. Peer review activity to be completed.

Coursework 3 (introductory essay): Consists of a 1000-1500 word introductory essay / literature review.

Dissertation/Practical/Presentation: This module usually consists of extended experiments (‘mini-projects’) or other acceptable project-based work. Practic al work will be conducted in either the designated inorganic/organic laboratory (CTL-7) or physical laboratory (CTL-8), or in an appropriate research laboratory, depending upon topics. All projects run for 9 weeks in the 2nd semester, with the first week used for developing project scripts and completion & sign-off of the COSHH and risk assessment forms. It is expected that a student will spend up to approximately 100 hr in total on project work, in addition to approximately 50 hr for project preparation, completion of brief weekly progress reports, and completion of the written report and oral presentation. It is expected students will attend the oral presentations of their peers.

Progress of the project will be assessed using the weekly progress reports, by weekly meetings between the project tutors and the students (usually during the lab demonstration sessions), by evaluation of the lab books and where appropriate the quality and quantity of data analysis and interpretati on.

Summary:
*Lectures: 10 hr
*Workshops: 12 hr (3h industry / 3h databases / 2h H&S session / 4h final project presentation)
*Tutorials: 2 hr
**Practical: 100 hr
*Other, associated with practical: 50 hr

Industry mini-project (Semester 1): Students will participate in a group research-based mini-project directed by a real-world industrial problem. This will be variable each year depending on the availability of industrial partners and, where possible, there will be a range of topics varying from technical to general, and from a range of industrial sectors. Timetable depending, students can personalise their route through the group work to focus on their future plans (i.e. chemical industry, teaching, further research, non-science etc.). Students will deliver a group presentation to their peers, academic staff and possibly industrial partners, and prepare a group executive summary.

Portfolio (Semester 1): Students will complete a skills audit to identify their own development needs. The portfolio then comes under 3 main sections:
• Database skill development: Advanced structure-based searches using Reaxys including properties, reactions, stereochemistry, generic groups, atom mapping, reagents, non-standard bonding (e.g. cyclopentadiene), variable atoms.
• Application and portfolio exercises: Students are then presented with a variety of 'Application and Portfolio' exercises, some linked to the group work above, some with wider scope. These are all in different formats through a variety of asynchronous short recordings with accompanying formative assessment or live lectures. These are delivered by course staff, wider university colleagues and external speakers and possibly include, but are not restricted to, the following: academic integrity; skill articulation for application preparation material; CV writing/checking; interview techniques and video interview; psychometric testing; social media and engagement with LinkedIn/Handshake; further education opportunities (MSc/Teaching); intellectual property; industry lectures; resilience; commercial awareness; presentations; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; KnowHow activi ties; virtual assessment centres; etc. Students will evidence their completion of various activities mentioned above through a portfolio. Students can mostly choose which activities to complete based on their own self-determined development needs and complete reflection-based exercises.
• Peer review exercise: Students will engage in a peer review activity linked to another module component, offer suggestions for improvements and reflect on acting as the reviewer

Research project (Mostly semester 2): Students are allocated into different projects based on their project preference and the availability of the projects offered by academic staff with some examples below. Students will complete an introductory essay/literature review and there are 9 weeks in total available to complete the projects in the second semester. Students are expected to finalize project proposals/scripts, and sign off all the required COSHH forms and risk assessment forms by their project tuto r in the first week before they can start the projects from the 2nd week. They then have 8 weeks in the lab (5 lab sessions scheduled for each week, more than the required lab hours to complete a project) to perform the experiments and characterisations. Students may have some workshops/tutorials/lectures timetabled in their lab sessions. It is therefore highly important to plan in advance and manage the lab time effectively. After completing the project, they will prepare a written report and oral presentation
• Organic Students will carry out a three-step target synthesis. They will be given a target molecule, and will then prepare a short report detailing its proposed synthesis; the synthesis will be the subject of a literature search in the Chemistry library, and an introductory course on the use of appropriate sources will be given. This will occupy the first week. Students will then have eight weeks to complete the 3 steps and characterise the compounds using spect roscopic and analytical methods. They will then prepare a written report and present their results
• Inorganic Students will be given one of several extended experiments (only project outlines are available to students at this stage) in transition metal chemistry, silica, polymer chemistry, or other relevant topics. Typical topics might be: ruthenium(II)-phosphine chemistry, nickel-tetra azamacrocycle chemistry and template macrocycle synthesis, nickel-based complex for catalysis, synthesis of silica microspheres, preparation of emulsions and polymer microspheres by emulsion evaporation, self-gelling hydrogels based on oppositely charged microparticles, Co (ll) complex by supramolecular coordination, and other newly developed projects. Initially, the experiments will follow a script (proposed by students via literature search and with help from project tutors), and collaboration may be required, e.g. for the synthesis of the phosphine ligands, or precursor compounds for the macrocycles. Subsequently, there will be the opportunity to carry out new reactions for which the outcome may be unknown. They will then prepare a written report, including an account of previous work in the literature, which will require library work.
• Physical Students will be given an extended experiment in an area of physical chemistry, such as the preparation and properties of nanoparticles, TiO2 photochemistry, electrochemistry, or protein adsorption on surfaces. Some degree of collaboration may be required initially, but students will mostly work independently, with the opportunity to perform experiments for which the outcome is unknown. They will then prepare a written report, including an account of previous work in the literature, which will require library work.
• Non-Laboratory Based Projects: Subject to the Module Director's approval, with the project proposals from academic staff, literature-based projects, web design projects, scho ol projects, and development projects of varied nature could be offered. Please note that these projects are not routinely available because they depend on the proposals from academic staff who would like to develop and supervise such projects.