Postgraduate Course: Research Skills for Theoretical Physics (PGPH11098)

Course Outline
School	School of Physics and Astronomy	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course is compulsory for all students on the MSc programmes in Theoretical Physics and Mathematical Physics. Students will develop their research skills through a set of exercises which include oral analyses of recent research papers. This will impact on their choice of MSc dissertation topic.
Course description	This course consists of several exercises, each of which will develop the students' research skills: 1. Review of recent research papers in theoretical or mathematical physics: reading and comprehending the papers; explanation of the papers' content to the student's peers as an oral presentation in the style of a conference presentation. 2. Detailed analysis of one or more research papers in a specialised area, preferably related to the student's MSc Dissertation, and giving another oral presentation in the style of a conference presentation. 3. Choice of general area of MSc Dissertation; project planning and topic of dissertation; aims and objectives, with realistic targets (including dates), and an initial calculation, analysis or preparatory investigation.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 4, Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 10, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 4, Formative Assessment Hours 6, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 170 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	100% continuous assessment«br /» (two presentations, two oral examinations (aka questions after the presentations), and two written submissions)
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Understand and critically review a paper in the research literature via an oral presentation. Understand in detail an extended theoretical derivation in one or more research papers. Understand the underlying physical principles related to the paper(s). Communicate this understanding orally in the style of a conference presentation. Choose a topic for their dissertation, complete an initial plan for the project, and perform an initial calculation or preparatory analysis.