IY5500: MSc Project

Project Committee

K. Markantonakis (MSc Projects Chair) (email K.Markantonakis@rhul.ac.uk ), Z. Ciechanowicz (email Z.Ciechanowicz@rhul.ac.uk) (MSc Course Director)

Overview

This is a compulsory course that contributes 25% to the total marks for the determination of the degree classification.

Aims

A project is a major individual piece of work. It can be of academic nature and aim at acquiring and demonstrating understanding and the ability to reason about some specific area of information security. Alternatively, the project work may document the ability to deal with a practical aspect of information security.

Objectives

The student will write a comprehensive dissertation on the topic of the project. On completion of the project students should have demonstrated their ability to:

• work independently on a security-related project, for which they have defined the objectives and rationale,

• apply knowledge about aspects of information security to a particular problem, which may be of an engineering, analytical or academic nature, and

• produce a well-structured report, including introduction, motivation, analysis, and appropriate references to existing work.

The MSc Project Process

The Project Selection

Students should discuss possible areas of interest and/or their plans for their project with potential supervisors. Students will also find information about the interests of members of staff on the Information Security Group (ISG) web-site and on individuals' home-pages. This is the most common method for choosing an MSc project.

The ISG Smart Card Centre (SCC) will advertise a meeting at which project topics that may be undertaken in the SCC, supervised by Keith Mayes and Konstantinos Markantonakis, will be outlined. Students who are interest in such projects should attend this meeting.

Some projects may be supported by industrial partners of the ISG. Every year the ISG receives a number of requests for project placements from our industrial partners. These requests will be forwarded to all MSc students. At the same time a number of our MSc students approach, independently, a number of companies in order to seek project placements.

It is expected that full-time students will agree the exact project topic at the beginning of the second term, so that preliminary work can be done during the second term, and that students will concentrate on their project after the course examinations in May. For part-time students, this process may proceed at a slower pace or be delayed until the second year. However, students are encouraged to begin their projects, following the supervisor’s consultation, as early as possible in order to ensure a better result or even in order to spread more evenly the project effort during the summer term.

Timetable for the Project Work

First Term

Meeting with Advisors (Task A1)

At the beginning of the first term each student is assigned a personal advisor. It is very important that the students take the initiative and engage with their advisor in order to discuss the topic area in which they wish to do their project. The advisor may act as supervisor of the project or suggest other members of staff whom the student may approach to be their supervisor. The ISG web site contains information about ISG staff and their interests.

During the first mandatory meeting with their advisor the students will be given a copy of the MSc Project Guide, and they will have to sign for it. This is a very important document and students are expected to consult it at an early stage in order to obtain a clear idea of the overall MSc Project process. Meeting with their supervisor is a mandatory requirement for all MSc students.

Project Tutorials (Task A2)

During the first term the ISG staff will also run a series of MSc Project tutorials. The tutorials aim to provide a good overview of the MSc project process along with discussing sample MSc project titles and in general how to tackle the MSc project. Student attendance at these tutorials is mandatory.

Avoiding Plagiarism Tutorials in Moodle (Task A3)

It is crucially important for students to obtain an early appreciation of how to properly reference other peoples work and avoid any plagiarism issues. The MSc Project Guide can be used as the main guide on proper referencing and students are once more strongly encouraged to consult it. The Moodle virtual learning environment also contains valuable resources. Student are expected to log-on to their ISG Moodle accounts and complete the “Avoiding Plagiarism Course”, “Questionnaire” and the “Course Completion confirmation” elements.

Please note that Tasks (A1, A2 and A3) are mandatory requirements in order to be allowed to proceed with nominating a potential MSc Project supervisor.

Supervisor Nominations

Successful completion of the above three tasks will ensure that each student will have an academic project supervisor who may give advice on the conduct of the project and will monitor its progress. However, it is primarily the responsibility of the student to define and plan the MSc project. Students may do their projects off-site, but must maintain contact with their project supervisor.

Not all members of the ISG academic staff are available every year to act as supervisors of projects. At the same time the number of students that any one member of staff may supervise is limited. A list of potential supervisors and their supervising quotas will be communicated, during the first term, by email to all students. Students are advised to consult members of staff to ascertain whether they would be able and willing to supervise the proposed project topic.

If students want to nominate a potential supervisor then they MUST have agreed a suitable topic for their project with that supervisor. After agreeing a topic, you should go to the Supervisor Nomination web page and follow the instructions on that page. A confirmation email will be sent to both the student and the supervisor.

You are NOT allowed to nominate a potential supervisor if you have not agreed a topic with that supervisor or if you have not completed Tasks A1, A2, and A3. If you do this, you will be reported to the MSc course director and your personal record will be amended accordingly.

We will attempt as far as possible to accommodate all choices subject to the constraints on project supervisor resources. Where this is not possible we will assign an appropriate alternative supervisor.

All full-time and 2nd year part-time students, whether or not they have nominated a supervisor by this process, will be assigned a supervisor. The assignment of supervisors will be distributed by the start of the second term.

It may be possible to change supervisor (and topic) but such a change would need approval by all parties concerned and fall within the constraints on numbers of students supervised by each individual supervisor.

Second Term

Each student should meet their supervisor to discuss the scope of the project; such meetings should normally continue through the life of the project. Should the student be seeking an industrial placement they should also meet prospective industrial collaborators.

Every student shall give a completed Project Description Form (PDF) to their supervisor. The PDF aims to define what you are going to do, why you are doing it, how you are going to do it, and when you are going to do it. If the supervisor is happy with the contents of this form then they will sign it and allow the proposed project to proceed. A copy of this signed PDF will be retained by the supervisor for the benefit of the Project Committee. The student may also keep a signed copy for her/his own benefit.

The Project Description Form template is available in here. There are some sample PDFs available for your information: PDForm1, PDForm2, PDForm3, PDForm4. Please note that these forms should provide you with an idea of what is expected. You should use the PDF template that is on the ISG web site, but feel free to add any relevant sections (e.g. a draft table of contents, time plan, references, etc) following consultation with your supervisor, in order to more accurately describe the unique requirements of your project. Please make sure that you do not simply copy the existing sample project description forms.

Third Term

This is the main period during which work should be undertaken on the project, although many students start their project work earlier in the year (which we thoroughly recommend). Advice should be sought from project supervisors, and any other appropriate sources, at all stages, and the supervisor should also be kept informed of progress. Students should show their supervisor a draft of their project dissertation at least two weeks before the submission deadline.

Summarised Timetable for the Project Process

Common Statement of Expectations

The following is a Common Statement of Expectations for Students and Supervisors in terms of Contact, Deadlines and Feedback and outlines the roles and responsibilities of the student and the supervisor.

• Each student should consider project topics during the first term and nominate their preferred supervisor before the end of the first term. Supervisors will be assigned to students before the start of the second term.

• Meeting 1: To discuss project topic choice. January. 15 min.

• Each student should submit a draft project plan to their supervisor by early February.

• Meeting 2: To provide feedback on draft project plan. Early February. 15 min.

• Each student should submit their Project Description Form (see below) by early March. The supervisor will assess the submission.

• Meeting 3: To provide feedback on the Project Description Form. Late February. 15 min.

• Meeting 4: To discuss project start. By early June (strongly advised to start earlier). 15 min.

• Meetings June/July/August. 90 min : To discuss project progress. Each student should communicate progress reports to the supervisor at least 2 days ahead of meeting. Each student should provide drafts of chapters. The supervisor will review the drafts.

• Each student should provide a first complete draft at least two-three weeks before the submission deadline, and after having agreed the exact timing with their supervisor. The supervisor will review the draft ahead of final meeting.

• Final Meeting: To provide feedback on first complete draft. August. 30 min.

• Each student should complete the final draft and submit the project by the submission deadline. The supervisor will assess the project.

Assessment

Projects will be assessed on the basis of the written report, and possibly also on the basis of a demonstration or evaluation of some artefact such as a computer program. Projects are marked by two examiners and are third marked by external examiners. An oral examination may take place at the discretion of the examiners.

Guidance on marking criteria for the project can be found in

• The MSc Project Guide.

• Royal Holloway's Generic Postgraduate Marking Criteria.

• The ISG's Assessment Criteria.

• A template used in the assessment of projects by ISG project examiners.

• The criteria for marking projects used by ISG project examiners.

Please make sure that you are aware of the College regulations regarding assessment and that in particular you have also read the statements on plagiarism in Regulations Governing Examination and Assessment Offences. You will be asked to sign a declaration on the title page of your project that you have understood this information. Please note that this signature must be your candidate number and not your name. A sample title page is given as Appendix C of the MSc Project Guide. Please make sure that you clearly state your First name followed by your Surname in the title page.

Submission

TWO PAPER COPIES plus one ELECTRONIC COPY of the dissertation must be submitted by 4pm on the closing date for submission. The paper copies should be handed to the Departmental Office (Room 243 McCrea Building) and a receipt obtained. The electronic copy should be submitted using our Electronic Submission System. The closing date for submission is the Friday of week 50 of the academic year. Candidates are encouraged to submit upon completion of the dissertation.

The closing date for submission of dissertations for the 2011/2012 academic year is 7^th of September 2012, at 16:00.

You are also asked to fill in two questionnaires and hand these in with the two copies of your project. The two parts of the questionnaire are separated from each other so that the comments about the modules and the MSc are treated anonymously.

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that paper copies submitted by post, or any means other than by handing in to the Departmental Office, reach the Departmental Office in good time. It is acceptable to ask a friend to print, bind and hand in your project on your behalf.

Project Extensions

Please note that extensions to the project submission deadline are not possible. The College policy on Penalties for late submission of work is as follows:

• For work submitted up to 24 hours late, the mark will be reduced by ten percentage marks, subject to a minimum mark of a minimum pass.

• For work submitted more than 24 hours late, the maximum mark will be zero.

Students' attention is drawn to paragraphs 47b) and 49 of the Postgraduate Regulations which imply that the failure to submit the project dissertation within the deadline means that an outcome of INCOMPLETE will be recorded. Students' attention is also drawn to paragraph 33 of the regulations and the fact that REPEATING a course has tuition fees implications (which are different to those for RESITTING an assessment). Also note that, according to paragraph 70, a student who takes more than one attempt at the Project element will not normally be considered for the award of Distinction.

Extenuating Circumstances

A student who is having difficulties meeting the deadline for project submission should discuss their situation with Chez Ciechanowicz (MSc Course Director) and Allan Tomlinson (Chair of the Exam Sub-board). Such a student may have recourse to one or more of the following: Deferral; Illness or Other Extenuating Circumstances; and Interruption of Studies. Please see the MSc in Information Security Student Handbook for information on these. It may be possible to defer the submission of the dissertation or, if necessary, allow an additional attempt at the Project module.

Guidance on structure and content of project dissertation

The project dissertation will be a document of between 10,000 and 20,000 words (typically about 50 pages). It must be the work of the candidate, and should be a readable and coherent account of the chosen topic. No particular format is specified but it should provide an outline of the scope of the project and describe the extent to which the objectives of the project are met. It should also describe its relation to any industrial placement with which it may be associated.

A Sample Title Page is available in here.

It is important that the students show that they have extended their source material by including a critical analysis of their chosen subject area. A student may do this, for example, by elaborating the treatment as found in the sources, by comparing different approaches to solving a problem, or by performing practical experimentation to inform their analysis. The students should also reference their source material appropriately and demonstrate that they appreciate how the topics discussed relate to one another and to the rest of the subject area concerned.

The College policy on Penalties for over-length work is as follows:

• For work which exceeds the upper word limit by at least 10% and by less than 20%, the mark will be reduced by ten percentage marks, subject to a minimum mark of a minimum pass.

• For work which exceeds the upper word limit by 20% or more, the maximum mark will be zero.

Note that references, quotations, bibliographies and appendices are not included in the calculation of the length of the work.

Project Prizes/Awards

David Lindsay Prize

The British Computer Society Computer Security Specialist Group awards the David Lindsay Prize for the project report that best addresses innovative applications of Information Security. All MSc and BSc projects in the area of Information Security are eligible for the prize. The final decision is made by the British Computer Society Computer Security Specialist Group. See MSc Thesis Prizes.

Search Security Awards

In recent years the top ten project students have been invited to write an article, that is based on their projects, for publication on-line at SearchSecurity.co.uk . These articles are themselves published as technical reports on the College website.

Information Security Group Smart Card Centre Open Day

The ISG SCC is organising every year (this year the SCC open day is scheduled for the 7^th of September 2012) a Smart card Centre Open Day. The SCC Open-Day is a very popular annual networking and exhibition event for SCC sponsors, supporters and industry lecturers plus guests from industry, government and academia. The day is aimed at showcasing the college, faculty ISG/SCC as well as industry supporters. The main focus is the exhibition in the picture gallery with a 50:50 split of industry and SCC postgraduate student exhibits. Selected projects, supervised by the ISG SCC will be exhibited. If your project is supervised by the ISG SCC and it is selected you will have to make sure that you attend the event. The day concludes with an invited lecture from a prestigious speaker. Please follow the link for past ISG SCC Open Days.

Additional Information

Advice on the MSc Project

For further guidance and advice on all aspects of the project, from topic selection through to writing the report, the following are strongly recommended:

1. The MSc Project Guide.

2. Make sure you attend the tutorial sessions given on the project process during the first semester.

3. Consult closely with your advisor / project supervisor. They are here to help!

4. Consult the list of DOs and DON'Ts concerning good (and bad) practice in conducting MSc projects.

5. Past projects are available for inspection (ask one of the Maths secretaries for access: McCrea 243)

Project Tutorial Schedule

FT Biz (2 sets): 9:45-11:15; Thu, 3rd Nov, , PLACE: McCrea Building, Room 254
PT Tech (1 set): 13:00-13:45; Mon, 7th Nov, PLACE: McCrea Building, Room 254
PT Biz (1 set): 12:00-12:45; Tue, 8th Nov, PLACE: McCrea Building, Room 254
FT Tech (4 sets): 10:30-15:45; Tue, 8th Nov, PLACE: McCrea Building, Room 254