CS888 Advanced Information Retrieval Assessment Brief 2026

CS888 Assessment Brief

The Assessment Outline

This assessment will teach students to apply information retrieval concepts and theories to address real world problems. The project consists of the following tasks: problem and user information needs identification, and the design, implementation and evaluation of information access systems. By the end of the project students will be able to do the following:

1. Students will be able to apply the theories and technologies used to construct modern Information Retrieval systems.
2. Students will be able to design, implement and evaluate information retrieval systems or techniques. The Assessment is made up of 3 outputs as follows:
3. The system [40%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1)
4. The presentation [20%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1)
5. The report [40%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1)

This assessment contributes 40% to the final grade for this class. You will write an exam during the December exam diet and exams will contribute 50%. You will also complete weekly online quiz assessments, which will run from week 1 to week 10.

Project Brief

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure universal access to healthcare, justice, and economic prosperity by 2030. Achieving these goals require effective information access systems that can support decision making, raise awareness, and empower people. For this assessment, you are asked to:

1. Select an SDG of your choice and identify a specific information related problem relevant to that goal.
2. Design and implement an information access system that addresses the identified problem. You could select to implement either a traditional retrieval system, recommender system, question answering system or a conversational search agent.
3. Evaluate your system in terms of retrieval effectiveness, potential impact or any other evaluation criteria discussed in CS888.

Your work should show that you understand how the information access system works technically and how well it helps advance your chosen SDG(s), including where it falls short.

CS888 Examples of Projects

The system should directly address a specific SDG through its functionalities or features, and novelty marks will be awarded based on both the originality of the system’s features and the uniqueness of the information it provides. In your submission, it is helpful to clearly signpost these criteria by explaining which SDG your system addresses and how it contributes to that goal, as well as what features or resources are innovative or distinctive. For example, a system may be considered original because it provides specialised information or introduces a new way of accessing or presenting data related to a particular issue. See below for examples illustrating how a system can align with an SDG.

Example 1: Human Trafficking Search

The aim of the system is to support researchers, policymakers, NGOs, and journalists in finding authoritative resources on human trafficking, including international and national laws, policies, reports, and news articles. The system aligns with SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, particularly Target 16.2 :“End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence”. The system provides a search function that allows users to submit queries and retrieve relevant results. Users can further refine their searches by category (e.g., law, policy, report, or news), geographical region, and type of trafficking. Overall, the system improves accessibility and visibility of anti-trafficking knowledge.

Example 2: Endometriosis Medical Search – EndoSearch

Women’s health remains an understudied area, with limited awareness and insufficient medical therapies for many conditions affecting women. Although endometriosis impacts millions worldwide, awareness of the condition remains low, there is no known cure, and many women continue to suffer in silence. EndoSearch is an information retrieval system that indexes and analyses research articles, clinical studies, and medical reports related to endometriosis and women’s health. It enables healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients to access evidence-based information on diagnosis, treatment options, and emerging scientific findings. The system addresses SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being by advancing women’s health and ensuring more equitable access to medical knowledge and care.

Approach: How Should the System be Implemented?

Since Information Retrieval focuses on accessing unstructured information, your chosen approach and system functionality should reflect this. You may use any Information Retrieval platform or library of your choice, such as Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Solr, or Terrier.

You may choose to create your own collection or use an already existing collection. If you take this approach, you must index at least 100 documents or items. This will involve setting up the backend (e.g., creating a collection, defining a retrieval strategy or model, and indexing documents) and developing a frontend interface for interacting with the system.

Alternatively, you may use an API that provides access to indexed documents. However, the API must supply unstructured information objects. APIs that return only structured data (e.g., spreadsheets, JSON files, or other formats) without reference to unstructured documents such as textual data, videos, or images, are not permitted. If you choose the API approach, more development effort on the frontend is expected compared to the first approach.

Submissions

The submission should be done using MyPlace assignment submission link. Submission should be done through a zipped file with the following components.

The system [40%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1). The assessment of the system will be based on functionality, technical quality, and relevance to the chosen SDG. The system submission should include a readme file. The readme file should provide steps on how to run your system.

The presentation [20%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1). The presentation should be not more than 5 minutes. It should introduce the SDG, the information access problem, the design of the system and the description of your system. The description of the system should be in a form of a system demo.

The report [40%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1). The report should provide a description of the problem and SDG, methodology, evaluation, and critical reflection.

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