One of the most important choices you will make is choosing the research project and supervisor. A list of thesis projects and corresponding supervisors are in the Thesis Management System.
Thesis Project
There are some questions you should ask when choosing the thesis project, including:
- What are your interests, and do they align with the project?
- Do you have the skills to successfully complete the project? If you don’t, would it be difficult to develop these skills during the Honours year? It helps to talk to the supervisor about this.
- Related to the previous point, would this project allow you the opportunity to learn or improve upon new or existing skills?
- What career path would you like to take? For example, if you want a data-science type job, then a data-science project may help you in your future interview and good addition to your CV. If you want to get into research, a project which will likely result in a publication may help you obtain a PhD scholarship.
Choosing a Supervisor
There are also some questions you should ask when choosing a supervisor:
- How many students does the supervisor have? If too many, they may not have time for you.
- Will you get along with the supervisor? This is hard to answer, but a good gauge is to talk to current and previous students (ask the supervisor for these details). Consider talking not just to Honours students but other (current and past) students in the supervisor’s team, e.g., MPhil and PhD students.
How to Apply for an Honours Project
- Enrol in Thesis A, B and C.
- Find a Supervisor(s)/project and contact them (See here for a list of projects). We suggest doing this well before the term starts, ideally at least a few weeks before. You should send the supervisor an email detailing:
- The project you are interested in
- Why you are interested in the project (I would suggest at least a few sentences)
- If the supervisor agrees to take you, submit a formal application for the thesis topic through the thesis management system. If the supervisor is external, they will need to add themselves to the system.
- If the supervisor accepts, you will then have to confirm (it’s a three-step process).