HomeUndergraduate Colloquium

The annual undergraduate Computer Science colloquium is a residential conference for all final year undergraduates.

The event is run as three back-to-back sessions, and each student attends one of these; either Sunday to Tuesday, Tuesday to Thursday or Thursday to Saturday. The whole trip lasts from about lunchtime on the first day to the evening of the third day (including transportation time from Swansea).

The headings below give a short description of what to expect during the event, and answer some early questions you might have. Closer to the time we will email further details and instructions, including answers to common questions about the programme, accomodation and activities. In the meantime, you can talk to your project supervisor about the presentation you need to prepare, and contact us if necessary.

What is it?

Since 1985, the Department of Computer Science has held an undergraduate computer science colloquium at the University of Wales Conference Centre in Gregynog, Powys. All students taking the Project modules, the majority of teaching staff, and a selection of postgraduate students, research staff and visitors, spend three days giving and attending talks on the past, present and future of Computer Science.

Where is it?

Gregynog Hall is a large stately home just outside Newtown in mid-Wales — around 100 miles from Swansea — that was bequeathed to the University of Wales in the 1960s. It is now used as a conference centre, and during term time is available to Welsh Universities for colloquiums like our own. You can find more information about the venue at gregynog.org.

Why do I need to go?

You will be expected to give a presentation on your final year project to an audience consisting of about 10–12 students and 2–3 lecturers. This presentation is an assessed part of your final year project as part of the project development module, and you will have a 15-minute slot to present (about 12 minutes to talk plus time for questions and speaker changeover).

As well as your own talk, there will be other guest speakers from industry and academia, covering a range of topics from employability to departmental research to postgraduate opportunities. The programme also includes social and recreational activities such as a programming competition, pub quiz and time to explore the house and grounds.

Which session is the best, and how do I pick a session?

Each session will be near-identical in content, so no single one is superior. The only difference will be the people who are attending. Not all staff or guest speakers are able to attend all sessions; ideally you would attend the session your supervisor is attending so you can be assessed by someone who is familiar with your project. We appreciate, however, that you may want to attend with friendship groups, so, we will distribute a signup form for individual sessions to allow you to indicate your preference. Please note that this will not be a guarantee that you will be allocated to the session that you select. However, we will endeavour to satisfy all requests.

How do we get there?

A coach will be provided for all attendees.

Questions or concerns?

The colloquium is intended to be an informative, educational and fun event. We hope you benefit from the talks we give, the activities we provide and the atmosphere of the location. Previous students have found it to be one of the highlights of their University careers, and we do everything we can to make it an enjoyable and memorable event for all involved.

If you have any questions or concerns about the colloquium, please just let us know.