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Dr Nephtali Marina-Gonzalez, UCL Division of Medicine and secondee at the Arena Centre, explains a novel approach to deliver undergraduate final year research projects.

The final year research project is the pinnacle of biomedical sciences degrees and provides essential training to students wishing to pursue a scientific career.

Introducing non-lab based research projects

Dr Nephtali Marina-Gonzalez shares his experience of offering non-lab based, 鈥渁lternative鈥� research projects in the Applied Medical Sciences programme.

He includes tips for staff who want to implement this initiative to deliver final year or capstone projects remotely or online.听

Embedding student voice through surveys听听

Less than 10% of biomedical sciences students pursue careers in research. The need to broaden the type of final year research projects being completed is becoming increasingly important.

We know from听student surveys听that modules, where laboratory-based projects were replaced听with solely (critical) reviews of the literature, would not be selected by students. Therefore, rather than offering this kind of module, we instead听integrated opportunities for students to complete "alternative" research-based projects into modules that traditionally offered lab-based projects only.听

Pilot of non-lab based research projects

At the beginning of 2019/20, pre-Covid-19, I gathered a team of supportive colleagues within our Division to pilot a small number of alternative projects designed to help students develop a wider range of relevant employability skills.听I was inspired by a similar initiative that听had been developed by Dr Dave Lewis at Leeds University.

Four students were selected to undertake research projects on topics which aligned to their career goals, such as:

• public engagement
• educational development
• machine learning

I supervised one of these students in collaboration with Prof David Spratt (Division of Medicine).

Their research project was听dedicated to writing an ethics approval application and creating a strategic plan to establish long-term collaborations with primary schools in London that would allow future students to carry out educational research projects.

All four听students enrolled in the pilot were very engaged with their projects and the supervisors were pleased with the results obtained.

Advaith Veturi, a final year student who undertook a project on machine learning, said:听听

The research project went great! I really had fun and gained a lot of skills in writing programmes for medical data鈥� my supervisor said that the team will likely听hire a research fellow to take over, to do more analysis and include my results in a publication, so I could see my name in a paper in the next few months!

Responding to COVID-19

The need to overhaul lab-based projects became more urgent听during the Covid-19 crisis. With physical distancing in operation, access to laboratory facilities and research funding for the new academic year might be uncertain.听

The four students on the pilot continued working remotely under continuous supervision and managed to submit their dissertations on time.

What听originally was created as alternatives to tackle the lack of lab-based research projects, became an important approach to facilitate the delivery of research projects across a whole cohort.听

Scoping online final research projects

With the pivot to online study, this听approach may become more popular across many disciplines.听

Dr Lewis has recently expanded the variety of alternative research projects that can be delivered online:

• Virtual fieldwork: using publicly available webcams or video recordings of humans, animals or the environment to explore discipline-relevant research questions.
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• Bioinformatics/Big data: using bioinformatics tools to mine/interrogate (e.g. genomic) datasets. Analysis and interpretation of large publically available (e.g. health, environment) or school/faculty research (e.g. neuronal recordings) datasets.
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• Computational modelling/Simulations: investigate physiological, pharmacological or biochemical modulation of existing models or simulations of systems, organs or tissues (e.g. intact animals, heart, neurones).
  
  This could include the evaluation of the scientific accuracy, validity and educational benefits of simulations/models used for educational purposes or accuracy of automated data tracking/scoring systems (e.g. OptiMouse).
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• Systematic Reviews with/without meta-analysis: a defined, systematic way of undertaking a comprehensive review of the literature, used a lot in clinical trials/health science, but increasingly in animal experiments and education.
  
  Previous reviews include: pharmacotherapies for gestational diabetes; Animal welfare factors influencing reproducibility and reliability of studies involving lab animals; E-learning and other resources as replacements for face to听face undergraduate practical鈥檚 in the Biosciences.
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• Surveys/Focus Groups: Any topic/area, of students, staff or the public. 听
  
  Previous topics included: public attitudes/knowledge of antimicrobial resistance; attitudes to the use of animals in education; the interaction between developers, clinicians and patients in the development听of Digital Health Apps.
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• Scientific writing:听the creation of .听Content behind each tab was written by a team of students.
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• Educational Development: creation and evaluation of educational resources for use in undergraduate education. Ideal opportunity for a student to re-purpose existing face to听face practical into an online version or create online problem solving or data handling/analysis exercise.
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• Science in Schools/Public Engagement: creation of听an interactive science workshop for use in schools (primary and听high schools) or a public engagement activity (for the Faculty, Charity or other educational organisation), for virtual or face to face delivery to engage the public with science. 听If social distancing conditions are relaxed later in the year, deliver this activity听in person, if designed as a听face to听face workshop.
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• Professional Education: development of education and training resources for researchers e.g. The Reproducibility Crisis; podcasts on good practice in specific research methodologies/tools
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• Commercial/Technical reports: using publically available information to write technical or commercial reports (e.g. impact of legislation, analysis of markets etc.) for SME鈥檚, spin-out companies or other clients.
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• Grant proposal: rather than grant proposal as an extension exercise, it becomes the principal output. Sections within it are those in real grant applications to funding bodies e.g. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)听or Medical Research Council (MRC.) 鈥淧ilot鈥� data comes from previous studies in the supervisor鈥檚 lab.听

More inclusive projects听

In addition, online or predominantly online research projects are more inclusive for students with caring or other responsibilities that prevent them from participating in laboratory-based activities that can take a long time to complete.听

Team-based projects

All of the above formats can be delivered as team-based rather than individual projects, thereby providing more real-world experience and the development of additional employability skills. 听

Consider accreditation requirements

It is important to consult with approval documents before making changes to assessments. It depends on how broadly written the original paperwork and advertised offerings were written.

In our case, the original approval was听very broad and it allowed us to do the changes without the need of applying for an amendment.

The biggest issue might be accreditation for those degrees that require it. However, in recent years, many UK Bioscience Schools and Faculties are broadening their portfolio of听final year projects formats offered, so these are in line with the substantially revised requirements of the听, which听accredits the Applied Medical Sciences programme.听

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Dr Nephtali Marina-Gonzalez would like to thank supportive colleagues from UCL and around the UK for their support. including:听

• Dr Dave Lewis for his mentorship and support and for providing the resources听needed to implement this new initiative.
• Dr Jennifer Rohn, UCL Division of Medicine, for providing several research projects during the initial pilot test.
• The Applied Medical Sciences course director, Prof. David Spratt, who showed great leadership and support by providing educational research projects in primary schools, creating links with external partners and encouraging staff to adopt this initiative.听