Small Project Policy

As of November 2024, we are introducing a new “Small Projects” class for shorter-term student work (e.g., 3-month summer or 3rd-year undergraduate projects). The intention is to have a simpler initiation process (currently a Slack Form --- see below) for small-scale investigations that avoid excessive requirements of the POSSUM project system for main Research Projects and Student Projects.

Please note: Small Projects cannot lead directly to journal publications unless they are formally upgraded to a Student Project. Results from such can be cited in conference talks or posters --- see policy details below.

How to Record a Small Project

We strongly encourage supervisors to record student projects to promote collaboration and maintain a record of the work done. To record a Small Project:

1) Open the POSSUM Slack workspace.

2) Navigate to [...] More on the sidebar.

3) Go to Automations > Workflows.

4) Select Short Student Projects Form and begin the workflow.

Policy Details:

Definition: A Small Project is initiated by a POSSUM member supervising an undergraduate or lower-level student (e.g., high school), limited to six months, and is intended to be small-scale and exploratory. Projects forming part of a PhD, Master’s, or Honours thesis are not eligible under this policy.

Journal Publication: Small Projects cannot lead to publication in scientific journals directly. If journal publication becomes a goal, the project must be upgraded to a full project by submitting a full regular or student project proposal.

Public Talks or Conference Posters: Results from Small Projects can be reported in talks at conferences, or presented on posters at conferences, for example, after a being circulated to the collaboration following procedures described in item 6) of the Publication/Talks Policy (text regarding "talk or poster").

Overlap: Small Projects should avoid overlap with existing POSSUM projects. Proposers are responsible for ensuring this, as overlap will affect a project’s eligibility for upgrade to full regular or student project.

Registry and Announcement: Project leads should record Small Projects using a Slack Workflow (see "How to Record a Small Project" above), which will automatically announce the project in a designated Slack channel visible to all POSSUM members. A registry will also be maintained on the wiki, and the project lead should update this registry when projects begin and end.

Joining a Project: Those interested in joining a Small Project can contact the project lead directly.

Membership: Students in Small Projects are not required to be POSSUM members but must have an active POSSUM member as their supervisor.