The Life Sciences Honours Project website offers administrative information on the project matters as well as timelines, thesis-writing guide, poster presentation and thesis submission instructions. Honours students will be notified of important deadlines around a month in advance. http://www.lifesciences.nus.edu.sg/modules/LSM4199.htm

 

 

Life Sciences (LS) students embarking on the module LSM4199 Honours Project in Life Sciences are to read and understand the following set of guidelines governing the administration of the project.

 

Please note that the term ‘Life Sciences’ (LS) here also refers to the following 6 departments and their academic staffs specifically:

1)      Department of Anatomy, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

2)      Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

3)      Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science

4)      Department of Microbiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

5)      Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

6)      Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

 

Please refer to the Life Sciences Honours Project website for the Honours Coordinators in the respective LS departments.

 

  

Guidelines

 

1.      Pre-requisites

 

a.   Fulfillment of the major requirements of Life Sciences at B.Sc. level; and

 

b.   Obtained a minimum overall CAP of 3.50 on completion of 100 MCs (Modular Credits) or more.

 

2.      Workload

 

a.    Two complete semesters.

 

Each Honours Student will select a project and work under the guidance of a LS academic staff as the main supervisor alone or together with another staff as co-supervisor. Projects are grouped under different areas of concentration: Biomedical Science (BMS), Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB), Biology (BIO) or a combination of two or all three, and it will/should be clearly reflected in the project description. A student must choose a project of his/her own area of concentration, and complete the experimental work, poster presentation and thesis write-up towards the end of the 2 semesters.

b.   The total 16 MCs of LSM4199 will be equally distributed between the 2 semesters. Therefore in each semester, LSM4199 will take up 8 MCs of workload for each Honours student.

3.      Honours Cohort Naming

a.   Each Honours cohort will be named after the academic year and semester that the project officially begins. For instance, the Honours cohort which officially registers for project in Academic Year 2009/2010 Semester 1 will be termed LS Honours Cohort AY09/10 S1. 

b.   The Honours cohort starting projects in Semester 1 will end in Semester 2 of the same academic year. The Honours cohort starting projects in Semester 2 will end in the Semester 1 of the following academic year.

4.      Project Choice, Supervisor Eligibility and Registration Procedure

 

a.   To secure an Honours project to work on, students can view the project listing in the Science Intranet https://neon.science.nus.edu.sg/intranet/student/undergraduate/lspa/. LS academic staffs eligible as main supervisors will be mounting projects to the listing from around April to August and November to January for Semester 1 and Semester 2 project registrations respectively. Students should check the listing frequently during this period as new projects will be uploaded from time to time.

 

b.    Alternatively students may proactively approach LS academic staffs eligible as main supervisors to seek project opportunities. There is no specific window when students may approach academic staffs. More information about individual LS academic staff is available at the websites of the 6 LS departments. Students are to check that the staffs they have interests to work with are in the list of eligible supervisors. (Visit Life Sciences Honours Project website for the list of eligible supervisors.) 

 

c.   To be an eligible project main supervisor, he/she has to be an academic staff, full-time or adjunct, to the LS departments. Please visit Life Sciences Honours Project website for the list of eligible supervisors.

 

d.   For co-supervision, both LS and non-LS academic staff are eligible for the appointment. Post-doctoral fellow is strictly not allowed to act as main supervisor.

 

e.   Either via Section 4a or 4b, students are to contact potential supervisors to discuss on the project opportunities offered. Students should declare their areas of concentration during the discussion to give academic staffs a better picture on whether their projects will be appropriate for the students’ study track.

 

f.    After both main supervisor and student have agreed on an Honours project, the student should provide the main supervisor with the following information:

 

                   i.   Matriculation Number

                  ii.   Contact Number (preferably Mobile Number)

 

g.   The main supervisor will register on behalf of the student with the information provided via the Science Intranet. Student will receive an auto-generated email stating that he/she has been successfully registered for the specific project. Note that this registration is only possible if the student has cleared the File For Project (FFG) check. For unofficial Honours case, please refer to Section 8.

 

h.   The main supervisor and student will mutually agree on the exact date to commence work for the project.

 

Note: All LS Honours students should have registered for a project by Week 1 of the semester in which they begin their project. The actual commencement of the project work can begin anytime before the official registration deadline.

 

5.      Honours Student Quota per Main Supervisor

 

a.   Each eligible LS academic staff can be the main supervisor to a maximum of 3 Honours students (1 project per student).

 

b.   Co-supervision is counted as half student per case.

 

c.   This student quota is applicable to the Semester 1 Honours cohort. The Semester 2 Honours cohort is not be affected by this quota.

 

6.      Responsibility of Main Supervisor and Problem Resolution

 

a.   Each main supervisor is directly responsible for the supervision of the project offered by he/she and registered under his/her account, and this responsibility cannot be transferred to postdoctoral or postgraduate members of the research group. Nonetheless the help of lab staff and senior students may be recruited as mentors for the Honours student. But the final responsibility still lies with the main supervisor.

 

b.   When encounter any problem during the course of the project, the student should first approach the main supervisor.

 

c.   In case of unresolved conflict between the main supervisor and his/her Honours student, it should be then presented to the department Honours Coordinator who will decide on the appropriate actions to resolve the conflict.

 

7.      Assessment and Examination

 

a.   Honours students will be assessed on their general work performance during the term of the Honours project by their main supervisors. Each student will also be examined by 2 examiners via a one-time poster presentation and the submitted Honours thesis.

 

b.   The poster presentation will take place on a stipulated date early April and a stipulated week late October for Semester 1 and Semester 2 Honours cohorts respectively.

 

c.   The deadline for thesis submission will be a week after poster presentation, on a stipulated date mid-April and early November for Semester 1 and Semester 2 Honours cohorts respectively. A penalty of 2-mark deduction per day after thesis submission deadline will be imposed for every late submission.

 

d.   In any case of student unable to meet the stipulated date for poster presentation or thesis submission, the student and his/her main supervisor have to inform the department LS Honours Coordinator and the Overall LS Honours administration. The administration will review on a case-by case basis and decide on the appropriate action and/or penalty.

 

8.      Unofficial Honours Status

 

a.   Students who have been granted Unofficial Honours Status by the Science Dean’s Office will be allowed to begin working on their project in the semester stipulated in approval document/email. However such cases will not be able to be registered for projects before the unofficial Honours status is converted to official.

 

b.   The main supervisor agreeing to supervise a student of Unofficial Honours Status will register the student by sending an email to Mr. Lim Miah Kyan, Overall Administrator for Life Sciences Honours Project, at dbslmk@nus.edu.sg, cc. to the department Honours Coordinator

 

9.      Official Communication and Enquiries

 

a.   All official administrative matters pertaining to LSM4199 will be communicated to Honours students via their official NUS Emails. Students should check their emails regularly for such communication, read and, if necessary, response accordingly. When necessary, students will be reached via the contact numbers as submitted during project registration.

 

b.   For enquiries on LSM4199, please contact Mr. Lim Miah Kyan, Overall Administrator for Life Sciences Honours Project, at dbslmk@nus.edu.sg.

 

- End of Guidelines for LS Honours Students -