NUS - Faculty of Dentistry

Dentistry UROP Projects
(wef 18 March 2004)

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) provides every undergraduate in NUS an opportunity to carry out supervised research work. Students work alone or in group under the guidance of a research mentor to explore research ideas and test hypotheses as a way of discovering new knowledge.

Since its inception in 1996, the UROP has been the primary means in which dental undergraduates are exposed to research. Academic staff and part-time teachers have provided research guidance to dental students, many of whom have done the Faculty proud at excelling in the APDSA scientific competitions.

Guidelines for the Conduct of UROP Projects

Each staff shall submit a maximum of one project title per academic year. This staff shall be the main supervisor of the project submitted.
Each staff shall be the principal supervisor of one UROP project per academic year. The same staff may also assist in the supervision of only one other UROP project in the same academic year as a co-supervisor.
The will be no limit to the number of projects that may be tabled for selection by the students.
Each submitted project must however indicate the optimal number of students required with a minimum of one to a maximum of five students per project title.
If there are more project titles submitted than available students, the UROP subcommittee will make the final decision of rejecting project submissions taking into consideration the supervisory load of staff and the overall research directions of the Faculty.
In introducing a more progressive approach to assessing the students’ research progress, two Continual Assessments (CAs) will be used.
The first CA (CA1) will be carried out by the main supervisor and another staff member not involved with that research (as external validator) at the end of Term 1 in Year 3, ie. About 6 months into the UROP project. Students will submit a written research protocol. CA1 assesses the quality of the written research protocol.
The second CA, CA2, will be carried out at the end of Term 1 in the final year which is 12 months after CA1. Students are expected to complete the project by then and submit a research report by the end of Term 1 in the final year which will be assessed under CA2 by a panel of judges.
The summative assessment of the UROP project will combine both the CA1 and CA2 marks with a CA1/CA2 percentage at 20/80.
The judging panel will shortlist up to 6 projects from the research reports. Students whose projects are shortlisted will then be invited to make an oral presentation at the Faculty Research Day to select the top three UROP teams to represent the Faculty at the SEAADE-Dentsply Student Clinician Programme (Winning team) and at the APDSA Scientific Competitions (2nd and 3rd place winners). The judging at the Faculty Research Day will be for the sole purpose of selecting the top three winning teams and no extra credits will be given for the UROP assessment.

Principal Supervisors’ Responsibilities

Academic Staff are advised to:

Select a project which makes use of the existing equipment facilities in the Faculty or University.
Have a project which can be completed in the 1½ years allotted to the students.
Arrange a schedule of meetings regularly to ensure that students are working consistently and problems are detected and solved at an early stage.
Budget - Please guide the students in working out the budget and submit the budget on the prescribed form to the Dean’s Office. You are not required to obtain quotations at this time. The costing of items should be under broad categories eg. stationery etc. The purchase of equipment is generally not encouraged.

Time Schedule

Students	Period	Activity
Second Years	Term III, Term IV & Vacations Jan - Jun	Supervisors to submit their project titles. Students to submit their group members, select project titles and supervisors. To finalise proposed budget & research protocol. Sourcing and purchase of materials, equipment etc.
Third Years	Term I & Vacation Jul -Sep	Carry out Research
	Term I & Vacation Jul -Sep	Students to submit research protocols by mid August. Assessment of research protocols for CA1 by 1 week of September.
	Term II & Vacation Oct - Dec	UROP Experiment
	Term III, Term IV & Vacations Jan - Jun	UROP Experiment
Final Years	Term I, Vacation Jul- Sept	Submission of draft research reports to Supervisor. Submission of Final Research report by end of Term I. Assessment of research reports for CA2 by a panel of judges during vacation.
	Term II Sep - Nov	Selection of Top 6 projects via summative assessment of CA1 and CA2. Preparation by 6 shortlisted groups presentation
	November	Presentation of 6 short-listed projects at FACULTY RESEARCH DAY

Dentistry UROP Submission Form
(Acrobat File)