CAPSTONE COURSES

Major in Ecology & Biodiversity > BIOL4991 Ecology & Biodiversity Project

Registration Form | Declaration Form

Should I do an Ecology & Biodiversity Project or Directed studies?

We only have TWO capstone courses now. They are not mutually exclusive. These are an extremely important part of your degree programme at HKU, and often past students comment that these courses were the most difficult and challenging, but also the most rewarding and the courses that they gained most experience and satisfaction from completing.

They are SIMILAR in that BOTH:

  1. Offer the opportunity to work closely with a member of staff in the E&B major, and
  2. Involve the chance to conduct your own personal scientific investigation
  3. Require student to have passed at least 24 credits of advanced level disciplinary core/elective biological sciences courses in the E&B major.

They are, however, DIFFERENT in that

  1. The E&B Project is worth 12 CREDITS whilst the Directed Studies course is worth 6 CREDITS
  2. The E&B Project is based on a HANDS-ON RESEARCH PROJECT, involving laboratory, fieldwork or a combination of both in an area of E&B
  3. Whilst the E&B Directed Studies is based on a dissertation involving DESK-TOP, LITERATURE BASED studies and analysis and DOES NOT INCLUDE any practical research component.
  4. And the form of assessment are also slightly different.
  5. The E&B project is YEAR LONG whilst the Directed Studies course is one semester long.

So whilst overall both offer the opportunity for students to conduct a personal scientific investigation, there are fundamental differences in the type of research (desk-top, or hands-on practical) and the prerequisites, credits and means of assessment.

For students that wish to apply for a Higher Degree programme in E&B, they are STRONLY RECOMMENDED to take the E&B project.

Given the number of students in E&B, and the fact that each staff member can only supervise at most THREE students, students are encouraged to start to discuss possible topics with staff members AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to ensure they can study their first choice topic.

Student have ideas of their own, or want to study a certain area / topic, they should approach the appropriate staff (see the staff research interests on their websites in our School https://www.biosch.hku.hk/about-us/our-staff/) to discuss a possible topic.

Overview

Students accepted on this course undertake a laboratory and/or field-based research project on a specific topic relevant to Ecology & Biodiversity.  A range of project titles are offered by academic staff, who will act as project supervisors.  These are listed below.  Students are also encouraged to approach staff members if they have their own ideas for possible project topics.

Students should contact a staff member and obtain their agreement to act as supervisor for any agreed project. If accepted they should complete the Registration Form, which needs to be signed by their prospective supervisor, and handed in to Ms. Flora Chan in the School of Biological Sciences General Office (Room 6N-01 Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building) prior course selection.  Finally, the application will be approved by Dr Simon Sin.

Project Titles Offered in 2024-2025
Please find link:
http://www.biosch.hku.hk/course/capstone/file/BIOL4991_FYP_Title_24-25.pdf for a list of proposed Ecology & Biodiversity Final Year Project topics.  Please note that these are proposed as guidelines only, STAFF ALSO WELCOME STUDENTS PROPOSING THEIR OWN IDEAS, OR DISCUSSING IDEAS WITH STAFF TO COME UP WITH A NEW STUDY.  So make sure you visit E&B staff web sites to find out more of their exciting research work and make contact with E&B staff to discuss these directed studies options.

Exam Stuff

  1. Attend FOUR relevant research seminars of your choice (at various times in the School but usually on Friday at 4:00 pm in Room 3N-01 Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building) during the year. Students have to submit brief synopses of the works presented and the student’s personal reflection of the seminars together with the dissertation. At the end of the project there will be an oral presentation (with slideshow) session where students will give a seminar on their research findings (tentatively scheduled on the last weekday of the revision week in May). This will be assessed (30% weighting).
  2. A dissertation of <12,000 words (70% weighting) (word limit includes all sections) must be submitted at the end of the project (2 days before the oral presentation) [a SOFT COPY in pdf format to be emailed in together with a completed Project Declaration Form to Ms. Flora Chan, School of Biological Sciences General Office, via ppchan@hku.hk]. For students who start the project in summer they are required to hand in the dissertation 2 months before the normal deadline. Students have to complete a formal write-up of the dissertation following the format requirement. 

As you gain more experience of the web and its resources, please let us have your comments, suggestions and recommendations. Please send your comments to Dr Simon Sin via sinyw@hku.hk.

Important Note: The capstone course BIOL4991 is a Disciplinary Core Course for ALL E&B student (who started in or after 2019) and students are required to take and pass this course (BIOL4991) to fulfil the University Graduate Requirements.

Please find link below for course information: https://webapp.science.hku.hk/sr4/servlet/enquiry?Type=Course&course_code=BIOL4991