This course introduces students to research skills and specialist knowledge. Its main aims are: to give students with relevant experience at first-degree level the opportunity to carry out focussed research in the discipline under close supervision; and to give students the opportunity to acquire or develop skills and expertise relevant to their research interests. Zoology is a Department that brings together researchers from a great diversity of disciplines, ranging from cell biology to field ecology. What unites us is an interest in the whole organism, and in how systems interact across different levels of organization to generate the complexity of form, function and behaviour that are observed in the living world. Evolution is a theme that underpins and unites much of our work, as does an appreciation of the interaction between living organisms and their environments. Students are directly supervised by one of our Group Leaders, who will support them in developing an independent and novel project in their field of interest. Students will learn how to review relevant literature, to phrase and answer scientific questions, and how to report their findings to the scientific community, at conferences and through peer-reviewed scientific publications. We very much encourage students to get experience in undergraduate teaching, which can be either as demonstrators during practical classes or supervisors teaching small groups. At the end of their degree, students will produce a written thesis, which will be assessed by independent experts during a viva. By the end of the programme, students will have: a comprehensive understanding of techniques, and a thorough knowledge of the literature, applicable to their own research; demonstrated originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in their field; shown abilities in the critical evaluation of current research and research techniques and methodologies and demonstrated some self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and acted autonomously in the planning and implementation of research.