Types of Project

Projects can take a number of forms, including with a University of Edinburgh research group or in industry.

Project Overview

The dissertation/research project is a substantial, full-time piece, independent of work which occupies the final 3-4 months of your masters programme. You begin this work immediately following any semester two exams or assessments, and work on this until the end of July. You will then have some time to complete the write up and receive feedback on a draft, before submitting in August. 

  • You will be asked to make your project selections towards the end of Semester 1. 
  • The project involves the application of the skills and knowledge gained in the first two semesters, along with the acquisition of some new skills. 
  • You will be allocated a supervisor, who will provide you with advice and guidance in relation to the dissertation/research project, but you should remember that the sole responsibility for the academic quality of your dissertation/research project lies with you. You should research and develop your own ideas, and discuss your proposed approaches with your supervisor.
  • The feedback you receive from your supervisor is intended as guidance, and must not be interpreted as an indication that your work will receive a particular final mark/outcome.
  • You may be allocated a supervisor whose area of expertise is not a precise match for your chosen area of research, but who has the required expertise to supervise a dissertation/research project.  All supervisors are experienced and knowledgeable regarding academic writing.

Project Types

Each of the project types is described below. Although every effort is taken to ensure the success of all projects, we can accept no responsibility for their success.

The majority of students undertake their projects in one of our research laboratories at the University of Edinburgh.

These are proposed by researchers, and you spend time completing your research project as a member of the research group. Projects can be both wet or dry lab based.

Examples of Previous Projects

ProgrammeProject Title
BioinformaticsBioinformatic analysis of metabolomic and lipidomic data from a space microbiology experiment: BioAsteroid
BiotechnologyGeneration of novel reporter-tagged Salmonella typhimurium and Citrobacter rodentium strains by CRISPR/Cas9
Drug Discovery and Translational BiologyIdentification of synergistic drug targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Synthetic Biology and BiotechnologyMachine learning-assisted protein engineering for improved mRNA vaccines synthesis

You can find out more about the research undertaken in the School by having a look at our Research Pages. 


Depending on availability, students may have the opportunity to apply for a 10-12 week industrial project with an external organisation.

  • The organisation hosting this type of project can be anywhere in Scotland, or further afield.
  • The University of Edinburgh does not control the availability of such projects; rather this is dependent on potential partnership organisations putting forward appropriate and relevant proposals.
  • Although industrial projects are not for everyone, they are a privilege and have many benefits.
  • The aim of the industrial project is that the student will be doing something of benefit to the host organisation that they can also write up as a dissertation.

Students who choose to undertake industrial project dissertations are advised that they should be aware that these projects can be less predictable than standard dissertations.

The risks of things not going to plan are high, particularly if you are working in an unfamiliar environment, and this can be both challenging and rewarding.

How Do I Apply?

If any work based projects are available, these will be included in the list of options that you have to choose from.

  • Applications for these projects will be judged on a competitive basis, based on academic performance, evidence of skills and interest in the area. 
  • Recruitment is undertaken by the host organisations in collaboration with the projects coordinator.

Examples of Previous MSc Work Based Projects

OrganisationProject Title(s)
EcoideaM LtdPhosphate Recovery in Scottish Food Waste Anaerobic Digestate
Life TechnologiesSales Force Effectiveness within Life Technologies
Agilent Technologies UKDevelopment of a Quality Metric for Plant RNA samples on the Screen Tape System
Ingenza Ltd.Development of High Throughput  Assays for the Screening of Ingenza Protein Targets
Genabler Ltd.The Development of Commercial Kit of Standard Biological Parts Utilising the Genabler Assembly Technology

There is the opportunity for you to create your own project for dissertation if you have your own topic or question.

  • You will need to submit a proposal to the projects coordinator using the form available at the bottom of this web page.
  • You need a member of academic staff to supervise you, and we ask that you avoid approaching academic staff who are already proposing projects (you will be able to see who has proposed projects on the project selection database).
  • You should also speak to your Programme Director before you submit the form.

Documents

Self proposed project form (74.21 KB / DOCX)

Biology Teaching Organisation

Contact details

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