The Third Year Project is a substantial individual project, normally involving the principled design, implementation, and evaluation of a substantial piece of software, experimental study, or theoretical work. Each student choses their topic from a wide selection posted by potential supervisors. The project topic is normally selected prior to the start of the third year. The requirements of the degree scheme, the student's interests and the supervisor’s area of expertise are taken into account during project allocation.
Students normally receives at least bi-weekly guidance (of around 30 minutes) one-to-one from their project supervisor. Regular supervision ensures a required level of academic achievement and rigour is maintained throughout the project.
A Third Year Project can also be carried out in collaboration with an external partner, such as a company. Projects with external involvement require an additional external supervisor and a coordinator from the InfoLab21 Knowledge Business Centre. However, the supervision responsibility lies with the internal academic supervisor; the role of the external supervisor is to provide the required information on the business context of the external partner organisation.