BA Group Industrial Project

Dr Karen Aplin

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Overview

1. Motivation

2. Background, aims and objectives

3. Organisation of the project

4. Team working

5. Project management

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1. Motivation - skills shortages in graduates

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80% of employers

Association of Graduate Recruiters

BA Group Industrial Project Oct 13

2. Background, aims and objectives • In 2012 we joined a national group industrial project scheme

supported by the Institute of Physics and national “STEM” higher education body

• Aims and objectives (for Oxford University) – To improve student employability, through communication skills,

team working, project management etc – To give students awareness of the role of physicists in industry

• Aims and objectives (for sponsoring companies) – To get a problem investigated by physicists – To give some companies awareness of what physicists can do – To meet some promising future graduate employees

• Last year’s feedback was overwhelmingly positive – only downside was not enough time

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3. Organisation - overview

• Everyone has been put in a group of about 5 people, based on your choices as far as possible – Several projects were cancelled at the last minute

so some people have been disappointed.

• Your company has already come up with a problem they’d like you to investigate

• You need to meet your industrial supervisor, and get going

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Company Title of project Supervisors (industrial/academic)

Visit arrangements (if any)

Siemens Resistive properties of superconducting wire Dr M’hamed Lakrimi/Dr Andrew Princep

None yet – local to Oxford

Siemens Magnetisation of magnesium diboride Dr M’hamed Lakrimi/Dr Roger Johnson

Siemens Material properties of Wood’s metal Dr M’hamed Lakrimi/Dr Golnaz Sadoughi

Tokomak Solutions

Physics of spherical tokomaks Dr David Kingham/Dr Georg Viehhauser

Visiting Culham Wednesday 23rd October PM

Tokomak Solutions

Materials research on small tokomaks Dr David Kingham/Dr Debra Dewhurst

Biral Wavelength dependency of infrared scattering characteristics - calibration of atmospheric visibility sensors

Dr Alec Bennett/Dr Colin Wilson

Visit in week 2 (Portishead)

Biral Storm in a car park - can we simulate the electrostatic and electromagnetic fields from thunderstorms?

Dr Alec Bennett/Dr Mitya Pushkin

Tata Steel Slope stability of redundant landfill sites Dr Peter Hodgson/Dr Georg Viehhauser

None yet – but will require a day out to Yorkshire

Tata Steel Optical spectroscopic techniques for environmental monitoring in the steel industry

Dr Peter Hodgson/Dr Kris Zarb-Adami

Oxford Instruments

Modelling and characterisation of electro-thermal behaviour of superconducting coils

Dr Ziad Melhem/Dr Paul Scovell None yet – local to Oxford

3. Organisation - timeline

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MT Week 1: Tuesday BA Project lecture - Lindemann lecture theatre MT Week 1/2 Face to face meetings with Industrial Mentors, combined with industrial visits MT Week 2 You should arrange to see your Academic Supervisor some time this week and

regularly thereafter (approx every two weeks) MT Week 2-7 E-mail or other weekly contact with Industrial Mentor. HT Week 1-4 Continue group work and regular interactions with both supervisors HT Week 4 (Weds) Project presentations and group assessment HT Week 5 With your Academic Supervisor you will decide upon an aspect of the project to

write up individually. Continue to work as a group whilst doing your write ups. HT Week 9 Hand in a draft (as complete as possible) of BA project report to your Academic

Supervisor. You and your supervisor must complete and sign the BA Draft Form from the BA Report Guidance document.

HT Week 10 on Comments from Academic Supervisor TT Week 1 Hand in your report to Examination Schools (full instructions in the BA Report

Guidance document).

3. Organisation - visit practicalities • Most visits will take place next week. You should be informed by Hannah

Glanville (h.glanville1@physics.ox.ac.uk) of the details and travel arrangements.

• You should meet your industrial mentor, who will introduce you to the project, and be shown any facilities

• We have scheduled visits for Mon-Tues-Weds where possible to avoid tutorial clashes. Tutors have been warned.

• It is OK to miss a lab session for an industrial visit – you can do the experiment another time, preferably in Trinity Term. Some meetings will only require a half day out.

• If your visit involves public transport (e.g. to Harwell Campus) then keep all bus tickets/receipts and you can claim them back at the end of the project.

• Health and Safety for travel and visits: don’t take any risks that you wouldn’t take normally (e.g. crossing roads safely, not hanging around anywhere you feel unsafe, taking a charged mobile with useful numbers etc, travelling in a group)

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3. Organisation - How to work on your project

• Nominate one person to be the communicator with the company. All questions should come from this person. Aim for one email per week (or skype/phone if you prefer). Discuss communication with the industrial mentor when you meet them. Respect your mentor’s other commitments.

• Your teams should be meeting at least once a week. Agree on tasks and a work allocation per person. (More on team working later).

• You should be spending approximately 1 day per week all term, and next term on the team project.

• Your academic supervisor is there to guide you and help with any local problems, or problems with the company. Contact them to meet in week 2 and if you have any problems.

• You are welcome to use any free space in the Mac computer room (avoid Thursdays or Fridays in weeks 1 or 2). It is open approx 8-5 Monday-Friday.

• You can visit local companies more than once if you think it helps • After the group presentation you will be focusing more on your individual write

up, but we still expect you to meet regularly as a group to discuss your work with each other, and to contact your industrial supervisor with technical questions

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3. Organisation – Experimental work • Academic supervisors will write a risk assessment with you for any

experimental work. You must have done this before you start work. • If any experimental work is to be done at your host company, your

academic supervisor must be told. • We have a modest budget for consumables etc: please discuss your

plans and requirements with your academic supervisor • Most experimental work will be based in the Teaching Laboratories

(Electronics lab benches, left hand side). You can work in the teaching laboratories any time 9-5 Monday-Friday but you may NOT work alone on a Wednesday.

• Technical support is provided by Keith Long (k.long1@physics.ox.ac.uk). See him if you need anything. Don’t pester demonstrators.

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3. Organisation - Assessment 1. Project marks are divided between group and individual work. 125

marks contribute towards your exams 2. Group mark (25)

– Assessed by a team of markers on the basis of your presentation in Hilary Term week 4

– You must ALL contribute to the presentation. – You will ALL get the same mark for this part. – We will assess the scientific results of the project (10 marks

available), evidence of team working (5), communication skills (5) and project management (5) .

3. Individual mark (100) – You will decide on a topic to write up with your academic supervisor

after the group presentation – This is your project report and is worth most of the marks. See the

BA Project Guidance document for more information.

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4. Team working • Team working is a necessary part of almost any career, and many

graduates are employed on the basis of their performance in a group exercise

• People play different roles in a team – consider what yours is or might be. – Encourager – Clarifier – Leader – Summariser – Ideas generator – Evaluator – Compromiser – Recorder

• You may find your group includes a natural leader … or several … • Questionnaire at http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/teamwork.htm

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4. Stages in a team

• Tuckman model

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4. Team working summary • A team should play to its strengths

• Be aware of your co-workers’ strengths and weaknesses

• Plan your final presentation carefully, bearing the advice above in mind

• Team working doesn’t mean you have to work together all the time – you should plan around availability, other commitments etc between yourselves

• Use technology appropriately (e.g. skype, google docs)

• If you get stuck – TALK TO EACH OTHER

– TALK TO YOUR SUPERVISORS

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5. Project management • What is a project?

– A project is “special” and distinct from day to day activities

– A project has a defined start, end and goal.

• Project management is about making sure a project meets its objectives within certain constraints, usually:

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Association of Project Managers

Scope: define the problem Time: Wednesday HT week 4 Quality: getting the best mark possible (Cost: not so relevant here as we deal with it for you)

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5. Basic project management • Managing scope

– Defining your task and breaking it down into chunks to be carried out by 1-2 people – Scope can be continually redefined

• Managing people – Team working – “Managing” your supervisors to get what you want from them (e.g. asking clear questions)

• Managing time – How long will task X or Y take to do? Usually longer than you think – Which deadlines are firm and which deadlines have a little more flexibility?

• Managing tasks – Critical path: does Z have to be completed in order for A to go ahead? – Think about which tasks can run concurrently, with different people working on them

• Your academic supervisor should help you to plan and schedule your work • You may have a natural “project manager” in your group, which can be very

helpful, but make sure – That the project manager keeps in touch with the physics, as a real technical manager would – That if you don’t have one, you still organise regular meetings

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Summary

• Project details available at: http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/students/undergraduates/third-year-group-projects

• Be aware of your roles within the team

• Be aware of the basic principles of project management to keep yourselves on track

• Any questions not answered here/website, ask h.glanville1@physics.ox.ac.uk

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