Research Projects - BSc (Hons)

What is a BSc (Hons)?

A BSc (Hons) is a year of study following a Bsc, BBiomedSci or equivalent degree. It consists of a combination of a research project and compulsory course work. The research component is carried out under supervision in one of the research groups in ACB. You will work nearly full time in the laboratory designing. executing and analysing experiments. Your research report is worth 75% of your final mark. The remaining 25% is course work, which includes a literature review, a small statistics course an assignment and statistics and critical review of a paper. The BSc (Hons) year starts in February and ends in November and is only available full time.

Overall, the Honours year adds value to your basic degree and immediately sets you apart from the bulk of students who have only completed a BSc or BBiomedSci. It is also a taste of what working as a scientist would be like as a career.

Entry requirements

You must have completed a suitable degree (BSc BBiomedSci or equivalent) and achieved a faculty honours score of 65 or equivalent. You must also have the agreement of a supervisor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology (See "enrolling in a BSc (Hons)" below)

APPLICATION FOR HONOURS IN THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY AND HEALTH SCIENCES (MDHS) IN 2010

If you wish to be considered for Honours in 2010, and you would like to undertake your project and coursework in an MDHS Department or affiliated institute, you will need to carry out a THREE STEP PROCESS.

Step 1: You will need to decide which Department or Institute(s), Supervisor(s) and Project(s) that you wish to apply for. To do this, you must speak to potential supervisors. Department and Institute Honours project booklets and websites, the MDHS Honours expo, and individual information sessions held by Departments and Institutes are all ways of helping you make contact with potential honours supervisors.

Step 2: You must lodge an online application for Honours to the Faculty of Science through the SIS (for current local students click here; for local students who have not studied at University of Melbourne click here), and then take a hard copy of the application to the Science student Centre for confirmation as instructed. You need to do this whether you are a BSc, BBiomedSci or external local student. International students however will need to apply through the International Office. After submitting your application, you will be sent an Application ID number by email. You will need this Application ID for Step 3. It is therefore essential that you carry out Step 2 BEFORE you carry out Step 3. Note that the closing date for the Step 2 Application is 20 Nov 2009.

Step 3: After having decided on a project(s) and submitting your application through SIS, you will need to lodge your project preferences with MDHS through the Honours Application and Tracking System (HATS). It is essential that you have already identified which projects you wish to apply for by speaking to potential supervisors (i.e. Step 1) and have applied for Honours through SIS (i.e. Step 2) BEFORE you carry out Step 3.

To carry out Step 3 in HATS you will need to:
a. Enter your Application ID into HATS.

b. Click on Preferences then Search Projects. Use this search to make sure that the project(s) you wish to apply for are present in HATS. If you cannot find the project you are interested in, you should contact the supervisor of these projects, who will be able to take steps to have the project details entered into HATS.

c. Click on Preferences then Lodge/Update Preferences to lodge your project preferences with HATS. You can update/change your preferences as many times as you wish. However, you must ensure that your final preference list (in order of 1-10; you must enter one preference, and you can enter up to ten) is lodged by 11:00pm on Sun, 29 Nov 2009. This list will be supplied to Departments to allow them to carry out their selection process in early December 2009.

You will receive a round one offer letter for the highest preference project you have been offered by mail before Christmas. You can choose to accept the offer or not. If you choose not to accept, you will be considered for selection by Departments for the second round of selection in mid January.

The key dates are:

Aug-Nov 2009: Contact potential supervisors to discuss honours projects (Step 1)

20 Nov 2009: Closing date for Honours application through SIS (Step 2)

11:00pm 29 Nov 2009 Closing date for project preference submission through HATS (Step 3)

3rd week Dec 2009 First round of offer letters sent by mail to students

6 Jan 2010 Closing date for acceptance/rejection by students of First Round offers

11 Jan 2010- Second round of selection and mailing of offer letters begins

Mid-late Feb 2010 Honours 2010 begins (check with individual Departments/Institutes for specific starting date and other details

Honours projects and supervisors

Projects available in the next Honours year are available here (PDF file, 1017kb), or you can look at individual labs (below) for potential projects.

• Anderson Lab - Development of the Autonomic Nervous System
• Briggs Lab - Functional and Applied Anatomy
• de Iongh Lab - Ocular Development
• Fletcher Lab - Visual Neuroscience
• Furness Lab - Autonomic Neuroscience, Pain & Sensory Mechanisms
• Goodwin Lab - Sensorimotor Function of the Hand
• Greferath Lab - Vision Research
• Hime Lab - Drosophila Genetics Laboratory
• Ivanusic Lab - Neural Mechanisms of Bone Pain and Mechano-sensitivity
• Jennings Lab - Trigeminal pain
• Kitchener Lab - Developmental Neurobiology
• Murphy Lab - Behavioural Neuroscience
• Quinn Lab - Animal Models for Cancer
• Rees Lab - Fetal Neurobiology
• Taylor Lab - The Jack Brockhoff Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Research Unit
• Vincan Lab - Cancer Biology
• Whitington Lab - Axon Guidance

• Young Lab - Autonomic Development

Facilities for an Honours Student

Honours students will be attached to individual laboratories, but will also have access to all of the facilities of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. Each student will get a desk and locker in the Honours room, as well as use of the molecular biology laboratory, tissue culture facility, imaging and multi media lab, confocal and electron microscopes, human anatomy and histology laboratories as required. Students will also be fully-fledged members of the department, with 24 h access to the department and full involvement in all departmental activities, from seminars to parties.

Contact the Honours co-ordinator

For initial enquiries about doing your BSc (Hons) in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, contact the Honours Co-ordinator:
Dr Gary Hime
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Melbourne
Victoria, 3010
Australia
Phone: 61 (0)3 8344 5796
Fax: 61 (0)3 9347 5219
Email: g.hime@unimelb.edu.au

Life after a BSc (Hons)

A number of choices are available to you at the end of Honours. If you have enjoyed it, you may wish to undertake a PhD (3-4 year project, no course work). This is the almost mandatory step to a career as a full time scientist. Other possibilities include postgraduate training in a vocational degree or you may end up working as a Research Assistant in one of the many research laboratories around Melbourne.