General Information


This is a general guideline for all students of the MDO group. Take note that expectations and working style varies across different research groups. Please make sure you have read this Checklist Drafts. and Checklist Presentations.

Admission and Scholarship


You will need to Apply for Masters/PhD at UNSW Canberra Campus(ADFA). Discuss with me or Hemant if its PhD in Computer Science(Course Code: 1885)/Mechanical Engineering(Course Code: 1661) or MEngg in Mechanical Engg(Course Code: 2691) or Master of Science in Computer Science(Course Code: 2925). Refer to Postgraduate Information. Take note you would need an email from me or Hemant confirming that we am happy to supervise. Read through the documents to make sure you have all necessary documents including English language requirements. Take note of the application closing dates for admission and Scholarship as they usually have different closing dates. The application requires a research proposal that has to be developed in collaboration with me or Hemant. Take note before we agree to supervise, it is a mandate to conduct an online interview which will be via Teams/Skype/Zoom.

Research Proposal


For any PhD or Masters application, we need a maximum of 3 page document(11 point font) outlining the (a) Title of the project (b) Aim of the project (c) Background (d) Limitations of existing approaches(e) Proposed approach (Make sure you address novelty and significance) (f) Expected outcomes (g) 6-10 key references. We assess the quality of a proposal to get indicators of ones ability to comprehend research literature, critical thinking and communication skills. Please pay serious attention to this.

Papers and Reports


All documents i.e. papers/reports generated during your research candidature have to be in LaTex. You can download a standard IEEE Paper Template for Latex and use it for your report. If you are not familiar with LaTex, install Tex Live and TeXnicCenter and learn it how to use and generate documents in LaTex. Seek hints from Amitay's presentation. If you need us to revise your drafts, it is preferable that you send us the .tex and .PDF files instead of printed copy. Please allow appropriate time for us to look though. It is best to let us know in advance when you intend to send the draft so that we can plan things better. You can drop in our office anytime. All presentation material generated should comply with MDO Template Beamer Template MDO.

Presentations /Conferences


As for presentations, you can have them as PPT or PDF’s. It is recommended that you keep a collection of images separately which can be used for other reports.

Reference / Literature Survey


During your candidature, you will be reading through a lot of papers and articles. It is important that you maintain a proper and complete bibliography. JabRef is a possibility and It is strongly suggested for you to build a linked database with all PDF’s and their complete reference. Conduct a search in SCOPUS and Google scholar to identify papers in your area. It is absolutely essential that you do an intensive search to ensure that you are not attempting to re-invent the wheel.

Computing Resources


The MDO group has a number of workstations that are used by the students. For access, please contact Hemant.

Matlab


The standard prototyping tool used within our research group is MATLAB. Keep codes clean and provide comments for future understanding. If you are not familiar with MATLAB, seek hints from the presentation of Amitay.

Publications


As for papers, we encourage publications in top tier journals ONLY. We do not encourage submission to abstract/ extended abstract reviewed conferences. It is important that you seek early feedback on your work via peer review and incorporate them to avoid unpleasant surprises in your thesis examination report. All data and the paper including the complete Latex Project should be stored and we would need access to that. Storing all data used in all publications is a part of UNSW Data retention policy. Refer to Research Data Management Plan of UNSW.

Thesis


Create a guideline of your thesis early (i.e. list of contents) and start plugging in the contents as you progress. Questions that are fundamental should set the scene: (a) What is the problem? (b) Why is it important? (c) What has been done in the past and what is the existing state of the art in the area? (d) What is your contribution? (e) What is the novelty of your approach? (f) What is the significance of such a development? (f) How are you going to prove it i.e. your experimental plans and methods of comparison and finally (i) Is there any other allied applications that would benefit out of your development. Our view is “significance” and “novelty” should be of utmost importance. A LaTeX template of the UNSW thesis could be found here.

Others


From time to time there are requirements for reports (such as reports to sponsors or funding agencies) and presentations (research day, invited presentations) etc. You are expected to contribute and work towards such group reports and presentations. Management of codes/data/papers is of utmost importance and you should structure your folders well. You should be also aware of IP, Ethics and OHS policy documents of UNSW in addition to your leave entitlements, confirmation and annual review processes, scholarship terms etc. The Graduate Research School Website is the best place to look for such information, rules and policies. Typical report and presentation can be obtained from Kalyan's report and Kalyan's presentatiion. Hope you enjoy your research journey and make significant contributions to the field.