Dissertation Project

Code:

MEB0038

Acronym:

PD

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Biomedical Engineering

Instance: 2025/2026 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Biomedical Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MEB	18	Syllabus	2	-	18	13	486

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

The main objective of the Dissertation Project curricular unit is to accompany the initial phase of preparation for the dissertation that students will develop in the following academic semester.
Thus, students must start by becoming familiar with the dissertation topic, namely through bibliographical research and the study of the state of the art in the field of the dissertation, which will allow them to write a brief monograph on the topic, to be included in the final report of the curricular unit.
In parallel, it is intended that the students develop knowledge and information competences related to the dissertation elaboration process, increasing their proficiency from the initial phase of work planning, to the information research and the structuring of the final document.
Students must also initiate contact with the methodologies and practices associated with scientific research, especially in the specific area of the dissertation, materialized through the completion of some preliminary work on the dissertation topic, under the guidance of the respective supervisor.

After concluding this curricular unit, students are expected to have competences to

- apply standard R&D processes to relate the state of the art extracted from the existing literature in the field of biomedical engineering with their own work
- elaborate the plan of an individual research and development project in terms of content and timing;
- to exercise self-criticism and reflection in their field of work, both written and oral.

Learning outcomes and competences

The student must reinforce his/her skills in the search for scientific information and acquire specific skills that allow him/her to start the dissertation work with a good theoretical basis and updated knowledge on the subject to be developed.
He/she should also characterize the problem to be addressed and identify the most appropriate strategy and methodologies for the project to be developed in the dissertation.

The student begins to prepare his/her master's dissertation project with a coherent plan of research (and applied practice), covering all the stages and elements of an academic and complex work:

- Title of the master's dissertation;

- Brief description of the problem or issue: define the existing situation, current data, research or past practices showing why it is justified to address the chosen problem or issue;

- Purpose, objectives and recipients: define the general objective of the dissertation that makes the work meaningful and relevant; state specific and measurable objectives, potential target audiences, as well as methodologies for achieving them;

- State-of-the-art review: description of the main solutions found in the literature review carried out;

- Methods: describe how, with what tools and under what perspectives the dissertation data were or will be collected and processed;

- Expectations and hypotheses: identify the expected results based on existing data or on previous research and practices; possible estimations on the results of the research/development process;

- Limitations and difficulties: what are the limits that the process is likely to reach, but not exceed; what factors may disrupt or threaten the research/development process;

- References / sources: books, papers (paper or electronic), Internet resources, existing research results, observations or other documentation;

- Work plan: elaboration of the entire activity plan, subsequent or in parallel, for the production of the final work, including all the necessary (sub) steps (for example, literature review, experimentation, validation, writing, structuring, writing, final editing and presentation preparation, oral defense), possibly presented as a Gantt chart or related graphical representation.

Working method

B-learning

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Does not apply.

Program

This curricular unit is not subject to a common programme to be accomplished by all the students, with the exception of the attendance of the training course "How to write a Master's Dissertation in Engineering", made available by the FEUP Library (individual registration through SIGARRA is required).

After choosing the dissertation topic, each student will have an individual work program, consisting of bibliographic research on the dissertation theme resorting to databases, published articles, books, web page consultation or other documentation.

Additionally, preliminary laboratory work will be carried out leading to the preparation and proof of means and methods to be used in the experimental work, and even to obtaining the first results.

The student will write a description of the research project for the dissertation in which this literature (including the relevant theory) is described and commented. It should include a clear formulation of the problem, a description of the development strategy to be followed, and a detailed calendar of how the various tasks are organized in the time available for the dissertation.

Mandatory literature

Autores diversos; Adaptada ao tema da dissertação

Complementary Bibliography

Mauch James E.; Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation. ISBN: 0-8247-8972-5
Durão Diamantino Freitas Gomes 1944-; Teses de mestrado e de doutoramento. ISBN: 972-8883-72-2

Teaching methods and learning activities

This course explores research methodologies and literature review leading to writing the state-of-the-art of the master's dissertation, and preliminary experimental work for the preparation and development of prototypes is carried out. 

It is therefore a methodological prerequisite for completion in the following semester of the Master's Dissertation course, even if some incomplete work is allowed.

At mid-semester (date to be indicated) each student must prepare an interim report, with the following topics:
- dissertation title;
- objective(s) of the dissertation work to be carried out (described in their own words);
- summary of work completed to date.

This report will soon be presented in a session scheduled for that purpose, with mandatory attendance by all students.

The student prepares a report with an extended abstract of the dissertation (in collaboration with his supervisor) presented as a coherent academic text (structured, argumentative and grounded in theory), which can later be used for the final dissertation.

Once submitted, this report is presented orally and discussed publicly in the presence of colleagues, the supervisor and an external advisor.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	35,00
Participação presencial	20,00
Teste	20,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	25,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	30,00
Elaboração de relatório/dissertação/tese	50,00
Trabalho de investigação	300,00
Frequência das aulas	16,00
Estudo autónomo	90,00
Total:	486,00

Eligibility for exams

Completion and submission of interim report.
Completion and presentation of the final report.

Calculation formula of final grade

CF=35% Final Report + 25% Final presentation + 20% CEDME Training + 20% Intermediate report/presentation.


The grade of the intermediate report and the respective presentation is a responsibility of the responsible of the curricular unit.

The marks of the components Final Report and Final Presentation are responsibility of:
- supervisor (50%)
- external examiner (25%)
- responsible for the curricular unit (25%).

Examinations or Special Assignments

Does not apply.

Internship work/project

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Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Completion and presentation of the proposed work in the UC.

Classification improvement

Realization of alternative works in the following edition of the curricular unit, in case the student has not been approved in the Dissertation curricular unit